Peter Dula
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395037
- eISBN:
- 9780199894451
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395037.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
For decades, theologians and philosophers of religion have been engaged in vigorous debate about the status and nature of ecclesiology, hence of community. In that discussion, theologians have found ...
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For decades, theologians and philosophers of religion have been engaged in vigorous debate about the status and nature of ecclesiology, hence of community. In that discussion, theologians have found resources in political philosophy, particularly communitarianism and political liberalism. This book turns instead to Stanley Cavell to show how his work illuminates that discussion, in particular, how his understanding of companionship and friendship might usefully complicate the communitarian‐liberal divide. Since the 1960s, Cavell has been the most category‐defying philosopher in North America as well as one of the least understood. In part, this is because philosophers are not sure what to do with Cavell's extensive engagements with literature and film or, stranger yet, Cavell's openness to theological concerns. This book, the first on Cavell and theology, places Cavell in conversation with some of the philosophers most influential in contemporary theology (Alasdair MacIntyre, Martha Nussbaum, and John Rawls). It then takes up Cavell's relationship to Christian theology, shows how the figure of Christ appears repeatedly in his work, and illustrates how Cavell's account of skepticism and acknowledgment is a profoundly illuminating and transformative resource for theological discussions, not just of ecclesiology, but of sin, salvation, and the existence of God.Less
For decades, theologians and philosophers of religion have been engaged in vigorous debate about the status and nature of ecclesiology, hence of community. In that discussion, theologians have found resources in political philosophy, particularly communitarianism and political liberalism. This book turns instead to Stanley Cavell to show how his work illuminates that discussion, in particular, how his understanding of companionship and friendship might usefully complicate the communitarian‐liberal divide. Since the 1960s, Cavell has been the most category‐defying philosopher in North America as well as one of the least understood. In part, this is because philosophers are not sure what to do with Cavell's extensive engagements with literature and film or, stranger yet, Cavell's openness to theological concerns. This book, the first on Cavell and theology, places Cavell in conversation with some of the philosophers most influential in contemporary theology (Alasdair MacIntyre, Martha Nussbaum, and John Rawls). It then takes up Cavell's relationship to Christian theology, shows how the figure of Christ appears repeatedly in his work, and illustrates how Cavell's account of skepticism and acknowledgment is a profoundly illuminating and transformative resource for theological discussions, not just of ecclesiology, but of sin, salvation, and the existence of God.
Peter Dula
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395037
- eISBN:
- 9780199894451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395037.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Unlike most contemporary philosophers, Cavell refuses to dismiss theological concerns and remains respectfully open to theological dialogue, confessing that “to choose between Judaism and ...
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Unlike most contemporary philosophers, Cavell refuses to dismiss theological concerns and remains respectfully open to theological dialogue, confessing that “to choose between Judaism and Christianity is … still a live issue for me.” This chapter examines the moments in his work when those theological concerns surface most explicitly. Drawing on the work of Rowan Williams and Karl Barth, it shows how Cavell's account of the human and a theological anthropology rooted in the incarnation can be important resources for each other.Less
Unlike most contemporary philosophers, Cavell refuses to dismiss theological concerns and remains respectfully open to theological dialogue, confessing that “to choose between Judaism and Christianity is … still a live issue for me.” This chapter examines the moments in his work when those theological concerns surface most explicitly. Drawing on the work of Rowan Williams and Karl Barth, it shows how Cavell's account of the human and a theological anthropology rooted in the incarnation can be important resources for each other.
Peter Dula
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395037
- eISBN:
- 9780199894451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395037.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The ordinary is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the work of Cavell and Wittgenstein. This chapter provides an introduction to the ordinary in order to correct common misconceptions of the ...
