Office: Winn 103B
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FAX: (704) 687-2172
Email: mleldrid@uncc.edu

Table of Contents

Lectures

The following public lectures are available for presentation:

·  Pragmatism-Old and New

·  Dewey, World War I and Social Intelligence (developed as Power Point presentation)

·  Pragmatism and Religion: Naturalizing the Unnatural (developed as Power Point presentation)

·  American Agent, Hungarian Luck (developed as Power Point presentation)

The following public lectures are in preparation:

·  Pragmatism as a Way of Life: Is Intelligence Enough?

·  Pragmatism's Problem--and Opportunity

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Education

·  B.A. 1964 Harding College

·  B.D. 1969 Yale Divinity School

·  M.A. 1980 Columbia University

·  Ph.D. 1985 University of Florida

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Current (and Recent) Projects

·  Proposal submitted to Continuum Books for a comprehensive reference book on contemporary pragmatism

·  Participated in conferences in Brazil (World Conference for the Development of Cities, February 2008), Czech Republic (Central European Pragmatist Forum, May 2008), and Finland (Nordic Pragmatism, June 2008)

·  "No Permanent Solutions: Pragmatic Idealism and Giving People What They Want," the Atlantic Coast Pragmatist Meeting, Virginia Tech, March 31, 2007 and the University of Calabria, Italy, May 23-27, 2007

·  "The Social Origin of Morality: Dewey's Pragmatic Ethics," presented at the joint meeting of the North Carolina and South Carolina Philosophical Societies, University of South Carolina, February, 2006; Atlantic Coast Pragmatist Meeting, University of Virginia, April 1-2; Central European Pragmatist Forum, University of Szeged, Hungary, May 27-June 1, 2006

·  organized and chaired session on James Campbell's A Thoughtful Profession: The Early Years of the American Philosophical Association (Open Court, 2006) at the Eastern Division annual meeting of the American Philosophical Association, December 29, 2006

·  “The Little-Known and Often-Misunderstood Dewey—Revealed,” in session on "The Correspondence of John Dewey: A Celebration," Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy,  Eastern Division annual meeting of the American Philosophical Association, December 28, 2006

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Discussions of and References to My Work

• Larry A. Hickman, Philosophical Tools for Technological Culture (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001), pp. 143-6
• Michael Glassman, "Dewey and Vygotsky: Society, Experience, and Inquiry in Educational Practice, Educational Researcher 30 (May 2001): 5, 7
• Shaun O'Dwyer, "The Classical Conservative Challenge to Dewey," Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy 37 (Fall 2001): 495, 500
• Victor Kestenbaum, The Grace and Severity of the Ideal: John Dewey and the Transcendent (The University of Chicago Press, 2002), p. 15f.
• Donald Morris, "Pragmatism and the Tragic Sense of Life," Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy 37 (Fall 2001): 560.
• Ray Boisvert, "Updating Dewey: A Reply to Morse," Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy 37 (Fall 2001): 576-7, 581

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Courses

• Contemporary Moral Thinking
• Critical Thinking
• Introduction to Philosophy
• Deductive Logic
• Theory of Knowledge
• American Philosophy
• Ethics

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Academic Employment

• 1995 to present, Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, UNC Charlotte
• 1989-1995, Assistant Professor and (until 1994) Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Queens College, Charlotte, NC
• 1986-89, Assistant Professor and (from 1987) Director, Discipline of Philosophy, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama
• 1985-86, Department of Religion, University of Florida

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Publications

Book

Transforming Experience: John Dewey's Cultural Instrumentalism (Vanderbilt University Press, 1998)

CD-ROM

(Thirty-five thousand word) Introduction to Volume II of The Correspondence of John Dewey, 1919-39, Past Masters Series (InteLex, 2001)

Other

·  "When Philosophy Became What It Is Today," Transactions of the C. S. Peirce Society (Spring 2007)

·  "Felix Adler," "George Boas," "Paul Carus," "John Dewey's A Common Faith," "John Dewey on Religion," "The Pluralist Revolt," and "The Quest for Being,"  American Philosophy: An Encyclopedia, John Lachs and Robert Talisse, editors (Routledge, forthcoming 2007)

·  "John Dewey," Biographical Encyclopedia of British Idealism,  William Sweet, gen. ed. (Bristol, UK: Thoemmes-Continuum Press, to be published in 2007)

·  "Philosophy," American History through Literature, 1870-1920, 3 vols. Eds. Tom Quirk and Gary Scharnhorst (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006)

·  "John Dewey," Dictionary of Modern American Philosophy, John R. Shook, gen. ed. (Thoemmes Continuum; 2005)

· "Dewey's Bulldog and the Eclipse of Pragmatism," Sidney Hook Reconsidered, edited by Matthew J. Cotter (Prometheus Books, 2004)

· "Social Reconstruction and Philosophy," Deconstruction and Reconstruction, edited by John Ryder and Krystyna Wilkoszewska (Rodopi, 2004)

·  "Pragmatism's Elusive Life-Enhancing Social Philosophy," Pragmatism and Values, edited by John Ryder and Emil Višnovský (Rodopi, 2004)

·  "Chapter 4: Naturalism," Blackwell Guide to American Philosophy, edited by Armen Marsoobian and John Ryder (2004)

·  "Dewey on Race and Social Change," Pragmatism and the Problem of Race, edited by Bill E. Lawson and Donald F. Koch (Indiana University Press, 2004)

·  "Lottando con l’eredità di Dewey: la sfida di Kerstenbaum,” Studi Sulla Formazione 6 (2003): 50-56; a solicited article for a special issue, “L’attualità di John Dewey”

· "Dewey's Limited Shelf Life: A Consumer Warning," Passing Dewey By, edited by William Gavin (State University of New York Press, 2003)

· "The Teachers Union Fight and the Scope of Dewey's Logic," Dewey's Logical Theory: New Studies and Interpretations, edited by Tom Burke, Micah Hester and Robert Talisse (Vanderbilt University Press, 2002)

 

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Awards and Honors

• Phi Beta Kappa, University of Florida, 1985
• 1992-93 Arete (the Queens College year book) Dedicatee
• 1999 Democracy and Education Fellow, The Center for Dewey Studies
• Fulbright Scholar, Departments of American Studies and Philosophy, Fall 2004, University of Szeged, Hungary
• Fulbright Senior Specialists Candidate Roster, 2005-10

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Professional Service

• Secretary,  Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, 2006 to present
• Treasurer, International Pragmatism Society, 2005 to present
• Executive Committee, Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, 2000-03
• Delegate to the World Congress, Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, 2004-2008

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