What do you think?
Rate this book
American Philosophy: A Love Story
John Kaag is a dispirited young philosopher at sea in his marriage and his career when he stumbles upon West Wind, a ruin of an estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that belonged to the eminent Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Hocking was one of the last true giants of American philosophy and a direct intellectual descendent of William James, the father of American philosophy and psychology, with whom Kaag feels a deep kinship. It is James’s question “Is life worth living?” that guides this remarkable book.
The books Kaag discovers in the Hocking library are crawling with insects and full of mold. But he resolves to restore them, as he immediately recognizes their importance. Not only does the library at West Wind contain handwritten notes from Whitman and inscriptions from Frost, but there are startlingly rare first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. As Kaag begins to catalog and read through these priceless volumes, he embarks on a thrilling journey that leads him to the life-affirming tenets of American philosophy—self-reliance, pragmatism, and transcendence—and to a brilliant young Kantian who joins him in the restoration of the Hocking books.
Part intellectual history, part memoir, American Philosophy is ultimately about love, freedom, and the role that wisdom can play in turning one’s life around.
The books Kaag discovers in the Hocking library are crawling with insects and full of mold. But he resolves to restore them, as he immediately recognizes their importance. Not only does the library at West Wind contain handwritten notes from Whitman and inscriptions from Frost, but there are startlingly rare first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. As Kaag begins to catalog and read through these priceless volumes, he embarks on a thrilling journey that leads him to the life-affirming tenets of American philosophy—self-reliance, pragmatism, and transcendence—and to a brilliant young Kantian who joins him in the restoration of the Hocking books.
Part intellectual history, part memoir, American Philosophy is ultimately about love, freedom, and the role that wisdom can play in turning one’s life around.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published December 13, 2016
215 people are currently reading
2180 people want to read
About the author
John Kaag
19 books221 followersJohn Kaag is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and author of American Philosophy: A Love Story. It is a story of lost library, a lost American intellectual tradition and a lost person--and their simultaneous recovery.
Kaag is a dispirited young philosopher at sea in his marriage and his career when he stumbles upon West Wind, a ruin of an estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that belonged to the eminent Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Hocking was one of the last true giants of American philosophy and a direct intellectual descendent of William James, the father of American philosophy and psychology, with whom Kaag feels a deep kinship. It is James’s question “Is life worth living?” that guides this remarkable book.
The books Kaag discovers in the Hocking library are crawling with insects and full of mold. But he resolves to restore them, as he immediately recognizes their importance. Not only does the library at West Wind contain handwritten notes from Whitman and inscriptions from Frost, but there are startlingly rare first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. As Kaag begins to catalog and read through these priceless volumes, he embarks on a thrilling journey that leads him to the life-affirming tenets of American philosophy―self-reliance, pragmatism, and transcendence―and to a brilliant young Kantian who joins him in the restoration of the Hocking books.
Part intellectual history, part memoir, American Philosophy is ultimately about love, freedom, and the role that wisdom can play in turning one’s life around.
John lives with his daughter, Becca, and partner, Carol, outside of Boston.
Kaag is a dispirited young philosopher at sea in his marriage and his career when he stumbles upon West Wind, a ruin of an estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that belonged to the eminent Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Hocking was one of the last true giants of American philosophy and a direct intellectual descendent of William James, the father of American philosophy and psychology, with whom Kaag feels a deep kinship. It is James’s question “Is life worth living?” that guides this remarkable book.
The books Kaag discovers in the Hocking library are crawling with insects and full of mold. But he resolves to restore them, as he immediately recognizes their importance. Not only does the library at West Wind contain handwritten notes from Whitman and inscriptions from Frost, but there are startlingly rare first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. As Kaag begins to catalog and read through these priceless volumes, he embarks on a thrilling journey that leads him to the life-affirming tenets of American philosophy―self-reliance, pragmatism, and transcendence―and to a brilliant young Kantian who joins him in the restoration of the Hocking books.
Part intellectual history, part memoir, American Philosophy is ultimately about love, freedom, and the role that wisdom can play in turning one’s life around.