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The ordinary is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the work of Cavell and Wittgenstein. This chapter provides an introduction to the ordinary in order to correct common misconceptions of the ordinary, initiate the reader to Cavell's work, and show how his investigations of skepticism in philosophy and in literature illuminate one another. It does so by closely reading particular texts and themes in Cavell's work: narcissism (Molière's Misanthrope), tragedy (King Lear), comedy (the Hollywood comedies of remarriage).Less
The ordinary is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the work of Cavell and Wittgenstein. This chapter provides an introduction to the ordinary in order to correct common misconceptions of the ordinary, initiate the reader to Cavell's work, and show how his investigations of skepticism in philosophy and in literature illuminate one another. It does so by closely reading particular texts and themes in Cavell's work: narcissism (Molière's Misanthrope), tragedy (King Lear), comedy (the Hollywood comedies of remarriage).
Garry L. Hagberg
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199234226
- eISBN:
- 9780191715440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199234226.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language
This chapter discusses the distinction between the mental and the physical as being not reducible to a simple categorically-neat formula, the meaning of phrases such as ‘the inner gaze’ and the very ...
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This chapter discusses the distinction between the mental and the physical as being not reducible to a simple categorically-neat formula, the meaning of phrases such as ‘the inner gaze’ and the very idea of observing consciousness, the picture of metaphysical seclusion, Stanley Cavell and the ordinary voice versus the metaphysical voice, and language-games of subjectivity. The philosophically-significant uses of ‘subjective’, ‘objective’, ‘private’, and ‘public’ are explained.Less
This chapter discusses the distinction between the mental and the physical as being not reducible to a simple categorically-neat formula, the meaning of phrases such as ‘the inner gaze’ and the very idea of observing consciousness, the picture of metaphysical seclusion, Stanley Cavell and the ordinary voice versus the metaphysical voice, and language-games of subjectivity. The philosophically-significant uses of ‘subjective’, ‘objective’, ‘private’, and ‘public’ are explained.
Áine Mahon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226267890
- eISBN:
- 9780226268088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226268088.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Stanley Cavell has always urged philosophical writing to follow lines of the subjective and the intimately revelatory. His work on philosophical scepticism, in particular, develops with a personal ...
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Stanley Cavell has always urged philosophical writing to follow lines of the subjective and the intimately revelatory. His work on philosophical scepticism, in particular, develops with a personal urgency markedly at odds with the usual standards and styles of contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. Áine Mahon follows these lines of the subjective from Cavell’s earliest work on scepticism and modernism to his 2010 memoir, Little Did I Know; Excerpts from Memory. Pushing further on the philosopher’s writerly risks and realisations, and distilling from his idiosyncratic oeuvre three guiding anxieties – “fraudulence”, “obscurity” and “exposure” – in point throughout Mahon’s discussion is Cavell’s very paradoxical combination of the autobiographical and the philosophical, of the personal and the transcendent.Less
Stanley Cavell has always urged philosophical writing to follow lines of the subjective and the intimately revelatory. His work on philosophical scepticism, in particular, develops with a personal urgency markedly at odds with the usual standards and styles of contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. Áine Mahon follows these lines of the subjective from Cavell’s earliest work on scepticism and modernism to his 2010 memoir, Little Did I Know; Excerpts from Memory. Pushing further on the philosopher’s writerly risks and realisations, and distilling from his idiosyncratic oeuvre three guiding anxieties – “fraudulence”, “obscurity” and “exposure” – in point throughout Mahon’s discussion is Cavell’s very paradoxical combination of the autobiographical and the philosophical, of the personal and the transcendent.
Peter Dula
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395037
- eISBN:
- 9780199894451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395037.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter compares Stanley Cavell's moral philosophy to Alasdair MacIntyre's influential variety of communitarianism. It argues that Cavell shares with MacIntyre a vigorous critique of mid‐century ...
