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Bibliography 2: #BIB38442

Key BIB38442
Reference type Book Section
Title Pragmatism and the “Changing of the Earth” : Unifying Moral Impulse, Creative Instinct, and Democratic Culture
Book title Pragmatism, Spirituality and Society
Author Geredien, Julie Mazzarella
Editor Giri, Ananta Kumar
Year2021
Publisher Palgrave Macmillan
Place published Singapore
Abstract In this essay, I examine why pragmatism is appropriate for addressing deep conflict and environmental crisis. Spiritual pragmatism offers a path of thought and action through which moral impulse, creative instinct, and democratic culture become increasingly united, thereby healing deep rifts and addressing serious systemic errors at the root of global problems today. The essay analyzes the relationship between biological impulse and the democratic ideal. It investigates how this relationship calls upon the higher criterion of authenticity maintained by pragmatism, and how it promotes citizens' participation in the making of a democratic culture that improves spiritual functioning in the society. The importance of efforts like Truth and Reconciliation, and of public disclosures, is emphasized as a means of supporting the pragmatic effort to gain better articulated political and legal insights that challenge the conceptual foundations of the society and that therefore have greater potential to change its cognitive order. Ecological metaphors of growth and transformation are also presented to illustrate poetically how the spiritual pragmatist unites theory and practice through experience and interaction in community. The aesthetic ecology promoted by pragmatism supports truth-seeking and transparency in society. I conclude that the pragmatist’s respect for this ecology encourages the kind of transformational human development needed to unify moral impulse, creative instinct, and democratic culture and to facilitate social healing.
Notes Includes quotes from Bahá'u'lláh, Shoghi Effendi, and the article is based on Bahá'í principles.
Language English
Keywords PRAGMATISM; MORALITY; CREATIVITY; DEMOCRACY; CONFLICT; ENVIRONMENT
URL https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-7102-2_5
Pages 95–122
Section 11.

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