John lives with his daughter, Becca, and partner, Carol, outside of Boston.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews
May 21, 2023
Paracetamol for the Soul
Each of us has a preferred method of self-medicating for stress: alcohol, drugs, sex, adrenaline-inducing sport. John Kaag's story is that he was stressed out about a failing marriage and the dismal prospect of an endless graduate thesis. His drug of choice is philosophy, specifically the idealist/pragmatist philosophy of the turn of the 20th century, centred at Harvard. And why not, since it has fewer side-effects than most of the alternatives?
I confess to sharing Kaag's philosophical interest, but more when I'm on a high than on a low. And I also share his enthusiasm for Harvard-sourced philosophy, although I lean much more toward Royce and Peirce than toward James and Santayana. So I get his point: thought, as long as it somehow 'connects', can be therapeutic. What that connection might be is something as impenetrable as the philosophy it adheres to. So in the end you either have it or you don't, a lot like the Christian idea of grace.
The connection for Kaag (and me) is the overlap in idealistic pragmatism (or pragmatic idealism, no one is fussed) between science, that is, rational thought, and what lies beyond it, that which is sometimes called metaphysics but which is more simply named spirituality. This spirituality is what is left over after one has accepted all the paradoxes and limitations of science. Which is quite a lot really, particularly if you're stuck in a loop of rigorous logic suggesting self-immolation.
The essential character of this philosophy is its unique combination of intellectual humility with transcendental hope. Peirce for example thought that the quality of current knowledge will be risible in light of ultimate truth, which he defined in eschatological terms as the end point of human enquiry. Such a conception is simultaneously devoted to science as well as to a future that is beyond any existing thought. It's Judaeo-Christian inspiration is obvious.
To put the matter in more mystical terms: What is above is necessary for the things undertaken below. The former practically energises the latter; and it makes sense of human rationality in a particular way, as a permanently unfinished process of approaching the divine. A process of fits and starts, not necessarily always progressive but a process that can nonetheless be engaged in with confidence of ultimate success. Both Plato and Aristotle would be happy, which is no mean accomplishment.
It is this prospect of a very different, an unimaginable future from that contained in any current expectation which was, I suspect, most compelling for Kaag. It is an instinctive idea that not only keeps us going on occasions of stress or depression but also prevents from doing lots of questionable things on an exhilarated spur of the moment - like getting a tattoo, or proposing marriage on a first date.
Louis Menand's 2001 book, The Metaphysical Club, argues that American Pragmatism originated in the passionate desire of some eminent Bostonians to avoid a recurrence of a trauma which was the equivalent of the French Revolution in Europe, namely the American Civil War. But its effective life-span extended only to the next traumatic event, The Great War. The war of 1914-1918, I believe, tested the virtue of hope beyond philosophical as well as popular endurance. Neither Pragmatism nor Harvard philosophy disappeared entirely as a consequence but they did go underground, pursuing a low-level guerrilla-war for the next half century or so.
My point in raising this bit of history is to note that, despite Kaag's purported experience to the contrary, it ain't necessarily so that a philosophy of hope can engender hope. It was Kaag's discovery of the private library of William Ernst Hocking (an epigone of Josiah Royce) in rural New Hampshire, not the content of his philosophy that gave Kaag hope for his own academic future. Attributing his 'conversion' to intellectual enlightenment or an infatuation with Hocking’s beautiful wife is a bit fatuous even if it makes a good story.
So there are probably many good reasons for taking a stab at Kaag's book, not the least of which is an education in a somewhat underrated school of thought that has had considerable influence on the world, and, who knows, might have considerably more. But I wouldn't recommend it for chasing the blues, even for academics. We may have to settle for grace after all.
Each of us has a preferred method of self-medicating for stress: alcohol, drugs, sex, adrenaline-inducing sport. John Kaag's story is that he was stressed out about a failing marriage and the dismal prospect of an endless graduate thesis. His drug of choice is philosophy, specifically the idealist/pragmatist philosophy of the turn of the 20th century, centred at Harvard. And why not, since it has fewer side-effects than most of the alternatives?
I confess to sharing Kaag's philosophical interest, but more when I'm on a high than on a low. And I also share his enthusiasm for Harvard-sourced philosophy, although I lean much more toward Royce and Peirce than toward James and Santayana. So I get his point: thought, as long as it somehow 'connects', can be therapeutic. What that connection might be is something as impenetrable as the philosophy it adheres to. So in the end you either have it or you don't, a lot like the Christian idea of grace.