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This chapter compares Stanley Cavell's moral philosophy to Alasdair MacIntyre's influential variety of communitarianism. It argues that Cavell shares with MacIntyre a vigorous critique of mid‐century orthodoxies, such as emotivism, utilitarianism, and quandary ethics. Yet Cavell has little use for communitarian keywords such as narrative, tradition, and community. MacIntyre's misreading of Henry James's Portrait of a Lady provides an instructive example of how one sort of overemphasis on community serves to obscure individual differences which should be allowed to complicate community‐centered approaches.Less
This chapter compares Stanley Cavell's moral philosophy to Alasdair MacIntyre's influential variety of communitarianism. It argues that Cavell shares with MacIntyre a vigorous critique of mid‐century orthodoxies, such as emotivism, utilitarianism, and quandary ethics. Yet Cavell has little use for communitarian keywords such as narrative, tradition, and community. MacIntyre's misreading of Henry James's Portrait of a Lady provides an instructive example of how one sort of overemphasis on community serves to obscure individual differences which should be allowed to complicate community‐centered approaches.
Peter Dula
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395037
- eISBN:
- 9780199894451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395037.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Cavell's two greatest influences, Emerson and Wittgenstein, are often considered either to lack a politics or to reinforce a conservative politics. This chapter places Cavell in conversation with ...
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Cavell's two greatest influences, Emerson and Wittgenstein, are often considered either to lack a politics or to reinforce a conservative politics. This chapter places Cavell in conversation with work in political liberalism by Martha Nussbaum and John Rawls. The comparison illuminates how, in Cavell's hands, Emerson and Wittgenstein are both radical democrats whose perfectionism exposes liberal democracy's complacency with regard to its victims.Less
Cavell's two greatest influences, Emerson and Wittgenstein, are often considered either to lack a politics or to reinforce a conservative politics. This chapter places Cavell in conversation with work in political liberalism by Martha Nussbaum and John Rawls. The comparison illuminates how, in Cavell's hands, Emerson and Wittgenstein are both radical democrats whose perfectionism exposes liberal democracy's complacency with regard to its victims.
Naoko Saito and Paul Standish (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823234738
- eISBN:
- 9780823240753
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823234738.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Education emerges as a theme in Cavell's writings in multiple ways, and his coining of the phrase that forms the title of this collection, “philosophy as the education of grownups,” reflects ...
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Education emerges as a theme in Cavell's writings in multiple ways, and his coining of the phrase that forms the title of this collection, “philosophy as the education of grownups,” reflects intersections in thinking that reach back to the origins of philosophical enquiry. It is not only that Cavell engages in a sustained exploration of the nature of philosophy; he is also preoccupied with what it is to teach and to learn, with the kinds of transformation these might imply, with the significance of these things for our lives, language, and politics. While mainstream philosophy tends to have given insufficient attention to the emphasis on education in his work, amongst educators his thought is largely still to be received. In philosophy as in education one increasingly hears Cavell's name, but the work is often cited rather than read. What it means to read Cavell, and simultaneously what it means to read it philosophically, are questions at the heart of our education as grownups. What it means to be a grownup is a matter at the heart of philosophy and of education. The chapters in this collection, refined together through a colloquium dedicated to the project, respond uniquely to these themes. Following a substantial introduction by the editors, the chapters are framed by two new essays by Cavell, and intercalated with extracts from the discussion.Less
Education emerges as a theme in Cavell's writings in multiple ways, and his coining of the phrase that forms the title of this collection, “philosophy as the education of grownups,” reflects intersections in thinking that reach back to the origins of philosophical enquiry. It is not only that Cavell engages in a sustained exploration of the nature of philosophy; he is also preoccupied with what it is to teach and to learn, with the kinds of transformation these might imply, with the significance of these things for our lives, language, and politics. While mainstream philosophy tends to have given insufficient attention to the emphasis on education in his work, amongst educators his thought is largely still to be received. In philosophy as in education one increasingly hears Cavell's name, but the work is often cited rather than read. What it means to read Cavell, and simultaneously what it means to read it philosophically, are questions at the heart of our education as grownups. What it means to be a grownup is a matter at the heart of philosophy and of education. The chapters in this collection, refined together through a colloquium dedicated to the project, respond uniquely to these themes. Following a substantial introduction by the editors, the chapters are framed by two new essays by Cavell, and intercalated with extracts from the discussion.
