Archive for the academia category

Chinese philosophy in crisis?

Posted on October 18th, 2008 in Chinese Philosophy, academia.

Boo-hoo. APA Newsletter on the State of the Field « Manyul Im’s Chinese Philosophy Blog Preview of Upcoming APA Newsletter on State of the Field « Manyul Im’s Chinese Philosophy Blog

Ethnoepistemology

Posted on October 18th, 2008 in African philosophy, Alvin Goldman, American Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Native American philosophy, Richard Rorty, academia, anthropology, epistemology, ethnoepistemology, ethnophilosophy, globalization, identity politics, intellectual life, irrationalism, liberalism, multiculturalism, naturalized epistemology, orientalism, pluralism, postmodernism, reflexivity, relativism, truth.

Originally titled “Ethnoepistemology, my ass!”, written 2 August 2008. Excuse all the cuss words. I’ve cut out a few of the epithets, but I’m preserving the flavor of my diatribe. * * * * * Ethnoepistemology (James Maffie), The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. There are often lapses and biases in reference works in the humanities [...]

The Institution of Philosophy (4)

Posted on August 14th, 2008 in Carnap, Heidegger, Joseph Margolis, Marcelo Dascal, Quine, academia, analytical philosophy, continental philosophy, historicism, historiography of philosophy, intellectual life, naturalism, philosophers, positivism, postmodernism.

Cohen, Avner; Dascal, Marcelo; eds. The Institution of Philosophy: A Discipline in Crisis? La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1989. Joseph Margolis, “Radical Philosophy and Radical History,” pp. 249-270. Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Derrida may have wanted to put an end to traditional philosophy, but at most they provided self-corrective measures, not the therapies they though they [...]

The Institution of Philosophy (3)

Posted on August 14th, 2008 in American Philosophy, Marcelo Dascal, Richard Rorty, academia, analytical philosophy, continental philosophy, historiography of philosophy, intellectual life, philosophers, postmodernism, semantics.

Cohen, Avner; Dascal, Marcelo; eds. The Institution of Philosophy: A Discipline in Crisis? La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1989. Hilary Putnam, “Why Is a Philosopher?”, pp. 61-75. Putnam expresses his distemper with positivism and postmodernism, discusses the problem of language and the beloved philosopher’s problem of the brain-in-a-vat, and proposes his philosophy of internal realism. [...]

The Institution of Philosophy (2)

Posted on August 13th, 2008 in American Philosophy, Chaim Perelman, Marcelo Dascal, academia, analytical philosophy, continental philosophy, intellectual life, philosophers, postmodernism.

Cohen, Avner; Dascal, Marcelo; eds. The Institution of Philosophy: A Discipline in Crisis? La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1989. Much of this book is a portrait of bankruptcy, permeated by the stench of Richard Rorty. Here are a few stool specimens. Hector-Neri Castaneda, “Philosophy as a Science and as a Worldview,” pp. 35-60. Castaneda is [...]

The Institution of Philosophy (1)

Posted on August 10th, 2008 in Collingwood, Descartes, Donald Davidson, Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, Marcelo Dascal, Quentin Skinner, Quine, Richard Rorty, academia, analytical philosophy, continental philosophy, historiography of philosophy, intellectual life, irrationalism, modernity, philosophers, positivism, postmodernism, progress.

Cohen, Avner; Dascal, Marcelo; eds. The Institution of Philosophy: A Discipline in Crisis? La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1989. When I first surveyed this anthology four years ago, the name Marcelo Dascal, whose work is currently under review, was unknown to me. My assessment of this book was . . . er . . . [...]

Rorty’s ideology: Achieving Our Country

Posted on May 23rd, 2007 in American Philosophy, Black Studies, James Baldwin, John Dewey, Marxism, Michel Foucault, Richard Rorty, Walt Whitman, academia, communitarianism, democracy, ideology, individualism, left, postmodernism, pragmatism, religion.

[Deepening Democracy in Global Contexts, Chapter One] Achieving Our Country, Achieving Our World: Baldwin, Rorty, and Social Hope Judith M. Green, Fordham University If anything shows up the ideological nature and ultimate uselessness of pragmatism, this review does, first, by exposing the selective attention, nostalgia, myth-making and wish-fulfillment upon which Rorty’s social vision rests, and [...]