The connection for Kaag (and me) is the overlap in idealistic pragmatism (or pragmatic idealism, no one is fussed) between science, that is, rational thought, and what lies beyond it, that which is sometimes called metaphysics but which is more simply named spirituality. This spirituality is what is left over after one has accepted all the paradoxes and limitations of science. Which is quite a lot really, particularly if you're stuck in a loop of rigorous logic suggesting self-immolation.
The essential character of this philosophy is its unique combination of intellectual humility with transcendental hope. Peirce for example thought that the quality of current knowledge will be risible in light of ultimate truth, which he defined in eschatological terms as the end point of human enquiry. Such a conception is simultaneously devoted to science as well as to a future that is beyond any existing thought. It's Judaeo-Christian inspiration is obvious.
To put the matter in more mystical terms: What is above is necessary for the things undertaken below. The former practically energises the latter; and it makes sense of human rationality in a particular way, as a permanently unfinished process of approaching the divine. A process of fits and starts, not necessarily always progressive but a process that can nonetheless be engaged in with confidence of ultimate success. Both Plato and Aristotle would be happy, which is no mean accomplishment.
It is this prospect of a very different, an unimaginable future from that contained in any current expectation which was, I suspect, most compelling for Kaag. It is an instinctive idea that not only keeps us going on occasions of stress or depression but also prevents from doing lots of questionable things on an exhilarated spur of the moment - like getting a tattoo, or proposing marriage on a first date.
Louis Menand's 2001 book, The Metaphysical Club, argues that American Pragmatism originated in the passionate desire of some eminent Bostonians to avoid a recurrence of a trauma which was the equivalent of the French Revolution in Europe, namely the American Civil War. But its effective life-span extended only to the next traumatic event, The Great War. The war of 1914-1918, I believe, tested the virtue of hope beyond philosophical as well as popular endurance. Neither Pragmatism nor Harvard philosophy disappeared entirely as a consequence but they did go underground, pursuing a low-level guerrilla-war for the next half century or so.
My point in raising this bit of history is to note that, despite Kaag's purported experience to the contrary, it ain't necessarily so that a philosophy of hope can engender hope. It was Kaag's discovery of the private library of William Ernst Hocking (an epigone of Josiah Royce) in rural New Hampshire, not the content of his philosophy that gave Kaag hope for his own academic future. Attributing his 'conversion' to intellectual enlightenment or an infatuation with Hocking’s beautiful wife is a bit fatuous even if it makes a good story.
So there are probably many good reasons for taking a stab at Kaag's book, not the least of which is an education in a somewhat underrated school of thought that has had considerable influence on the world, and, who knows, might have considerably more. But I wouldn't recommend it for chasing the blues, even for academics. We may have to settle for grace after all.
July 22, 2017
Is life worth living?
That's one of the Big Questions this book tries to answer. The author, John Kaag, is a philosophy professor who was having a quarter-life crisis when he discovered an amazing collection of rare books at an old estate in New Hampshire. The home, called West Wind, belonged to the Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Hocking had created an impressive and valuable personal library, which included first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. He also had handwritten notes from Walt Whitman and Robert Frost.
Kaag was overwhelmed by the discovery, and set out to catalog the books and store them properly. When we first meet Kaag, he admitted he had been depressed and was considering leaving his wife, but the Hocking project seems to give him a purpose. While the first section of this book is a bit melancholy, the tone gradually lifts as Kaag gets more involved in West Wind and decides to finally get a divorce. His mood lifts again when he falls in love with Carol, a fellow philosopher who helps him organize the library. This change in tone fits the overall structure of the book, which is modeled in three parts like Dante's Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory and Redemption.
American Philosophy is an unusual work to describe because it's part memoir and part philosophy lesson. I haven't read a lot of philosophical works, but I enjoyed Kaag's musings on the different writers and thinkers whose works he'd found at West Wind. I was intrigued by this memoir because I love reading about rare and valuable books, but I also learned a lot, thanks to the philosophy discussion. Highly recommended.