Adam Zachary Newton
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823263516
- eISBN:
- 9780823266470
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823263516.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
In Chapter 6, “Cavell and Theater/Cinema,” the recurrent question of embodiment is transposed to the situation of the audience--isolated sitting in the presence of others--through a discussion of ...
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In Chapter 6, “Cavell and Theater/Cinema,” the recurrent question of embodiment is transposed to the situation of the audience--isolated sitting in the presence of others--through a discussion of Stanley Cavell’s aesthetic philosophy specific to the media of performance and personation, film and theater. The World Viewed, Cavell’s 1971 book on cinema, and “The Avoidance of Love,” his 1969 essay on King Lear, provide a new scaffold for an ethics of reading, reconceived as a drama of co-presence and witnessing.Less
In Chapter 6, “Cavell and Theater/Cinema,” the recurrent question of embodiment is transposed to the situation of the audience--isolated sitting in the presence of others--through a discussion of Stanley Cavell’s aesthetic philosophy specific to the media of performance and personation, film and theater. The World Viewed, Cavell’s 1971 book on cinema, and “The Avoidance of Love,” his 1969 essay on King Lear, provide a new scaffold for an ethics of reading, reconceived as a drama of co-presence and witnessing.
Stephen Mulhall
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198238508
- eISBN:
- 9780191679643
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198238508.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Aesthetics
The author of the book presents a full-length philosophical study of the work of Stanley Cavell, best known for his highly influential contributions to the fields of film studies, Shakespearian ...
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The author of the book presents a full-length philosophical study of the work of Stanley Cavell, best known for his highly influential contributions to the fields of film studies, Shakespearian literary criticism, and the confluence of psychoanalysis and literary theory. It is not properly appreciated that Cavell's project originated in his interpretation of Austin's and Wittgenstein's philosophical interest in the criteria governing ordinary language, and is given unity by an abiding concern with the nature and the varying cultural manifestations of the sceptical impulse in modernity. This book elucidates the essentially philosophical roots and trajectory of Cavell's work, traces its links with Romanticism and its recent turn towards a species of moral pefectionism associated with Thoreau and Emerson, and concludes with an assessment of its relations to liberal-democratic political theory, Christian religious thought, and feminist literary studies.Less
The author of the book presents a full-length philosophical study of the work of Stanley Cavell, best known for his highly influential contributions to the fields of film studies, Shakespearian literary criticism, and the confluence of psychoanalysis and literary theory. It is not properly appreciated that Cavell's project originated in his interpretation of Austin's and Wittgenstein's philosophical interest in the criteria governing ordinary language, and is given unity by an abiding concern with the nature and the varying cultural manifestations of the sceptical impulse in modernity. This book elucidates the essentially philosophical roots and trajectory of Cavell's work, traces its links with Romanticism and its recent turn towards a species of moral pefectionism associated with Thoreau and Emerson, and concludes with an assessment of its relations to liberal-democratic political theory, Christian religious thought, and feminist literary studies.
Hannah Vandegrift Eldridge
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801456954
- eISBN:
- 9781501701061
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801456954.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter discusses philosophical skepticism as a concept that critiques human problems of finitude. This skepticism is a particularly virulent form of a more general epistemic rationalism. By the ...
