The Nonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll
Summary
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The Nonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll by Ben-Ami Scharfstein
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.
"The desirability of having a book that draws together the interesting and important thought of an influential philosopher is not mysterious or controversialBut what is the aim of drawing together Scharfstein's essays? Perhaps, partly, it is a meta-philosophical 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 longstanding opposition to philosophical self-isolation." (Victor Kestenbaum, Boston University)"
Ben-Ami Scharfstein is professor emeritus of philosophy at Tel Aviv University. He is the author of many books, including Of Birds, Beasts, and Other Artists and Art Without Borders, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780226105758 |
| ISBN 10 | 022610575X |
| Title | The Nonsense of Kant and Lewis Carroll |
| Author | Ben-Ami Scharfstein |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | The University of Chicago Press |
| Year published | 2014-04-04 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |