Philosophy After Postmodernism: Civilized Values and the Scope of Knowledge (Routledge Studies in Twentieth Century Philosophy, 16) PDF
Preview Philosophy After Postmodernism: Civilized Values and the Scope of Knowledge (Routledge Studies in Twentieth Century Philosophy, 16)
Philosophy After Postmodernism Has the idea of civilization become outmoded? Do such things as postmodern cultural relativism and the atrocities of September 11th 2001 mean that it is no longer possible to talk of progress in the fields of knowledge and value? In this book Paul Crowther answers no to both questions. Formulating a new approach to philosophy which, instead of simply rejecting postmodern thought, tries to assimilate some of its main features, the author identifies conceptual links between value, knowledge, personal identity, and civilization understood as a process of cumulative advance. To establish these links Crowther deploys a refoundational mode of analytic philosophy influenced by Cassirer. This approach recontextualizes precisely those aspects of postmodernism which appear, superficially, to be fuel for the relativist fire. This method also enables him to illuminate some of the great prac- tical dangers of the postmodern era – most notably the widespread inability or unwillingness to distinguish between signs and reality. Through these means Crowther renews analytic philosophy as a searching form of conceptual and cultural critique that pushes beyond the limits of postmodern thought. Essential reading for advanced students and academics interested in Twentieth Century Philosophy, Philosophy After Postmodernism will also be of value to scholars working in the fields of Cultural Studies and Sociology. Paul Crowther is Professor of Art and Philosophy at the International University Bremen and was formerly a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. His previous books include Critical Aesthetics and Postmodernism(Clarendon Press, 1993). Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Philosophy 1 The Story of Analytic 9 Gaston Bachelard Philosophy Critic of Science and the Imagination Plot and Heroes Cristina Chimisso Edited by Anat Biletzki and Anat Matar 10 Hilary Putnam 2 Donald Davidson Pragmatism and Realism Truth, Meaning and Knowledge Edited by James Conant and Urszula Zeglen Edited by Urszula M. Zeglen 11 Karl Jaspers 3 Philosophy and Ordinary Politics and Metaphysics Language Chris Thornhill The Bent and Genius of Our Tongue Oswald Hanfling 12 From Kant to Davidson The Idea of the Transcendental in 4 The Subject in Question Twentieth-Century Philosophy Sartre’s Critique of Husserl in Edited by Jeff Malpas The Transcendence of the Ego Stephen Priest 13 Collingwood and the Metaphysics of Experience 5 Aesthetic Order A Reinterpretation A Philosophy of Order, Giuseppina D’Oro Beauty and Art Ruth Lorland 14 The Logic of Liberal Rights A Study in the Formal Analysis of 6 Naturalism Legal Discourse A Critical Analysis Eric Heinze Edited by William Lane Craig and J. P. Moreland 15 Real Metaphysics Edited by Hallvard Lillehammer and 7 Grammar in Early Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra Twentieth-Century Philosophy Richard Gaskin 16 Philosophy After Postmodernism 8 Rules, Magic and Civilized Values and the Scope of Instrumental Reason Knowledge A Critical Interpretation of Peter Paul Crowther Winch’s Philosophy of the Social Sciences Berel Dov Lerner Philosophy After Postmodernism Civilized values and the scope of knowledge Paul Crowther First published 2003 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. © 2003 Paul Crowther All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Philosophy after postmodernism: civilized values and the scope of knowledge / Paul Crowther. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Postmodernism. 2. Civilization–Philosophy. 3. Knowledge, Theory of. 4. Values. I. Title. B831.2.C76 2003 190'.9'051–dc11 2002045493 ISBN 0-203-41638-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-34070-1 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0–415–31036–9 (Print Edition) For Melvyn Marsden 28 February 1933–29 July 1935 Contents Acknowledgements ix Introduction: postmodernity, perspectivalism and supermodernism 1 PART I Civilization, postmodernity and philosophy 5 1 The intrinsic value and scope of civilization 7 2 From civilization to postmodernity: a context for refoundational philosophy 30 PART II Questions of knowledge 47 3 Refoundational knowledge: Cassirer’s epistemology 49 4 Imagination and objective knowledge 66 5 The cohesion of the self: moment, image and narrative 78 6 The limits of objective knowledge: what mind-independent reality must be 101 viii Contents PART III Questions of ethics 123 7 Narrative and self-consciousness: a basis for virtue ethics 125 8 Attacks upon civilization: some ethical and metaphysical issues 135 PART IV Critique 147 9 Against epistemological nihilism: contra Derrida, contra Welsch 149 10 From rock music to deep signification: Lacan with ¯i¿ek 162 11 Sociological imperialism and the field of cultural production: a critique of Bourdieu 173 12 Knowledge and the attack upon higher education 185 PART V Conclusion 207 Conclusion: conditions of critical autonomy 209 Appendix: McDowell and the problem of mind-independent reality 217 Notes 222 Index 231 Acknowledgements Chapter 7 was published under the same title in the Journal of Value Inquiry, issue 4, vol. 37, 2002. Chapter 10 was originally published as ‘Lacan and Zizek: An Introduction’ and ‘Leaving the Twentieth-Century: Lacan, Zizek, and the Sinthome’, both included in New Art From Eastern Europe: Art and Design, Profile no. 35, April 1994, pp. 76–9 and 88–95, respectively. Chapter 11 was originally published under the title ‘Sociological Imperialism and the Field of Cultural Production: The Case of Bourdieu’, in Theory, Culture, and Society, vol. II, 1994, pp. 155–69. All these papers have been revised for inclusion in the present volume.
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