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This chapter discusses philosophical skepticism as a concept that critiques human problems of finitude. This skepticism is a particularly virulent form of a more general epistemic rationalism. By the twenty-first century, it ramified into a scientism that divided the world into an all-or-nothing of certain (rational) knowledge, and total uncertainty or relativism. The chapter particularly examines the work of Stanley Cavell who challenged dominant models of rationalism by linking the mind and the world through concepts derived from the study of language. It presents Cavell's discussions of skepticism about minds and about the existence of the external world as the secular appearances of the struggle against human finitude.Less
This chapter discusses philosophical skepticism as a concept that critiques human problems of finitude. This skepticism is a particularly virulent form of a more general epistemic rationalism. By the twenty-first century, it ramified into a scientism that divided the world into an all-or-nothing of certain (rational) knowledge, and total uncertainty or relativism. The chapter particularly examines the work of Stanley Cavell who challenged dominant models of rationalism by linking the mind and the world through concepts derived from the study of language. It presents Cavell's discussions of skepticism about minds and about the existence of the external world as the secular appearances of the struggle against human finitude.
Tyler Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231147521
- eISBN:
- 9780231535496
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231147521.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter demonstrates Stanley Cavell's claim that cultural criticism carries a new responsibility for the regeneration of the world. Placing Cavell in conversation with Eric Santner and Hent de ...
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This chapter demonstrates Stanley Cavell's claim that cultural criticism carries a new responsibility for the regeneration of the world. Placing Cavell in conversation with Eric Santner and Hent de Vries, the chapter turns to Cavell's treatment of the dynamics of human responsiveness and the relationship between the self and economies of social formation. De Vries and Santner both emphasize the necessity of understanding the self as a “singularity;” however, Cavell asserts that that one cannot be fully responsive to the other without paying attention to the concrete individualities of oneself and the other. The chapter also explores Cavell's conception of the “ordinary.” He theorizes that humans possess the resources, in their everyday interactions with others and ordinary language, to come to a new reception of experience. Cavell's commitment to the ordinary allows him to enact humanistic encounter in a way that is effective for reflecting on experience, responsibility, and responsiveness.Less
This chapter demonstrates Stanley Cavell's claim that cultural criticism carries a new responsibility for the regeneration of the world. Placing Cavell in conversation with Eric Santner and Hent de Vries, the chapter turns to Cavell's treatment of the dynamics of human responsiveness and the relationship between the self and economies of social formation. De Vries and Santner both emphasize the necessity of understanding the self as a “singularity;” however, Cavell asserts that that one cannot be fully responsive to the other without paying attention to the concrete individualities of oneself and the other. The chapter also explores Cavell's conception of the “ordinary.” He theorizes that humans possess the resources, in their everyday interactions with others and ordinary language, to come to a new reception of experience. Cavell's commitment to the ordinary allows him to enact humanistic encounter in a way that is effective for reflecting on experience, responsibility, and responsiveness.
Barry Stroud
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199252138
- eISBN:
- 9780191598500
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199252130.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Discusses Stanley Cavell's imminent response to scepticism as it appears in his The Claim of Reason, and makes explicit the relation between Cavell's discussion of scepticism and a number of general ...
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Discusses Stanley Cavell's imminent response to scepticism as it appears in his The Claim of Reason, and makes explicit the relation between Cavell's discussion of scepticism and a number of general themes he touches upon in his book. Stroud affirms Cavell's starting point, namely the Kantian insight that once the question about our knowledge is allowed to stand as legitimate and intelligible, we are easily but inevitably forced to a sceptical answer, but reveals a slight disappointment with Cavell's rather schematic conclusion. Stroud suggests improvements by exploring the conditions under which an answer to the question in the way in which Cavell sets it up would count as successful.Less
Discusses Stanley Cavell's imminent response to scepticism as it appears in his The Claim of Reason, and makes explicit the relation between Cavell's discussion of scepticism and a number of general themes he touches upon in his book. Stroud affirms Cavell's starting point, namely the Kantian insight that once the question about our knowledge is allowed to stand as legitimate and intelligible, we are easily but inevitably forced to a sceptical answer, but reveals a slight disappointment with Cavell's rather schematic conclusion. Stroud suggests improvements by exploring the conditions under which an answer to the question in the way in which Cavell sets it up would count as successful.
