“Herr Phister as Captain Scipio” is a succinct and concentrated study by Kierkegaard on the art of acting. In spite of its brevity and by virtue of its conceptual parsimony, the work deserves closer attention, if only because it also exhibits some of the pesky problems involved in the practice of interpreting oneself. I argue that “Herr Phister as Captain Scipio” forms part of the habitual context of Kierkegaard’s thought about selfhood. To be more specific, I attempt to show not (...) only that this essay (attributed to the pseudonym Procul) is about the theory of the three stages of existence but also that the aesthetic is represented by Scipio, the ethical by Phister, and the religious by Procul himself. (shrink)

In Kierkegaard’s scheme of concepts, acts of piety and ascetic styles of living — however colorful and conspicuous their ostensible forms — do not eo ipso constitute the religious individual. There is more. According to the logic of this train of thought, no one can know who is a religious individual. To aggravate matters, this blessed ignorance pertains also to the very person who would in all sincerity arrogate such an identity. So, at least, run strains of a theory adumbrated, (...) for example, in Training in Christianity, The Concept of Anxiety and Concluding Unscientific Postscript. Dans le schème des concepts chez Kierkegaard, les actes de piété et les styles de vie ascétiques si colorées et manifestes que soient leurs formes déclarées ne constituent pas d’eux-mêmes l’individu religieux. Il y a plus. Suivant la logique de cette ligne de pensée, nul ne peut savoir qui est un individu religieux. Bien plus, cette ignorance bénie s’applique également à la personne même qui, en toute sincérité, s’arrogerait une pareille identité. C’est bien là, à tout le moins, le sens d’une théorie qui s’esquisse, par exemple, dans L’École du christianisme, Le concept d’angoisse et le Postscriptum aux miettes philosophiques. (shrink)

On Race and Racism in America offers a variety of perspectives on American Philosophy's relative blindness to issues of race.

The purpose of this paper is to attend to a certain attitude towards philosophy at Spellman College and to offer an account of its occurrence. This paper also offers recommendations on pedagogical methods and curricular models to attract African American students to philosophy. The author uses examples from personal experience teaching ethics seminars and articulates guiding principles for engaging students on a personal level while cultivating their interest in the discipline.

These essays focus on and explore the idea of "radicalizing" hermeneutics, which John D. Caputo first proposed in his provocative and widely read study, Radical Hermeneutics (1987). In the wake of Derrida, the essays address the confrontation of hermeneutics and postmodernism. The contributors are from various disciplines—philosophy, literature, and science—and they make exciting and original contributions to hermeneutic work. Caputo and Martinez have coauthored an introductory piece that sets out the "very idea of radical hermeneutics," which several contributors proceed to (...) work and rework in quite original ways. (shrink)

Review of Frank Schalow's "Imagination and Existence, Heidegger's Retrieval of the Kantian Ethic".

From the first moments of perusal I felt quite certain that Watts’s study, by virtue of its limpid prose and the serene self-assurance of its style, would be a reader’s delight, and so it was! Unlike so many books that merely shuffle around Kierkegaard, seeming to convey knowledge of the daedal structure of his art, Watts’ sure-footed approach avoids any form of circumlocution or sciolism. Instead, his presentation of Kierkegaard’s thought is crystalline, concise, and compelling.

From the first moments of perusal I felt quite certain that Watts’s study, by virtue of its limpid prose and the serene self-assurance of its style, would be a reader’s delight, and so it was! Unlike so many books that merely shuffle around Kierkegaard, seeming to convey knowledge of the daedal structure of his art, Watts’ sure-footed approach avoids any form of circumlocution or sciolism. Instead, his presentation of Kierkegaard’s thought is crystalline, concise, and compelling.

This book is at once a critique of modernity and postmodernism as well as an interpretation of Kierkegaard's conception of the self. The novelty of Hall's approach consists in his claim that spirit or the self is intimately connected with the first person speech act, which is represented by the Hebrew idea of dabhar. As Yahweh's word, dabhar "brings the world into existence and his fidelity sustains it". In this respect, God's primordial speech act, which is both word and deed, (...) serves as the paradigm of human existence itself. Hence, while speaking is regarded as the defining characteristic of human beings, owning and owning up to one's words--covenantal speech or reflexive integrity--alone determines what it is to be fully human. From this new point of view, Hall reads the first volume of Kierkegaard's Either/or, where Don Giovanni and Faust are featured, within the context of modern philosophy of language by using insights derived from Austin, Wittgenstein, Polanyi and Poteat. (shrink)