Anglo-American Postmodernity: Philosophical Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Ethics [Paperback]

Nancey Murphy (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813328691 | ISBN-13: 978-0813328690 | Publication Date: March 14, 1997

The term postmodern is generally used to refer to current work in philosophy, literary criticism, and feminist thought inspired by Continental thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Jacques Derrida. In this book, Nancey Murphy appropriates the term to describe emerging patterns in Anglo-American thought and to indicate their radical break from the thought patterns of Enlightened modernity.The book examines the shift from modern to postmodern in three areas: epistemology, philosophy of language, and metaphysics. Murphy contends that whole clusters of terms in each of these disciplines have taken on new uses in the past fifty years and that these changes have radical consequences for all areas of academia, especially in philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, and ethics.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nancey Murphy is associate professor of Christian philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (March 14, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813328691
• ISBN-13: 978-0813328690
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,300,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, January 18, 2008

By 

andrew (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anglo-American Postmodernity: Philosophical Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Ethics (Paperback)

Don't be deceived, this is not merely an introductory textbook, it is genuinely creative philosophy! This small book has been one of the most influential texts in my development as a thinker. Every sentence is carefully phrased and deserves to be read more than once. Murphy's clarity should not be mistaken for any lack of sophistication! I cannot recommend this book highly enough - a close reading of this text would equip one to enter the postmodern conversation in many arenas: ethics, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, this list goes on...

But this book and enjoy it!

(For a counterpart introduction to and appropriation of Continental postmodern thought, Merold Westphal's book "Overcoming Onto-Theology" is a perfect complement to Murphy's "Anglo-American Postmodernity.")

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deft Overview, October 4, 2000

By 

Joshua Eric Casteel (Iowa City, IA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anglo-American Postmodernity: Philosophical Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Ethics (Paperback)

This is an account not of mathematical specificity, rather a general backdrop to many current themes in the philosophy of science, religion, and ethics that is abundantly illuminating. For an individual acclimating to the world of postmodernism, specifically with regard to Christianity and the Anglo-American cultural paradigm, Murphy is an excellent source of information and she should be commended for her ability to articulately integrate often thought disparate fields.

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant and Succinct, May 22, 2011

By 

Nathan Bodenstab (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Anglo-American Postmodernity: Philosophical Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Ethics (Paperback)

This book is not bedtime reading material. It is dense and requires careful reading, but is very well written and covers a wide range of topics in nearly 200 pages.

Murphy lays out the widespread shift in underlying assumptions within the following areas:
* Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: Foundationalism to a Holistic view (Quine, Kuhn, etc.)
* Philosophy of Language: Meaning from reference to meaning from social use (Wittgenstein, Austin, etc.)
* Ethics: Generic individualism to complex, priority of the social (MacIntyre, etc.)

This is an excellent resource to help situate current philosophical perspectives on postmodern though into a cohesive taxonomy. It can be considered an "introduction" since most perspectives are explained in a few pages, but Murphy provides numerous references to follow-up material if desired (mostly original sources).