Garry L. Hagberg
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199234226
- eISBN:
- 9780191715440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199234226.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language
This chapter discusses autobiographical memory and the pictures of the mind (e.g., as a repository of ideas) it can promote. It also details the long-engrained picture of the theatre of ...
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This chapter discusses autobiographical memory and the pictures of the mind (e.g., as a repository of ideas) it can promote. It also details the long-engrained picture of the theatre of consciousness, the metaphor of objects before the mind and Donald Davidson's critique of this, and the empirical conception of the experiential content of first-person memory. The chapter also analyses Wittgenstein's efforts to break the spell of that empiricist conception, Wittgenstein's very different way of understanding a ‘descent into ourselves’, philosophy as conceptual therapy, the philosophical value of the turn to particular cases, Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy and philosophical progress, and Stanley Cavell's extension of this tradition.Less
This chapter discusses autobiographical memory and the pictures of the mind (e.g., as a repository of ideas) it can promote. It also details the long-engrained picture of the theatre of consciousness, the metaphor of objects before the mind and Donald Davidson's critique of this, and the empirical conception of the experiential content of first-person memory. The chapter also analyses Wittgenstein's efforts to break the spell of that empiricist conception, Wittgenstein's very different way of understanding a ‘descent into ourselves’, philosophy as conceptual therapy, the philosophical value of the turn to particular cases, Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy and philosophical progress, and Stanley Cavell's extension of this tradition.
Asja Szafraniec
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823251629
- eISBN:
- 9780823252961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823251629.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This article focuses on pastness in the work of Stanley Cavell. For Cavell the past is only real to the extent that it reveals itself in our present, and the only proper way to attend to the ...
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This article focuses on pastness in the work of Stanley Cavell. For Cavell the past is only real to the extent that it reveals itself in our present, and the only proper way to attend to the historical past is to absorb it in an orphic mode, with our back turned, without looking. The sustained attention to the present is the best and the only archaeology of the past: “the time is always now.” Absorption of the past in the present is here opposed to the attitude of spectatorship with respect to the past. But is absorption without loss possible? Already in 1980, Michael Fried had to concede that “there can be no such thing as an absolutely anti-theatrical work of art.” This remark can be taken to apply to historiography, too. Is an absolutely anti-theatrical approach to the past possible (i.e., one in which the past would be absorbed without loss, but also without facing it directly)? To what extent should the proposed absorption of the past in the ordinary language philosophy be seen as an evacuation?Less
This article focuses on pastness in the work of Stanley Cavell. For Cavell the past is only real to the extent that it reveals itself in our present, and the only proper way to attend to the historical past is to absorb it in an orphic mode, with our back turned, without looking. The sustained attention to the present is the best and the only archaeology of the past: “the time is always now.” Absorption of the past in the present is here opposed to the attitude of spectatorship with respect to the past. But is absorption without loss possible? Already in 1980, Michael Fried had to concede that “there can be no such thing as an absolutely anti-theatrical work of art.” This remark can be taken to apply to historiography, too. Is an absolutely anti-theatrical approach to the past possible (i.e., one in which the past would be absorbed without loss, but also without facing it directly)? To what extent should the proposed absorption of the past in the ordinary language philosophy be seen as an evacuation?
Martin Shuster
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226503813
- eISBN:
- 9780226504001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226504001.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
This chapter presents an account of the ontology of new television, an account of how to understand what the items on the screen fundamentally are. This is accomplished by linking new television ...
