The Only Sin is Limitation

Preface

American philosophers sought to develop a tradition of thought completely separate from the archaic wisdom of old Europe. The name they eventually settled on for this tradition, Pragmatism, reflects its practical nature and emphasis on common sense. It was a tradition developed to suit our original and unique condition. America was settled by peoples of various shades, languages, and creeds, united only by a shared optimistic attitude and a willingness to build an entirely new culture. The abundant land and resources of America contributed to the success and growth of this culture, and only reinforced American settlers’ optimism. Pragmatism might even be labeled as a philosophy of abundance and opportunity. Later philosophers sought to elucidate the American spirit and culture, and sought to add to it. This was the work of philosophers such as Emerson, Thoreau, James, and Dewey, and their musings now constitute the classical American tradition. The spring, 2009, Elon University American philosophy class sought to understand this tradition, which has so perfectly captured the singularity of the American experience.

Yet if the class wished to understand this new tradition, why would we seek to learn and understand it in an old way? The traditional American university classroom experience is largely a perpetuation of the old European model. Although there are many students in a traditional classroom, there is no sense of a learning community. The professor instructs a group of independent students, and each student demonstrates his or her proficiency of the instructed material individually. If one student helps another student on his or her proficiency demonstration, we call this “cheating,” as if communal knowledge was somehow dishonorable. A common theme among American philosophers is that while private knowledge is preferable to ignorance, communitarian knowledge is preferable to individual knowledge, for such knowledge is more useful. Thus, wishing to contribute to our community, and in a nod to American philosophers, our class decided to make our knowledge public.

Instead of writing traditional term papers, each student in our class wrote an article length essay to be published in an anthology of philosophical writings. In this way, our collective knowledge has the potential to be meaningful to the American community at large, who are able to read this anthology for inspiration and intellectual value. The essays concern the relevance of the teachings of Emerson in modern American life along with comparative studies of other noted American philosophers, figures, phenomena and ideas. Topics ranged from Bob Dylan to electric cars to political dualism, and beyond. Concerns over what grades each student would receive were almost irrelevant; what mattered was that these American students had found an outlet of expression to aid their compatriots. And although only 10 essays were selected for this anthology, everyone in the class contributed their opinions, their efforts, and their motivation to make this book happen.

It was an ambitious project, but as the presence of this book proves, it was certainly not an impossible one. Despite time restrictions (these essays were completed in a time frame shorter than a semester), our class never had any doubts that this anthology would be completed. For nearly all of us, this was the most important thing we had ever done during our formal education. It was not about grades, or credits, or professional experience. It was more important than these concerns. Our uniquely American optimism and confidence in our own abilities (which are no doubt responsible for the success of this project) are reflected in the title of our anthology, a quote from Emerson. “The only sin is limitation.” Our class did not succumb to this sin. Hopefully, our work will inspire other Americans to heed Emerson’s teachings, and not succumb to limitations themselves.

Nick Sharrer

Spring 2009, Elon University