A Dark History of Modern Philosophy

161 Pages·2017·6.199 MB·English

by  Bernard Freydberg

a DARK HISTORY of MODERN
PHILOSOPHY
STUDIES IN CONTINENTAL THOUGHT
John Sallis, editor
Consulting Editors
Robert Bernasconi James Risser
John D. Caputo Dennis J. Schmidt
David Carr Calvin O. Schrag
Edward S. Casey Charles E. Scott
David Farrell Krell Daniela Vallega- Neu
Lenore Langsdorf David Wood
a DAR K HISTORY
of MODER N
PHILOSOPH Y
Bernard Freydberg
Indiana University Press
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
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Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress . indiana . edu
© 2017 by Bernard Freydberg
All rights reserved
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Cataloging information is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-253-02935-5 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-253-02946-1 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-253-03024-5 (ebook)
1 2 3 4 5 22 21 20 19 18 17
To Akiko Kotani
“I would not wish any companion
in the world but you.”
— The Tempest, act 3, scene 1

Contents
Acknowle dgments ix
Preliminary Matters 1
1 Fissures in the History of Modern Philosophy 11
Prelude: On Anteriority 33
2 Spinoza’s Abysmal Rationalism 39
Intermezzo: On the Putative History of German Idealism 81
3 Unruly Greek Schelling 87
Coda: Nietz sche as Crux 123
Bibliography 131
Index 137

Acknowl edgments
T
his, my most ambitious book to date, took a very long time to com-
plete. From the outset, I believed strongly that the guiding idea was both
original and worthwhile. At the onset of my work on it, I was grievously
overconfident both as an author and as a thinker. Somehow I supposed
that if I “loosened up” and wrote from “inspired intuition,” the impact
would be stunning. Fueled by this conceit, I completed a draft several
years ago. The two close friends to whom I sent it, Richard Findler and
Christopher Yates, each responded that they supported the idea, but ever
so g ently let me know that the writing did not communicate well at all.
I am very grateful for their valuable input, which saved me from the
embarrassment I would surely have suffered had I submitted it for poten-
tial (and hopeless) publication. I knew at once that the draft was a disas-
ter. I attempted two all-o ut revisions, and concluded firmly that I did not
have to troub le t hese two fine phi los o phers again. My own reading con-
firmed its disheartening incomprehensibility. It sat on the shelf, and
when I was asked what my next large proj ect would be, I told them that I
had a pretty good idea for my would-be ninth book but was too stupid to
write it.
At the 2015 Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
meeting in Atlanta, the last paper I heard before I had to head to the air-
port was on the role of reason in Schelling, presented by Mark Thomas.
I had not known of the presenter earlier. but the penetrating discern-
ment of his paper thrilled me and provoked me. The Q and A that took
place between Mark Thomas, my dear friend Dennis J. Schmidt, who
moderated, and me somehow dislodged the boulder in my head. I had a
guiding thread for A Dark History of Modern Philosophy: Anteriority. I
took the early failed drafts off the shelf, and with surprising alacrity
managed to complete it in just a few months. Big thanks also go to Mark
Thomas and Denny Schmidt.
Once again, I am very grateful to Michael Rudar for both his work on
the text and his helpful critical comments. Kathleen Manning remains