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This chapter presents an account of the ontology of new television, an account of how to understand what the items on the screen fundamentally are. This is accomplished by linking new television series to debates in aesthetics and modernism about ontology, especially within painting, photography, and film. Throughout, the work of philosophers Stanley Cavell and Martin Heidegger and the art historian and critic Michael Fried is employed in order to argue that what we see on the television screen is an entire world. ‘World’ here consists of a technical term that originates in phenomenology and denotes an entire horizon of meaning and significance, one that is entirely and forever distinct from our world. In this way, developed in this chapter is the notion—taken from Cavell--of an automatism: of a way in which a medium does something, of how it communicates something to those experiencing the work of art. The chapter concludes with an initial presentation of how ‘new television’ ought to be understood and with close reading of the Fox show, Fringe, showing how the show itself is fundamentally engaged with this understanding of ontology.Less
This chapter presents an account of the ontology of new television, an account of how to understand what the items on the screen fundamentally are. This is accomplished by linking new television series to debates in aesthetics and modernism about ontology, especially within painting, photography, and film. Throughout, the work of philosophers Stanley Cavell and Martin Heidegger and the art historian and critic Michael Fried is employed in order to argue that what we see on the television screen is an entire world. ‘World’ here consists of a technical term that originates in phenomenology and denotes an entire horizon of meaning and significance, one that is entirely and forever distinct from our world. In this way, developed in this chapter is the notion—taken from Cavell--of an automatism: of a way in which a medium does something, of how it communicates something to those experiencing the work of art. The chapter concludes with an initial presentation of how ‘new television’ ought to be understood and with close reading of the Fox show, Fringe, showing how the show itself is fundamentally engaged with this understanding of ontology.
Peter Dula
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395037
- eISBN:
- 9780199894451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395037.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter explores the fiction of W. G. Sebald in order to illustrate skepticism and the companionship Cavell and Sebald think should be a response to it. Many of Sebald's characters may be ...
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This chapter explores the fiction of W. G. Sebald in order to illustrate skepticism and the companionship Cavell and Sebald think should be a response to it. Many of Sebald's characters may be understood to be in the grip of the variety of skepticism which Wittgenstein called the private language fantasy. The companionship that Sebald's narrator provides to these characters helps to illuminate the alternative Cavell provides to both MacIntyre and liberalism.Less
This chapter explores the fiction of W. G. Sebald in order to illustrate skepticism and the companionship Cavell and Sebald think should be a response to it. Many of Sebald's characters may be understood to be in the grip of the variety of skepticism which Wittgenstein called the private language fantasy. The companionship that Sebald's narrator provides to these characters helps to illuminate the alternative Cavell provides to both MacIntyre and liberalism.
Bruce Rosenstock
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823231294
- eISBN:
- 9780823235520
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823231294.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter describes an “immigrant Franz Rosenzweig,” who enters into conversation with two thinkers, Hannah Arendt and Stanley Cavell, who embrace America as promising a ...
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This chapter describes an “immigrant Franz Rosenzweig,” who enters into conversation with two thinkers, Hannah Arendt and Stanley Cavell, who embrace America as promising a new form of democratic life that, in every generation, calls upon a people to reimagine and rededicate themselves to the covenant of “We the people.” Besides reading America through a biblical lens of a sociality based upon (re)covenanting, Arendt and Cavell share many of Rosenzweig's concerns: in particular, taking philosophy out of its academic professionalization and reconnecting philosophy with the “extraordinariness of ordinary life.” The chapter argues, that this immigrant Rosenzweig might learn to shed his Hegelian view of the state as a superindividual that legitimates itself through violence. The chapter shows that Arendt's notion of natality, is advanced precisely to counter this Hegelian view of the political as grounded in violence, a view that was most forcefully articulated in the work of Carl Schmitt.Less
This chapter describes an “immigrant Franz Rosenzweig,” who enters into conversation with two thinkers, Hannah Arendt and Stanley Cavell, who embrace America as promising a new form of democratic life that, in every generation, calls upon a people to reimagine and rededicate themselves to the covenant of “We the people.” Besides reading America through a biblical lens of a sociality based upon (re)covenanting, Arendt and Cavell share many of Rosenzweig's concerns: in particular, taking philosophy out of its academic professionalization and reconnecting philosophy with the “extraordinariness of ordinary life.” The chapter argues, that this immigrant Rosenzweig might learn to shed his Hegelian view of the state as a superindividual that legitimates itself through violence. The chapter shows that Arendt's notion of natality, is advanced precisely to counter this Hegelian view of the political as grounded in violence, a view that was most forcefully articulated in the work of Carl Schmitt.
