Creative Transformation: The Work of Conversion

This chapter extends the critique of transformation in American philosophy by looking at conversion thematically. It argues that the American philosophers are convinced that a genuine transformation of the form, content, and character of habits and inquiry is possible in experience. The origin of this transformation transcends experience and complete conscious control, but this transcendence can be discovered only by approaching the limit of self-consciously controlled change. The remainder of this chapter contains, first, some considerations concerning the shared methods of approach to transformation, especially in light of the religious character of this discussion in the pragmatists; and second, a thematic account of the transformation that becomes conversion.