From Library Journal
Bigger (Participation: A Platonic Inquiry, LSU Pr., 1968. o.p.) argues in this immensely erudite work that although Kant destroyed traditional epistemology and metaphysics, he at the same time offered a method for philosophy to develop in a new way. Bigger endeavors to extend this method, termed "archeology," further than Kant was able to do. Archeology stresses the role of imagination in the constitution of the world; this, however, must not be taken to mean that the mind makes the world out of its own constructs. Rather, the imagination is founded in participation or dwelling. Bigger's language here evokes Plato and Heidegger, about whose thought he has illuminating things to say. He contends that phenomenology provides a vital key to deepen Kant's method. But Bigger does not confine himself to the Continental tradition. He knows Anglo-American work on Kant exceptionally well, and his ability to draw on philosophical insights from diverse traditions is an impressive feature of the book. The chapter "Mathematics and the Human Soul" applies Bigger's interpretative method in an especially striking fashion. Recommended for academic libraries.?David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., Ohio
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