Paul Standish and Naoko Saito
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823234738
- eISBN:
- 9780823240753
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823234738.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
In this introductory chapter, Paul Standish and Naoko Saito outline the multiple ways in which education figures in the work of Stanley Cavell. Hilary Putnam's description of Cavell as not only as ...
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In this introductory chapter, Paul Standish and Naoko Saito outline the multiple ways in which education figures in the work of Stanley Cavell. Hilary Putnam's description of Cavell as not only as one of the most creative thinkers of today but one of the few contemporary philosophers to explore the territory of philosophy as education is an apt assessment of his conception of philosophy. Yet Cavell's own somewhat enigmatic emphasis on a phrase, “philosophy as the education of grownups,” is not to be understood from one side alone. His preoccupation with the idea of philosophy as education runs throughout his work – through his fascination with Austin and ordinary language philosophy, Wittgenstein and skepticism, Emerson and Thoreau, film and literature. It is there at the heart of his masterwork, The Claim of Reason, where he writes: “philosophy becomes the education of grownups” (Cavell, 1979, p. 125). While mainstream philosophy tends to have given insufficient attention to the emphasis on education in his work, amongst educators his thought is largely still to be received. The editors introduce the book as answering to this need.Less
In this introductory chapter, Paul Standish and Naoko Saito outline the multiple ways in which education figures in the work of Stanley Cavell. Hilary Putnam's description of Cavell as not only as one of the most creative thinkers of today but one of the few contemporary philosophers to explore the territory of philosophy as education is an apt assessment of his conception of philosophy. Yet Cavell's own somewhat enigmatic emphasis on a phrase, “philosophy as the education of grownups,” is not to be understood from one side alone. His preoccupation with the idea of philosophy as education runs throughout his work – through his fascination with Austin and ordinary language philosophy, Wittgenstein and skepticism, Emerson and Thoreau, film and literature. It is there at the heart of his masterwork, The Claim of Reason, where he writes: “philosophy becomes the education of grownups” (Cavell, 1979, p. 125). While mainstream philosophy tends to have given insufficient attention to the emphasis on education in his work, amongst educators his thought is largely still to be received. The editors introduce the book as answering to this need.
Richard Rushton
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719082689
- eISBN:
- 9781781702994
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719082689.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
In formulating a notion of filmic reality, this book offers a novel way of understanding our relationship with cinema. It argues that cinema need not be understood in terms of its capacities to refer ...
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In formulating a notion of filmic reality, this book offers a novel way of understanding our relationship with cinema. It argues that cinema need not be understood in terms of its capacities to refer to, reproduce or represent reality, but should be understood in terms of the kinds of realities it has the ability to create. The book investigates filmic reality by way of six key film theorists: André Bazin, Christian Metz, Stanley Cavell, Gilles Deleuze, Slavoj Žižek and Jacques Rancière. In doing so, it provides comprehensive introductions to each of these thinkers, while also debunking many myths and misconceptions about them. Along the way, a notion of filmic reality is formed that radically reconfigures our understanding of cinema.Less
In formulating a notion of filmic reality, this book offers a novel way of understanding our relationship with cinema. It argues that cinema need not be understood in terms of its capacities to refer to, reproduce or represent reality, but should be understood in terms of the kinds of realities it has the ability to create. The book investigates filmic reality by way of six key film theorists: André Bazin, Christian Metz, Stanley Cavell, Gilles Deleuze, Slavoj Žižek and Jacques Rancière. In doing so, it provides comprehensive introductions to each of these thinkers, while also debunking many myths and misconceptions about them. Along the way, a notion of filmic reality is formed that radically reconfigures our understanding of cinema.