Meaningful Quote
"For American philosophers like [William] James, determining life's worth is, in a very real sense, up to us. Our wills remain the decisive factor in making meaning in a world that continually threatens it. Our past does not have to control us. The risk that life is wholly meaningless is real, but so too is the reward: the ever-present chance to be largely responsible for its worth. The appropriate response to our existential situation is not, at least for James, utter despair or suicide, but rather the repeated, ardent, yearning attempt to make good on life's tenuous possibilities. And the possibilities are out there, often in the most unlikely places."
That's one of the Big Questions this book tries to answer. The author, John Kaag, is a philosophy professor who was having a quarter-life crisis when he discovered an amazing collection of rare books at an old estate in New Hampshire. The home, called West Wind, belonged to the Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Hocking had created an impressive and valuable personal library, which included first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. He also had handwritten notes from Walt Whitman and Robert Frost.
Kaag was overwhelmed by the discovery, and set out to catalog the books and store them properly. When we first meet Kaag, he admitted he had been depressed and was considering leaving his wife, but the Hocking project seems to give him a purpose. While the first section of this book is a bit melancholy, the tone gradually lifts as Kaag gets more involved in West Wind and decides to finally get a divorce. His mood lifts again when he falls in love with Carol, a fellow philosopher who helps him organize the library. This change in tone fits the overall structure of the book, which is modeled in three parts like Dante's Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory and Redemption.
American Philosophy is an unusual work to describe because it's part memoir and part philosophy lesson. I haven't read a lot of philosophical works, but I enjoyed Kaag's musings on the different writers and thinkers whose works he'd found at West Wind. I was intrigued by this memoir because I love reading about rare and valuable books, but I also learned a lot, thanks to the philosophy discussion. Highly recommended.
Meaningful Quote
"For American philosophers like [William] James, determining life's worth is, in a very real sense, up to us. Our wills remain the decisive factor in making meaning in a world that continually threatens it. Our past does not have to control us. The risk that life is wholly meaningless is real, but so too is the reward: the ever-present chance to be largely responsible for its worth. The appropriate response to our existential situation is not, at least for James, utter despair or suicide, but rather the repeated, ardent, yearning attempt to make good on life's tenuous possibilities. And the possibilities are out there, often in the most unlikely places."
June 19, 2025
A Philosopher In Love
John Kaag's book, "American Philosophy: A Love Story" is deeply personal as well as philosophically insightful. Kaag, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, writes for a broad audience and, in words he uses to describe his aim, "successfully bridges the gap between philosophical and creative writing". The book is absorbing and a pleasure to read.
Kaag had earned his PhD and in 2008 was half-heartedly engaged in a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard. His long-absent father had just died and his marriage was crumbling. Kaag felt the force of doubts about the value of life that William James had addressed at Harvard in an 1895 lecture, "Is Life Worth Living?" Through a series of accidents, Kaag finds ways to keep going. He finds himself in a large, musty library in the New Hampshire mountains on an estate that belonged to the American philosopher William Ernst Hocking (1873 -- 1966) and was still owned by his family. Hocking was well-known during his lifetime but is little studied today. I fell in love early with Kaag's book when I found out it was about Hocking. I have read Hocking's most famous book, "The Meaning of God in Human Experience" and reviewed it here on Goodreads.
Kaag wins the trust of the Hocking family and begins a long project cataloging the books in the philosopher's library, including many rare first editions. He is enamored to see first editions of Descartes, Hobbes, and Kant, but the books owned by the American philosophers whom Kaag has studied, frequently with their handwritten marginalia, win his heart. In the course of his project, Kaag firms up his resolve to get a divorce. He also begins a relationship with a colleague, a philosophical student of Kant, Carol, who assists him in his cataloging. Over time, the two philosophers fall in love and marry.
As the story progresses over three-years, Kaag gradually works out his feelings of guilt, anger, and helplessness over his father and his failed marriage. He also comes to rethink the philosophers he has studied and to understand better what he finds of value in the philosophical enterprise. Kaag discusses many philosophers in the book but the focus is on the great American philosophers, Emerson, Thoreau, James Peirce, Royce, Hocking and on the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel who learned from them in many ways. Kaag states his guiding theme and what he learns from his endeavors at the outset of the book.
