Community of Individuals

John Lachs is Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. He has been President of the Society of the Advancement of American Philosophy, the C.S. Peirce Society, and the Metaphysical Society of America, and served on the national board of the American Philosophical Association. Lachs has written numerous books on a wide range of philosophical topics, including recently In Love with Life(1998).

• Introduction, Part I. Intellectuals and Courage 1. Intellectuals and Courage' 2. Reflections on Philosophy Part I. Philosophy at the Center Part II.A Future for Philosophy 3. Teaching as a Calling 4. Education in the Twenty-First Century Part II. Issues for Individuals 1. What Humans did not Make 2. Valuation Species 3. Improving Life 4. Transcendence in Philosophy and in Everyday Life 5. The Vague Hope of Immortality Part III. Problems for Communities 1. Both Better Off and Better: Moral Progress Amid Continuing Carnage 2. The Significance of Purposes for Bioethics 3. Grand Dreams of Perfect People 4. Researchers and their Subjects as Neighbors 5. Dying Old as a Social Problem Part IV. American Philosophers 1. The Insignificance of Individuals 2. Santayana as Pragmatist 3. Neoplatonic Elements in the Spiritual Life 4. Peirce: Inquiry as Social Life 5. Peirce and Santayana on Purposes 6. Metaphysics and the Social Construction of Human Nature

"This book is extremely well-written and well-argued, truly a joy to read. One gets the sense that one is in the presence of a wise person, with a knack for epigrams and an irrepressible sense of humor." -- Vincent Colapietro, Penn State University