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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
A distinguished Hegel scholar and something of an expert on philosophical postmodernism who now chairs the German department at Northwestern, McCumber here argues that McCarthyism turned American philosophers away from serious concerns with social reality. He explains how under McCarthyism most departments rejected the flow of new ideas coming from Europe, failed to defend each other's rights to free speech, and lost much of their traditional audience. Philosophy became mired in the safe technicalities of logic and language, and, as a long-range result, 100 philosophy departments were closed each year between 1992 and 1996. McCumber offers sobering truths, but he inflates some issues and misses others. In the Ivy League universities and the largest of their state counterparts, conceptual analysis, logic, language, and scientific method most often dominate the agenda, but this is not necessarily true elsewhere. McCumber allows that much philosophy has moved to literature, social science, and even science departments, but he fails to acknowledge that institutions that must raise massive funds from rich donors or are constantly under scrutiny by state legislators frequently exhibit caution and, by silent consent, seek safe teachers. Without McCarthyism, the phenomenon he describes occurred in Canada following an influx of American philosophers. They brought with them the cultural conviction that respectability demanded that they become "scientific" and that traditional philosophical methods did not yield knowledge. The widespread rejection of "continental philosophy" was buttressed by the Nazi associations of Heidegger and a few others and the excesses of some "post-modernists," who seemed to decry and evade argument and evidence, reinforced the dominance of analytic philosophy. For larger academic collections. Leslie Armour, Univ. of Ottawa, ON
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
A distinguished Hegel scholar and something of an expert on philosophical postmodernism who now chairs the German department at Northwestern, McCumber here argues that McCarthyism turned American philosophers away from serious concerns with social reality. He explains how under McCarthyism most departments rejected the flow of new ideas coming from Europe, failed to defend each other's rights to free speech, and lost much of their traditional audience. Philosophy became mired in the safe technicalities of logic and language, and, as a long-range result, 100 philosophy departments were closed each year between 1992 and 1996. McCumber offers sobering truths, but he inflates some issues and misses others. In the Ivy League universities and the largest of their state counterparts, conceptual analysis, logic, language, and scientific method most often dominate the agenda, but this is not necessarily true elsewhere. McCumber allows that much philosophy has moved to literature, social science, and even science departments, but he fails to acknowledge that institutions that must raise massive funds from rich donors or are constantly under scrutiny by state legislators frequently exhibit caution and, by silent consent, seek safe teachers. Without McCarthyism, the phenomenon he describes occurred in Canada following an influx of American philosophers. They brought with them the cultural conviction that respectability demanded that they become "scientific" and that traditional philosophical methods did not yield knowledge. The widespread rejection of "continental philosophy" was buttressed by the Nazi associations of Heidegger and a few others and the excesses of some "post-modernists," who seemed to decry and evade argument and evidence, reinforced the dominance of analytic philosophy. For larger academic collections. Leslie Armour, Univ. of Ottawa, ON
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
German Department, Northwestern University
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- Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education by David L. Kirp in Back Matter
- The Idea of Continental Philosophy by Simon Glendinning on page 85
- History of Philosophy of Science: New Trends and Perspectives (Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook) by M. Heidelberger on page 158
- Gadamer's Repercussions: Reconsidering Philosophical Hermeneutics by Bruce Krajewski in Front Matter
- Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (Popular Culture and Philosophy) by Gary L. Hardcastle on page 240
See all 13 books citing this book