Timeliness of George Herbert Mead

Joas Hans, Huebner Daniel R.

George Herbert Mead is widely considered one of the most influential American philosophers of the twentieth century, and his work remains vibrant and relevant to many areas of scholarly inquiry today".The Timeliness of George Herbert Mead" brings together a range of scholars who provide detailed analyses of Mead's importance to innovative fields of scholarship, including cognitive science, environmental studies, democratic epistemology, and social ethics, non-teleological historiography, and the history of the natural and social sciences. Edited by well-respected Mead scholars Hans Joas and Daniel R. Huebner, the volume as a whole makes a coherent statement that places Mead in dialogue with current research, pushing these domains of scholarship forward while also revitalizing the growing literature on an author who has an ongoing and major influence on sociology, psychology, and philosophy.

About the Author

Hans Joas is the Ernst Troeltsch Professor for the Sociology of Religion at the Humboldt University of Berlin and professor of sociology and social thought at the University of Chicago. He is the author of many books, including "The Sacredness of the Person: A New Genealogy of Human Rights".

Daniel R. Huebner is assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author of "Becoming Mead: The Social Process of Academic Knowledge".

Together, Joas and Huebner prepared "Mind, Self, and Society: The Definitive Edition", published in 2015 by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews

"A comprehensive and extremely useful collection of contemporary scholarship on the work of America's most thoughtful and original social theorist" – Michael Tomasello, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

"This first-rate collection of essays by European and North American scholars showcases cutting edge research. It demonstrates Mead's importance as a founding pragmatist and his relevance to current developments in historiography, sociology, environmental philosophy, neuroscience, and much more. It is surely a must-read for anyone interested in the roots and continuing development of American philosophy" – Larry H. Hickman, director emeritus, Center for Dewey Studies, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

"George Herbert Mead is an important figure in the development of both Chicago pragmatism and sociology, one whose work has finally begun to receive the careful attention it deserves. The thoughtful essays written by a variety of scholars for this volume do an outstanding job of explaining Mead's ideas and showing their continuing relevance for areas of contemporary scholarly concern. Joas and Huebner are to be congratulated for their excellent editorial work in bringing these essays to publication" – Gary A. Cook, author of "George Herbert Mead: The Making of a Social Pragmatist"

Back to the list of books