"For American philosophers like James, determining life's worth is, in a very real sense, up to us. Our wills remain the decisive factor in making meaning in a world that continually threatens it. Our past does not have to control us. The risk that life is wholly meaningless is real, but so too is the reward: the ever-present chance to be largely responsible for its worth. The appropriate response to our existential situation is not, at least for James, utter despair or suicide, but rather the repeated, ardent, yearning attempt to make good on life's tenuous possibilities. And the possibilities are out there, often in the most unlikely places."
Kaag's blossoming love flows together with the lessons he derives from the American philosophers with their independence, freedom, iconoclasm, and gradually developing sense of community to offset an earlier rugged individualism. In succeeding chapters, he offers short, pointed summaries of some of the thoughts of the philosophers, combining it with reflections on their lives. Biography is an important part of philosophy. Thus, Thoreau, for example, never married, was awkward with women (he suffered a rejection from a woman who had earlier rejected his brother) and is best-known for his short, solitary stay at Walden Pond. Several chapters are named for and develop philosophical texts. Thus, "The Will to Believe" examines James' famous essay on religious faith in the light of his relationship with a young woman. "Evolutionary Love" is the title of an essay by Charles Peirce which, for Kaag, celebrates Peirce's unconventional scandal-ridden second marriage to a woman of uncertain origin and the end of his first unhappy marriage. " Philosophy of Loyalty" is the title of a book by the American idealist philosopher Josiah Royce written at the time of the death of a beloved son. And an earlier chapter "Divine Madness" alludes to Plato and his discussion of love and madness in the "Phaedrus". Kaag finds the works of these philosophers rooted in their life experiences. He sees these thinkers as celebrating the value of love and freedom, as opposed to scientific determinism and solipsistic individualism, in giving life meaning.
This book movingly combines personal experience and change with reflection on what makes life valuable -- which is Kaag's understanding of the nature of philosophical thinking. I was glad to read Kaag discussing philosophers I have read and thought about. But the book may be read with pleasure by those without a background in philosophy. The book is a tribute to the power of love and of thought in the search to live a meaningful life in the face of sorrow and difficulty.
Robin Friedman
John Kaag's book, "American Philosophy: A Love Story" is deeply personal as well as philosophically insightful. Kaag, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, writes for a broad audience and, in words he uses to describe his aim, "successfully bridges the gap between philosophical and creative writing". The book is absorbing and a pleasure to read.
Kaag had earned his PhD and in 2008 was half-heartedly engaged in a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard. His long-absent father had just died and his marriage was crumbling. Kaag felt the force of doubts about the value of life that William James had addressed at Harvard in an 1895 lecture, "Is Life Worth Living?" Through a series of accidents, Kaag finds ways to keep going. He finds himself in a large, musty library in the New Hampshire mountains on an estate that belonged to the American philosopher William Ernst Hocking (1873 -- 1966) and was still owned by his family. Hocking was well-known during his lifetime but is little studied today. I fell in love early with Kaag's book when I found out it was about Hocking. I have read Hocking's most famous book, "The Meaning of God in Human Experience" and reviewed it here on Goodreads.
Kaag wins the trust of the Hocking family and begins a long project cataloging the books in the philosopher's library, including many rare first editions. He is enamored to see first editions of Descartes, Hobbes, and Kant, but the books owned by the American philosophers whom Kaag has studied, frequently with their handwritten marginalia, win his heart. In the course of his project, Kaag firms up his resolve to get a divorce. He also begins a relationship with a colleague, a philosophical student of Kant, Carol, who assists him in his cataloging. Over time, the two philosophers fall in love and marry.
As the story progresses over three-years, Kaag gradually works out his feelings of guilt, anger, and helplessness over his father and his failed marriage. He also comes to rethink the philosophers he has studied and to understand better what he finds of value in the philosophical enterprise. Kaag discusses many philosophers in the book but the focus is on the great American philosophers, Emerson, Thoreau, James Peirce, Royce, Hocking and on the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel who learned from them in many ways. Kaag states his guiding theme and what he learns from his endeavors at the outset of the book.
"For American philosophers like James, determining life's worth is, in a very real sense, up to us. Our wills remain the decisive factor in making meaning in a world that continually threatens it. Our past does not have to control us. The risk that life is wholly meaningless is real, but so too is the reward: the ever-present chance to be largely responsible for its worth. The appropriate response to our existential situation is not, at least for James, utter despair or suicide, but rather the repeated, ardent, yearning attempt to make good on life's tenuous possibilities. And the possibilities are out there, often in the most unlikely places."
