Archive for the intellectual life category

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 . . . [...]

Dascal on disputation & the analytical-continental divide

Posted on August 6th, 2008 in Carnap, French philosophy, Habermas, Heidegger, J. L. Austin, Jacques Derrida, John Searle, Kant, Karl Popper, Marcelo Dascal, Richard Rorty, Thomas Kuhn, Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, analytical philosophy, argumentation, continental philosophy, historiography of philosophy, intellectual life, irrationalism, philosophers, philosophical style, positivism, postmodernism, progress.

Dascal, Marcello. How rational can a polemic across the analytic-continental ‘divide’ be?, International Journal of Philosophical Studies 9(3): 313-339, 2001. In order to specify controversy’s position within the large family of polemical dialogues, I propose to distinguish between three members of the subfamily to which controversies belong. I will call them ‘discussion’, ‘dispute’, and ‘controversy’. [...]

Wired’s Patent-Pending Big-Idea Book Generator

Posted on May 14th, 2008 in Marshall McLuhan, culture industry, ideology, intellectual life, middlebrow intellectuals, social theory.

This is the big idea for our time! Honan, Mathew. “Concoct a Best-Seller With Wired‘s Patent-Pending Big-Idea Book Generator,” Wired Magazine, Issue 15.10, 09.25.07. I discovered this brilliant article in January. It’s more than an article; it both characterizes the “idea” sector of the culture industry and enhances its productivity. I envy the author’s ability [...]