Philosophy, Social Theory, and the Thought of George Herbert Mead

Mitchell Aboulafia is Professor of Philosophy and the Humanities, University of Houston-Clear Lake.

"Mead is arguably the greatest neglected American philosopher. In many respects, he ranks with Peirce, James, and Dewey, and in at least one respect beyond them: he is the preeminent theorist of self-other relations after Hegel. Now that this topic has finally made it onto the philosophical agenda, and now that Mead's interdisciplinary approach to it has become an incentive rather than an impediment, the time has come for a serious reception of his work. Leading German thinkers like Jürgen—Habermas, Hans Joas, and Ernst Tugendhat have recently made outstanding contributions to that reception. The selections from their work and from the best recent English-language discussions make Aboulafia's collection the right book at the right time."—Thomas McCarthy Professor of Philosophy, Northwestern University"Given the rigorous revival of Classical American Philosophy, it is fortuitous that Mitchell Aboulafia has assembled these fine essays on the seminal thought of George Herbert Mead. As with Marx and Dewey, Mead contended, brilliantly, that we are creatures who come to consciousness on an irreducibly social matrix."—John J. McDermott, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Humanities, Texas A&M University

• Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1: Context 1. G.H. Mead, Socialism, and the Progressive AgendaDmitri N. Shalin 2. Mead's Position in Intellectual History and His Early Philosophical WritingsHans Joas Part 2: Functionalism and Social Behaviorism 3. The Development of G.H. Mead's Social PsychologyGary A. Cook 4. A Social Behaviorist Interpretation of the Meadian "I"J. David Lewis Part 3: Language 5. The Paradigm Shift in MeadJurgen Habermas 6. Mead: Symbolic Interaction and the SelfErnst Tugendhat Part 4: The Interpersonal and Intrapersonal 7. The Powers and Capabilities of Selves: Social and Collective ApproachesGuy E. Swanson 8.Self-Consciousness and the Quasi-Epic of the MasterMitchell Aboulafia Notes and References Bibliography of Recent Secondary Literature on G.H. Mead Index