Kaag's blossoming love flows together with the lessons he derives from the American philosophers with their independence, freedom, iconoclasm, and gradually developing sense of community to offset an earlier rugged individualism. In succeeding chapters, he offers short, pointed summaries of some of the thoughts of the philosophers, combining it with reflections on their lives. Biography is an important part of philosophy. Thus, Thoreau, for example, never married, was awkward with women (he suffered a rejection from a woman who had earlier rejected his brother) and is best-known for his short, solitary stay at Walden Pond. Several chapters are named for and develop philosophical texts. Thus, "The Will to Believe" examines James' famous essay on religious faith in the light of his relationship with a young woman. "Evolutionary Love" is the title of an essay by Charles Peirce which, for Kaag, celebrates Peirce's unconventional scandal-ridden second marriage to a woman of uncertain origin and the end of his first unhappy marriage. " Philosophy of Loyalty" is the title of a book by the American idealist philosopher Josiah Royce written at the time of the death of a beloved son. And an earlier chapter "Divine Madness" alludes to Plato and his discussion of love and madness in the "Phaedrus". Kaag finds the works of these philosophers rooted in their life experiences. He sees these thinkers as celebrating the value of love and freedom, as opposed to scientific determinism and solipsistic individualism, in giving life meaning.
This book movingly combines personal experience and change with reflection on what makes life valuable -- which is Kaag's understanding of the nature of philosophical thinking. I was glad to read Kaag discussing philosophers I have read and thought about. But the book may be read with pleasure by those without a background in philosophy. The book is a tribute to the power of love and of thought in the search to live a meaningful life in the face of sorrow and difficulty.
Robin Friedman
April 16, 2017
This is a really good book, although I did not expect to be so good. The book is a memoir of sorts of the author's experiences after completing his Ph.D. In philosophy and during his time as a post-doc at Harvard and an untenured Assistant Professor at UMass-Lowell. During this time, the author is attempting to make sense of William James' question concerning whether life was worth living - a classic question for philosophers. This is not just an intellectual journey, however, but one rooted in the author's search for personal meaning, during the course of which his first marriage falls apart while his second develops through a relationship with the other untenured professor hired by his department when he was hired - i.e., the person he would likely be competing for tenure against.
The hook to this story comes from the author gaining access to the library of Ernest Hocking, a major US philosopher from the first half of the twentieth century. The library was an amazing one with major works linking the star American philosophers such as Royce and James with the European scholars that influenced them. By the way, the history of American philosophy is Kaag's specialty, which made the Hocking library a wonderful place for him to hang out.
The book reads as a fairly honest and probing memoir. Professor Kaag also knows a lot about the philosophical greats and is talented in communicating that knowledge effectively. For readers with a general interest in philosophy - especially early American philosophy, the book provides a superb tour of the area. The book that comes to mind as a comparison is "The Metaphysical Club", but this book is more insightful about the broad area beyond pragmatism. Short vignettes on various masters are dropped throughout the book and most are entertaining and insightful.
The philosophy discussed here is that intended for a more general audience - students and well educated adults - and is that sort that would be taught in undergraduate courses and general surveys. From the 1930s onward, philosophy became professionalized and much less accessible to the general public. Go to a major philosophy journal and read through a few articles if you have any questions about the shift in the area.
The story in the book is also about a workplace romance between two assistant professors in the same department that led to their getting married. They both seem like fine scholars but the book in places seems like it is providing way too much information. After all, these two have to continue to work and publish, serve on committees, and vote on cases and the like. I sure hope it works out, since any tenure track positions in philosophy are scarce these days. My sense is that to be a professional philosopher these days is very difficult and the people who succeed are unusual.
The book also has some interesting philosophical strands of its own, especially in the linking of philosophical reflection with personal experience and love relationships. Maturing and developing as a person is not just a thought problem.
Overall, it is an odd sort of book combining ideas, ethics, and actual relationships, but it reads well and is very entertaining.
The hook to this story comes from the author gaining access to the library of Ernest Hocking, a major US philosopher from the first half of the twentieth century. The library was an amazing one with major works linking the star American philosophers such as Royce and James with the European scholars that influenced them. By the way, the history of American philosophy is Kaag's specialty, which made the Hocking library a wonderful place for him to hang out.
