The theory of experience that is developed here spans a wide range of issues and human undertakings. As a result, it draws on the work of many people, some of it more “classic” and some contemporary, across many fields and sub-disciplines. Where specific texts and individuals are drawn from, explicit mention of them is made in the text and the notes, and their works are listed in the bibliography.
As always happens, though, there are many other people who through sustained discussion over time, in fact in various ways, have had an influence on one’s thinking. This is especially true in a case like this, where the philosophical analyses are results of thinking that has spanned a fairly long period of time. Many people who have been influential in this way are not necessarily mentioned in the text or the notes, and I would like to thank them now; even some of those who are explicitly mentioned warrant additional acknowledgement.
I have been fortunate throughout my professional life to have a group of people with whom a close friendship was formed in graduate school and has continued and deepened in the years since. I will not list them here, but you know who you are. The Department of Philosophy at Stony Brook University in the mid- and late-1970s was, I think, a unique environment in this respect. We reinforced one another’s thinking then, and we have done so in the decades since. There is no doubt that without that network of intellectual colleagues and personal friends, my thinking on matters covered in this book, and many other aspects of my life, would have been much impoverished.
There are many other respects in which I have also been intellectually and personally fortunate. One of them has to do with philosophical relationships that have developed through participation in several organizations, most importantly the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, the Central European Pragmatist Forum, and the European Pragmatism Conference, and in the opportunity to try out some of the relevant ideas at meetings of these organizations. There have also been other conference and meetings, from Durham and Glasgow, to Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah, to Baku, Helsinki, Toledo and Malta, to New York and elsewhere in the US, where I have had the opportunity to discuss ideas that in one form or another appear here, and I am grateful to all those who took the time to listen, comment, criticize, and debate.
This is an appropriate place to mention the debt I owe to the late John J. McDermott. I was never formally a student of his, but for many years I regarded
I would like to acknowledge the support this project has received from the people at Brill, most importantly Andrew Fitz-Gibbon from the State University of New York at Cortland. He has been generous in his support of the manuscript and in his interest in including it within the Brill series of which he is the general editor. In the publication process the manuscript was read by two reviewers, and I am grateful for their valuable criticisms and suggestions, some of which I have incorporated.
Finally, and most importantly, I want to recognize the ubiquitous presence throughout of Dr. Lyubov Bugaeva. Her support, insights, and criticisms are critical to the book, and the pleasure of sharing a life with her is one of the reasons that thinking about experience is a rewarding enterprise for me.
The book attempts to develop new ways of thinking about some aspects of experience. To the extent that it succeeds, it does so in large measure as a result of what I have learned from others. Where it fails, I must, alas, take full responsibility myself.