Formulating a new approach to philosophy which, instead of simply rejecting postmodern thought, tries to assimilate some of its main features, Paul Crowther identifies conceptual links between value, knowledge, personal identity and civilization understood as a process of cumulative advance.To establish these links, Crowther deploys a mode of analytic philosophy influenced by Cassirer. This approach recontextualizes precisely those aspects of postmodernism which appear, superficially, to be fuel for the relativist fire. This method also enables him to illuminate some of the great practical dangers of the postmodern era - most notably the widespread inability or unwillingness to distinguish between signs and reality. Crowther renews analytic philosophy as a searching form of conceptual and cultural critique that pushes beyond the limits of postmodern thought.Essential reading for advanced students and academics interested in Twentieth Century Philosophy, Philosophy After Postmodernism will also be of value to scholars working in the fields of Cultural Studies and Sociology.
Author(s): Paul Crowther
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 256
Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Introduction: postmodernity, perspectivalism and supermodernism......Page 12
Civilization, postmodernity and philosophy......Page 16
The intrinsic value and scope of civilization......Page 18
From civilization to postmodernity: a context for refoundational philosophy......Page 41
Questions of knowledge......Page 58
Refoundational knowledge: Cassirer's epistemology......Page 60
Imagination and objective knowledge......Page 77
The cohesion of the self: moment, image and narrative......Page 89
The limits of objective knowledge: what mind-independent reality must be......Page 112
Questions of ethics......Page 134
Narrative and self-consciousness: a basis for virtue ethics......Page 136
Attacks upon civilization: some ethical and metaphysical issues......Page 146
Critique......Page 158
Against epistemological nihilism: contra Derrida, contra Welsch......Page 160
From rock music to deep signification: Lacan with iek......Page 173
Sociological imperialism and the field of cultural production: a critique of Bourdieu......Page 184
Knowledge and the attack upon higher education......Page 196
Conclusion......Page 218
Conclusion: conditions of critical autonomy......Page 220
Appendix: McDowell and the problem of mind-independent reality......Page 228
Notes......Page 233
Index......Page 242
