Synopses & Reviews
In Reshaping Reason, John McCumber breathes new life into American philosophy. Moving past the tired divide between "analytic" and "continental" camps, he proposes new directions to unite a discipline which has become more unfocused and invisible. McCumber recommends a new set of rational tools to enable philosophers and then puts these tools to work to redefine epistemology, ontology, and ethics. Reshaping Reason explores philosophy's achievements and failures in a cold light and paves the way for the discipline to become more meaningful and relevant to society at large.
Review
"This is one of the most important books in philosophy in the 21st century. McCumber develops a new vocabulary and a new way of thinking outside the box concerning seven traditional ontologies, beginning with Plato.... Lively, original, provocative... he attains a new level of ethics and politics, and addresses the current world situation." --Choice Indiana University Press Indiana University Press
Synopsis
In Reshaping Reason, John McCumber advocates new life for American philosophy. At present, McCumber believes, American philosophy is ready to go in new directions, but American philosophers remain hopelessly divided between analytic or Continental approaches. There seems to be no middle ground, and the debate between the two traditions has created indifference to the field, both in wider intellectual culture and among philosophers themselves. Here, McCumber brings together aspects of analytic and Continental philosophy to give, for the first time, a fully temporalized account of reason. He proposes an expanded set of rational tools for reason and with these tools takes a fresh look at key issues in ontology, ethics, and social philosophy. This is a gutsy and ambitious book that not only shows philosophy's achievements and failures in cold light, but suggests how philosophy might become more rigorous and relevant to society at large.
About the Author
John McCumber is Professor of Germanic Languages at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is author of Metaphysics and Oppression (IUP, 1999) and Philosophy and Freedom (IUP, 2000).