Re-Reading Mead: The Mind-Body Dilemma and Sociology

Despite the growing influence of the works of George Herbert Mead on the development of modern sociological theory, sociologists limit their reading of Mead to only a few of his many writings. Not only has this neglect led to a shallow interpretation of Mead, but it has also led to misunderstandings concerning Mead's broader interests and has divorced his work from its historical connection to the discipline of philosophy. Drawing from the whole corpus of Mead's published writings as well as the many unpublished materials in the Mead archives at the University of Chicago, I seek to place Mead's work in just such an historical context. Specifically, I argue that Mead's work must be seen, in part, as an attempt to overcome certain aspects of the mind, and the mind-body problem which have their origins in Cartesian interactionism. I do not claim that Mead was responding specifically to Descartes, but rather to certain problems first raised by Cartesianism which remained unresolved by succeeding philosophers.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Smedley, Charles Vincent

• Sociology, Theory and Methods

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8701621

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/71016