Fashionable Nihilism: A Critique of Analytic Philosophy [Paperback]

Bruce Wilshire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 2002

A highly critical account of analytic philosophy.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

For several generations, analytic philosophy has been in academic ascendancy in the United States and England. The effects on philosophic thinking and on undergraduates' concept of what to think philosophically might entail has been argued on the floor of the American Philosophical Association (APA) and in university bars but has rarely been brought to the attention of the general public, primarily because, like any other professional association, the APA tends to be heard as one voice, if it is heard at all beyond its membership. Wilshire (philosophy, Rutgers) brings together eight of his cogent and accessible essays on why and how pluralism bests language analysis when it comes to "doing" philosophy. (A ninth essay in this collection is a meditation on the death of his adult daughter.) Using evidence from APA convention behavior, comparing the contemporary state of professionalized philosophy with William James's prediction that acting like analytic philosophers "distends and dissociates us from our moral and psychical centers," and investigating the popular debate of whether we show ourselves to be as the result of nature or nurture, Wilshire leads the reader as a good philosophy lecturer might lead his class through a semester: historic positions are stated with all their attendant drama, arguments supported and found wanting, and active engagement is invited from the floor. While some academicians will be tempted to dismiss this volume as a screed against the politically favored way of thinking about thinking, many lay readers, graduate students, and philosophers will welcome Wilshire's head-on assault on establishment formulation of what is to be called philosophy. Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., CA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

Thoreau wrote that we have professors of philosophy but no philosophers. Can't we have both? Why doesn't philosophy hold a more central place in our lives? Why should it? Eloquently opposing the analytic thrust of philosophy in academia, noted pluralist philosopher Bruce Wilshire answers these questions and more in an effort to make philosophy more meaningful to our everyday lives. Writing in an accessible style he resurrects classic yet neglected forms of inquiring and communicating. In a series of personal essays, Wilshire describes what is wrong with the current state of philosophy in American higher education, namely the cozy but ultimately suffocating confinements of professionalism. He reclaims the role of the philosopher as one who, like Socrates, would goad us out of self-contentedness and suggest a movement toward critical thought. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (April 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791454304
• ISBN-13: 978-0791454305
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,808,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Passionate Thinker, May 4, 2004

By 

Edward Arleigh (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fashionable Nihilism: A Critique of Analytic Philosophy (Paperback)

This book is a "must read" for anyone interested in the recent history of philosophy in America, or who cares about its future. Wilshire takes sure aim at a philosophy that "mangle[s] the roots of our thinking-feeling-evaluating selves." Analytical philosophy, an approach to consciousness and self that weds philosophy to the style of natural sciences, can disable self-conceptions, leaving us with nihilism. It can all too easily reduce flesh or body to lifeless matter, morph minds and imaginations into chemicals and `wiring,' and deflate sacred ceremony and myth to no more than childish mimicry and fable. Whatever happened to Socratic "care for the soul"? These elegantly crafted essays are a treat to read. Wilshire nurtures an affirmative celebration of the passion of philosophy. No one will want to miss his account -- the best I've seen -- of the battle in the late `70's between mainstream analysts and marginalized American phenomenologists and existentialists for recognition in the American Philosophical Association. Later chapters rethink Native American thought, consider Henry Bugbee, a neglected American "philosopher of intimacy,"and revisit William James' concern for `the spiritual.' Wilshire ends with a elegiac meditation on his daughter's death that bears out his philosophical spirit -- such proof as can be given that nihilism does not speak the final word.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disorganized, poorly written, August 24, 2008

By 

P. Capofreddi (Ferguson, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fashionable Nihilism: A Critique of Analytic Philosophy (Hardcover)

This book gives the impression of a hastily thrown together undergraduate essay, full of incoherent arguments, non-sequiturs, and emotional invective.

Sometimes it even degenerates into flaky "new-age" sounding statements ("the full sustaining and regenerating flow of the universe through our resonating bodies").

This is a shame, because in my opinion the thesis of the book, spelled out somewhat articulately in the preface, seems to me to have some merit. Wilshire's claim is that analytic philosophy, in which the speaking subject is always absent and replaced by an artificial "mood of detachment," tends to "unwittingly impoverish" the philosopher's conception of himself. The resulting arid speculation fails to deal with the real substantive problems of philosophy.

A much better essay, which presents a similar claim, but much more articulately and persuasively, is a paper by Babette Babich titled "On the Analytic-Continental Divide in Philosophy: Nietzsche's Lying Truth, Heidegger's Speaking Language, and Philosophy," reprinted in C. G. Prado, ed., A House Divided: Comparing Analytic and Continental Philosophy, Amherst, NY: Prometheus/Humanity Books. 2003, pp. 63-103.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Timely Critique of Analytical Philosophy, May 26, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Fashionable Nihilism: A Critique of Analytic Philosophy (Paperback)

I found this book of considerable value for understanding the philosophical situation in America today. It demonstrates very convincingly the deep differences between analytical and continental/American approaches to the field, and this is already quite informative. But it goes on from here to show that analytical philosophy is unable to assume the responsibility of pursuing a genuinely humanistic and humane thought -- and thus is unable to address the great issues of our day. At its core, it is a nihilistic enterprise that is absorbed in the play and interplay of linguistic and conceptual systems, thereby sealing itself off from the most profound ethical and political issues of the contemporary world. Despite its remarkable logical power, it becomes a self-inhibiting and self-defeating way of doing philosophy. Something else is called for, and the author points to this other direction -- inspired by American and continental philosophy -- eloquently and forcefully.