Abstract

The author challenges the narrow philosophical perspective that has characterized much contemporary Anglo-American philosophy and calls for both an expansion of the boundaries of experience and an understanding and appreciation of ordinary experience. Aware that he is dealing with dimensions of experience in which it is difficult to achieve conceptual clarity, McDermott echoes James, who wrote in Psychology—Briefer Course, "It is... the reinstatement of the vague and inarticulate to its proper place in our mental life which I am so anxious to press on the attention."