After Emerson by John T Lysaker

After Emerson by John T Lysaker

John T. Lysaker works between and weaves together questions and replies in philosophical psychology, Emerson studies, and ethics in this book of deep existential questioning. Each essay in this atypical, philosophical book employs recurring terms, phrases, and questions that characterize our contemporary age. Setting out from the idea of where we are in an almost literal sense, Lysaker takes readers on an intellectual journey into thematic concerns and commitments of broad interest, such as the nature of self and self-experience, ethical life, poetry and philosophy, and history and race. In the manner of Emerson, Cavell, and Rorty, Lysaker's vibrant writing is certain to have a transformative effect on American philosophy today.

"[T]he writing is stimulating, vibrant, challenging, risky, and fecundRecommended."—Choice
"An original and stimulating book, manifesting a level of reflection and existential concern of the highest order. It is intellectually and personally honest."—Robert E. Innis, author of Susanne Langer in Focus
"There is something fresh and hence refreshing in the manner in which John T. Lysaker takes up familiar topics. He shows, with both arresting details and an evolving design, how the conduct of life (to use Emerson's expression) demands a form of thought frequently at odds with contemporary fashions and preoccupations, with institutionally entrenched approaches and all too rigidly policed discourses."—Vincent Colapietro, author of Experience, Interpretation, and Community

John T. Lysaker is Professor of Philosophy at Emory University. He is author of Emerson and Self-Culture (IUP).