The book reads as a fairly honest and probing memoir. Professor Kaag also knows a lot about the philosophical greats and is talented in communicating that knowledge effectively. For readers with a general interest in philosophy - especially early American philosophy, the book provides a superb tour of the area. The book that comes to mind as a comparison is "The Metaphysical Club", but this book is more insightful about the broad area beyond pragmatism. Short vignettes on various masters are dropped throughout the book and most are entertaining and insightful.
The philosophy discussed here is that intended for a more general audience - students and well educated adults - and is that sort that would be taught in undergraduate courses and general surveys. From the 1930s onward, philosophy became professionalized and much less accessible to the general public. Go to a major philosophy journal and read through a few articles if you have any questions about the shift in the area.
The story in the book is also about a workplace romance between two assistant professors in the same department that led to their getting married. They both seem like fine scholars but the book in places seems like it is providing way too much information. After all, these two have to continue to work and publish, serve on committees, and vote on cases and the like. I sure hope it works out, since any tenure track positions in philosophy are scarce these days. My sense is that to be a professional philosopher these days is very difficult and the people who succeed are unusual.
The book also has some interesting philosophical strands of its own, especially in the linking of philosophical reflection with personal experience and love relationships. Maturing and developing as a person is not just a thought problem.
Overall, it is an odd sort of book combining ideas, ethics, and actual relationships, but it reads well and is very entertaining.
November 28, 2021
“Framing the universe —and our estrangement from it—as a problem to be definitively solved has the unintended consequence of distracting us from our ongoing participation in what Marcel called the ‘mystery of being’ And this participation, according to him, is about the best we humans can hope for. A mystery, in Marcel’s words, is a problem that encroaches upon itself because the questioner becomes the object of the question. Getting to Mars is a problem. Falling in love is a mystery.”
“West Wind taught me many things. About longevity in the face of destruction, about dealing with loss, about love and freedom, but also about the discipline of philosophy. Philosophy, and the humanities more generally, once served as an effective cult of the dead —documenting, explaining and revitalizing the meaning and value of human pursuits. It tried to figure out how to preserve what is noble and most worthy about us. At its best, philosophy tried to explain why our lives, so fragile and ephemeral, might have lasting significance.”
“Yes, duty and relationships and community and loyalty and work and marriage all have their place, but without zest —that certain something that makes these things pointedly mine —life would mean painfully little.”
“West Wind taught me many things. About longevity in the face of destruction, about dealing with loss, about love and freedom, but also about the discipline of philosophy. Philosophy, and the humanities more generally, once served as an effective cult of the dead —documenting, explaining and revitalizing the meaning and value of human pursuits. It tried to figure out how to preserve what is noble and most worthy about us. At its best, philosophy tried to explain why our lives, so fragile and ephemeral, might have lasting significance.”
“Yes, duty and relationships and community and loyalty and work and marriage all have their place, but without zest —that certain something that makes these things pointedly mine —life would mean painfully little.”
November 16, 2016
A beautifully crafted, thoughtfully written, remarkably engaging narrative that is part memoir, part intellectual history of philosophy, and compelling story of trying to save an endangered rare book collection. Intelligent, instructive, entertaining, and exhilarating.
December 15, 2016
Who wouldn’t like to discover a lost library of moldering antique books hidden away on a dilapidated New England estate? John Kaag did, which presented him with the excuse to write this book. Much as I wanted to discover something marvelous in it, however, I’m afraid I was disappointed.
American Philosophy is first of all a memoir of the author’s failed marriage and his falling in love with the woman (married at the time) who would become his second wife. It is also a survey of American philosophy from Thoreau and Emerson to William James, Josiah Royce and William Ernest Hocking. The memoir, unfortunately, is a bit adolescent and self-indulgent, while the survey is scattershot and teasing.
To be honest, I rather despise academic philosophy, though I studied philosophy in college. When it moved into the lecture hall and degrees were awarded in it, Socrates rolled over in his grave and Western philosophy died. Kaag must sympathize, as witnessed by his interest in what you might call practical philosophers, but anyone who glibly refers to himself as a “philosopher” (which Kaag does frequently) is a part of the problem. To my ears it’s a little like referring to oneself as an artist or a humanitarian; the title ought to be earned by something other than obtaining a PhD.
