[lit-ideas] Antiphilosophical Philosophy

  • From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:51:00 +0100 (BST)

Theses for discussion on "anti-philosophy".


1. All (or nearly all) great philosophers are "anti-philosophical" in the sense 
that they are against much or most of what passes for philosophy; and not only 
against because its content is false or mistaken but because its content lacks 
much value.


2. Nevertheless their own views can be regarded as philosophical - more aptly 
than they can be regarded as something other than philosophy such as science or 
art.


3. The stance of being "anti-philosophical" is as old as philosophy itself: we 
may say that, at its most valuable, it represents the critical tendency to 
question the value of philosophy itself, and to question its character and 
status - to apply the philosophical mode of thought, where this might be 
regarded as the mode of critical reflection, to philosophy itself. Indeed, the 
"anti-philosophical" views of the great philosophers were put forward to 
develop and enhance what is worthwhile in philosophy by trying to make clear 
what is not 
worthwhile.

4. We may say that the "anti-philosophical" stance becomes uncritical when it 
is used as a way to deflate any attempt at philosophy irrespective of its 
content (and therefore of its possible value) - indeed, this stance is 
uncritical to the extent that it fails to see that it is itself unavoidably a 
philosophical stance, albeit one held (largely) uncritically.

5. We all, whether critically or uncritically, have beliefs and attitudes that 
may be best described as philosophical - and these may even have an important 
practical effect on the conduct of human affairs, including possibly disastrous 
effects [e.g. the philosophical roots of 'historicism' and 'fascism']. This 
makes understanding and appreciating these beliefs and attitudes, and their 
merits and demerits, something that is potentially illuminating of our human 
life and also something that may be of great practical consequence for how we 
conduct our life.

6. Nevertheless we typically find the pursuit of philosophical knowledge comes 
to a point beyond which it is hard to to advance much further, and so a law of 
diminishing returns may operate in terms of philosophy as an advance in 
knowledge. On the other hand, much of the value of philosophy may lie - as with 
art and even science (when considered as a purely intellectual product) - not 
in some kind of measurable 'advance' but as a pursuit enhancing our 
appreciation of life and its wonders 




Donal
Soothsayer and ancient Celt spirit
Available for children's parties







________________________________
 From: "Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx" <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Thursday, 23 August 2012, 3:18
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Eric Banks's Antiphilosophical Philosophy
 

It seems the antiphilosophical philosophy is Eric 
Banks's?
Cheers,
 
Speranza
 
---
Banks is the former editor in chief of Bookforum and currently the 
president of the National Book Critics Circle.
 
In a message dated 8/22/2012 9:49:07 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx writes:
From a review of Witold  Gombrowicz's diary. Literature, philosophy, Lit-Ideas 
>
>
>Whatever confessions fill these pages, they are as  philosophical as they are 
>personal, though in Gombrowicz’s universe the two  can never be neatly 
>separated. It would slight his arsenal of caustic bad  humor to say he 
>reserved the driest of his ammunition for those who would  philosophize from 
>on high, but he savaged the engagé model  of the intellectual with special 
>glee whenever the occasion arose. Look at how  he pulled the rug out from 
>under Sartre:
>When I applied maximum consciousness to life, in  an attempt to found my 
>existence on [authenticity], I noticed that  something stupid was happening to 
>me. Too bad, but no way. It can’t be  done. It seems impossible to meet the 
>demands of Dasein and  simultaneously have coffee and croissants for an 
>evening snack. To fear  nothingness, but to fear the dentist more. To be 
>consciousness, which  walks around in pants and talks on the telephone. To be 
>responsibility,  which runs little shopping errands downtown.
>This dismissal of all philosophy “speculated in  isolation from life” would 
>carry much less of a spark had it not come from a  writer who had studied 
>philosophy as a young man in Paris, whose Ferdydurke was  championed as a kind 
>of naive but no less sage anticipation of the postwar  gospels holding sway on 
>the Left Bank, who in fact peddled a course in  philosophy in Buenos Aires as 
>a way to help supplement his income. Yet how  decisively Gombrowicz lets the 
>air out of the philosophical balloon!
>It's cranking up to be another blistering August day in Yokohama.
>
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>John
>
>-- 
>John McCreery
>The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, 
  JAPAN
>Tel. +81-45-314-9324
>jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>http://www.wordworks.jp/
>

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