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Nonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll : Unexpected Essays on Philosophy, Art, Life, and Death by Ben-Ami Scharfstein (2014, Hardcover)
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
ISBN-10022610575X
ISBN-139780226105758
eBay Product ID (ePID)14038281222
Product Key Features
Number of Pages256 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication NameNonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll : Unexpected Essays on Philosophy, Art, Life, and Death
Publication Year2014
SubjectHistory & Surveys / General, Individual Philosophers, General, History & Surveys / Modern, Aesthetics, Political, European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
TypeTextbook
Subject AreaLiterary Criticism, Art, Philosophy
AuthorBen-Ami Scharfstein
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height0.1 in
Item Weight17.1 Oz
Item Length0.9 in
Item Width0.6 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional
LCCN2013-040563
ReviewsThe desirability of having a book that draws together the interesting and important thought of an influential philosopher is not mysterious or controversial. But what is the aim of drawing together Scharfstein's essays? Perhaps, partly, it is a metaphilosophical workshop, a picture of how a philosopher is able to, over the course of decades, practice a 'generalized attentiveness,' and in doing so 'disregard the borders' of the disciplines. The book makes vivid and compelling Scharfstein's long standing opposition to philosophical self-isolation., Scharfstein can always be counted on to provide fresh and at times surprising perspectives on topics of reflective interest. Unusual for a philosopher, his deliberations are routinely informed by wide-ranging nonphilosophical reading, in a broad spectrum of disciplines and cultures. Scharfstein's insatiable curiosity ensures a firm factual basis for his writing, which he then transcends to enter the realm of philosophical reflection. Unusual, too, are such conscious attempts to write as clearly and accessibly as possible, and of course the near century of scholarly and personal experience that Scharfstein brings to his most recent work., A Renaissance man (or woman) worthy of the name is not just someone who happens to be knowledgeable in a number of different fields, including both arts and sciences, but someone who, in addition to this, possesses a temperament that combines curiosity concerning not only what is known but also what is not known and perhaps cannot be known, tolerance, humane skepticism, and, inevitably, some opinions with which any given person will disagree (as a Kant enthusiast, I myself have been quarreling with Ben-Ami about Kant for as long as I can remember!). Scharfstein is a man of the Renaissance in this demanding sense, and his books-which include some of the best studies there are on world art and comparative philosophy-show one or another side of his immense learning, wisdom, humor, and individuality. The Nonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll is a set of reflections on Scharfstein's life and work that provides stimulation and pleasure in equal measure to heart and mind. It belongs in every civilized person's library.
TitleLeadingThe
Dewey Edition23
IllustratedYes
Dewey Decimal100
Table Of ContentAcknowledgments Introduction * You, Me, Kant, and Carroll 1 * The Nonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll 2 * A Comparatist's Risks and Rewards 3 * A Handful of Rules against Philosophical Self-Isolation 4 * What Death Makes of Philosophy 5 * Keeping the World Together 6 * The Common Universe of Aesthetics 7 * Are the Deaf and Blind Epistemologically Isolated? 8 * Pain, Cruelty, and Pathology in Art 9 * On the Transparency and Opacity of Philosophers 10 * The Three Philosophical Traditions 11 * Does Philosophy Progress? 12 * Nonutopian Observations on Machiavellism 13 * On the Nature and Limits of Ineffability * Ineffabilities Are the Demons and Angels of Incompleteness and Incompletability * What Can and Cannot Words Express? 14 * The Bird with Bread in Its Beak 15 * You, Me, and Kaufmann's Discovering the Mind Sources Notes
SynopsisImagine if it were Kant and not Alice that fell into the rabbit's hole. This is the challenge of the lead essay in Ben-Ami Scharfstein's outstanding new collection of essays. In exploring such a comical possibility, Scharfstein discovers unexpected and remarkable parallels between Kant and Lewis Carroll as authors, and their most famous works. He thus sets the stage for his wide-ranging approach to comparative philosophy in which context is everything but always incomplete and elusive. Thus the essays tackle the question of how philosophers' lives affect their philosophies, the commonalities of Eastern, South Asian, and Western aesthetics and art, and a whole range of issues central to Scharfstein's profoundly humanistic and human outlook. The result is a volume that will introduce readers to an approach to philosophy and a philosopher they will never forget., What if Immanuel Kant floated down from his transcendental heights, straight through Alice's rabbit hole, and into the fabulous world of Lewis Carroll? For Ben-Ami Scharfstein this is a wonderfully instructive scenario and the perfect way to begin this wide-ranging collection of decades of startlingly synthesized thought. Combining a deep knowledge of psychology, cultural anthropology, art history, and the history of religions-not to mention philosophy-he demonstrates again and again the unpredictability of writing and thought and how they can teach us about our experiences. Scharfstein begins with essays on the nature of philosophy itself, moving from an autobiographical account of the trials of being a comparativist to philosophy's function in the outside world to the fear of death in Kant and Hume. From there he explores an impressive array of art: from China and Japan to India and the West; from an essay on sadistic and masochistic body art to one on the epistemology of the deaf and the blind. He then returns to philosophy, writing on Machiavelli and political ruthlessness, then on the ineffable, and closes with a review of Walter Kaufmann's multivolume look at the essence of humanity, Discovering the Mind . Altogether, these essays are a testament to adventurous thought, the kind that leaps to the furthest reaches of the possible., What if Immanuel Kant floated down from his transcendental heights, straight through Alice's rabbit hole, and into the fabulous world of Lewis Carroll? For Ben-Ami Scharfstein this is a wonderfully instructive scenario and the perfect way to begin this wide-ranging collection of decades of startlingly synthesized thought. Combining a deep knowledge of psychology, cultural anthropology, art history, and the history of religions--not to mention philosophy--he demonstrates again and again the unpredictability of writing and thought and how they can teach us about our experiences. Scharfstein begins with essays on the nature of philosophy itself, moving from an autobiographical account of the trials of being a comparativist to philosophy's function in the outside world to the fear of death in Kant and Hume. From there he explores an impressive array of art: from China and Japan to India and the West; from an essay on sadistic and masochistic body art to one on the epistemology of the deaf and the blind. He then returns to philosophy, writing on Machiavelli and political ruthlessness, then on the ineffable, and closes with a review of Walter Kaufmann's multivolume look at the essence of humanity, Discovering the Mind . Altogether, these essays are a testament to adventurous thought, the kind that leaps to the furthest reaches of the possible.
LC Classification NumberB799.S38 2014
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