For Shusterman, all experience is a form of understanding, but this makes it difficult for him to explain how we can be mistaken about our experience. His preference for rap remains idiosyncratic, as is his notion of the art of living. In spite of his postmodernist stance, he continues to generalize about what he takes to be the body and about the nature of art. But what “works” in art depends on a variety of subjective factors we come to know (...) only by hindsight. What he dismisses as intellectualist bias in modern art and linguistic philosophy has deep roots in our culture: a demand for precision and verifiability that make science and technology possible. This is not a mere puritanical prejudice. (shrink)

Soft Logic is a fascinating study that links scientific and mathematical reasoning to literature and the arts. In this work, Joseph Grünfeld argues that justification by resemblance is more common in science than is generally recognized. That is, symbolic and metaphorical modes of thinking, which are largely analogical, often play a significant role in the interpretation of formal systems. Noting that twentieth century non-Aristotelian forms of reasoning have greatly expanded our understanding of what constitutes logic, Grünfeld explores a wide range (...) of relevant topics, including reasonableness, metaphor, deconstruction, postmodernism, aesthetics, art, and philosophy. In the process, he identifies the postmodernist implications of modern logic and develops how they may be applied to both science and art. Scholars of philosophy, aesthetics, and art will find this comprehensive and insightful work thought provoking. (shrink)