In 1998, the philosophy department at the State University of New York College at Cortland created an innovative program focused on social philosophy. The key components of the program are social and political philosophy, ethics, and applied philosophy. In 2007, following the successful implementation of the program, the department formed the Center for Ethics Peace and Social Justice to extend the outreach of the program through publications, conferences, and a summer ethics institute for faculty. As part of that outreach, we are delighted to co-sponsor the VIBS special series in Social Philosophy.
John Ryder’s book is the sixth in the series and we are delighted to include it. The current book is a follow on from his 2013 The Things in Heaven and Earth (Fordham University Press), and continues his exploration of pragmatic naturalism. Ryder, a leading figure in that field, builds on his initial analysis of the tradition, and still avoiding naturalism’s reduction to materialism, moves to a consideration of experience in its political, aesthetic and cognitive dimensions, and in all of its many forms.
Andrew Fitz-Gibbon
Professor of Philosophy,
Chair, Philosophy Department,
Director, Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice
State University of New York College at Cortland
and VIBS Social Philosophy Special Series Editor