Reading The Metaphysical Club

I am currently reading and enjoying Louis Menand's book The Metaphysical Club. I am currently listening to the audiobook, following along in the ebook edition, and, today, I picked up a hardcover copy from my local public library. That is what is called immersion reading.

The book is a deep dive into the ideas of John Dewey, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William James, Charles Sanders Pierce. Along the way Menand provides a tremendous amount of background on such topics as how the American Civil War affected intellectuals of the late nineteenth century, the rise of Darwinism, the decline of religion and philosophy as a foundation for teaching and learning at American colleges and universities, as well as mini-biographies of important figures like Henry James, Louis Agassiz, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The central idea that these three figures developed was not such much as a single idea as a new way of thinking. I suppose it is similar to the basic idea found in the works of Aristotle. That idea is that the universe is a rational system capable of being described in systematic fashion if humans put considerable effort into doing so.

So, if you are interested in the history of ideas, I recommend this book.