Abstract

It is an honor to comment on Carlin Romano’s fine and ambitious book. It is also something of a challenge, precisely because of Romano’s ambition. He has set himself the task of rebranding both the United States and philosophy. He has undertaken to compose and sell an image of the United States as a distinctly philosophical enterprise, and a picture of philosophy as something more democratic and diverse than the mostly white, mostly male, elite-aspirant academic discipline that most people associate with the name. This is a bold undertaking, requiring the kind of capaciousness that challenges the consumer of the analysis as much as it does the producer. This capaciousness, combined with the breezy playfulness...