I don’t want to be too hard on Kaag (despite the fact that the man can never sit on a “chair” but must always be sitting on a “Stickley” or an “Adirondack” or a “Chesterfield”). It is unavoidably better to read Thoreau and Emerson and James for yourself than merely to read about them. And Kaag does manage to grow up a bit by the end of the book, regretting the horrible way that he had treated his first wife. He discovers, too, what he might have known all along without so much trouble: that wonder is the proper response to life, and that love is the most wonderful thing of all.
American Philosophy is first of all a memoir of the author’s failed marriage and his falling in love with the woman (married at the time) who would become his second wife. It is also a survey of American philosophy from Thoreau and Emerson to William James, Josiah Royce and William Ernest Hocking. The memoir, unfortunately, is a bit adolescent and self-indulgent, while the survey is scattershot and teasing.
To be honest, I rather despise academic philosophy, though I studied philosophy in college. When it moved into the lecture hall and degrees were awarded in it, Socrates rolled over in his grave and Western philosophy died. Kaag must sympathize, as witnessed by his interest in what you might call practical philosophers, but anyone who glibly refers to himself as a “philosopher” (which Kaag does frequently) is a part of the problem. To my ears it’s a little like referring to oneself as an artist or a humanitarian; the title ought to be earned by something other than obtaining a PhD.
I don’t want to be too hard on Kaag (despite the fact that the man can never sit on a “chair” but must always be sitting on a “Stickley” or an “Adirondack” or a “Chesterfield”). It is unavoidably better to read Thoreau and Emerson and James for yourself than merely to read about them. And Kaag does manage to grow up a bit by the end of the book, regretting the horrible way that he had treated his first wife. He discovers, too, what he might have known all along without so much trouble: that wonder is the proper response to life, and that love is the most wonderful thing of all.
October 19, 2016
As a philosophy student and teacher I am biased, but overall I enjoyed the book. I liked the intellectual history side of it more than the memoir; there were a few times I found the story hard to follow, but I began to think of it more as the lecture style of a meandering yet fascinating professor. The highest compliment I can pay to a book of this sort is that I want to read more about and by some of the philosophers the author mentioned, such as Emerson, Marcel, Royce, and Hocking.
September 12, 2020
Wunderbar zugängliche Einführung in die Geschichte der nordamerikanische Philosophie. Ungemein verführerisch: Appetit auf weiterführende Lektüre erscheint fast unvermeidlich.
April 25, 2017
John Kaag studied philosophy. But as a post-doc professor at the University of Massachusetts he has doubts whether or not it really matters. His marriage is foundering. As he wonders about what direction he should take in his life and career, he discovers in rural New Hampshire the old estate of the Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Called West Wind, the house is dilapidated yet still filled with thousands of valuable books which are also gradually decaying in the fusty, untended environment. Not only books are at the Hocking Library at West Wind but also letters and papers of such notable writers and scholars as Whitman, Frost, Emerson, and William James. The library contains a comprehensive working collection of all of western philosophy, including all the books by American philosophers, particularly that period of the late 19th century and early 20th, called the golden age, the time of Emerson and Thoreau leading into William James, Josiah Royce, and Charles Sanders Peirce. Kaag sets himself the task of cataloging and restoring these neglected books. As he relates the progress of his work in the library and his reading there he gives us biographical accounts of the thinkers he found on the shelves and deep reflection on their work. Because the library was Hocking's, the richest veins are those of his contemporaries and their ideas on transcendentalism, pragmatism, and idealism.
The love of deep thought is only part of the love story, though. He enlists a colleague from UMass, Carol, to help in the cataloging. Their personal love for each other develops amid the dusty, wormy books. On p210 Kaag calls philosophy "that epic love affair with wisdom." That idea helps to wed the potent emotional experience of handling and learning from the valuable books to his love for Carol. This love story of the title makes it easy to relate his and Carol's story with the love of Charles Sanders Peirce and his wife, the May-December love of William James for 24-year old Pauline Goldmark, and the late life affair of William Ernest Hocking and Pearl S. Buck.
Ironically, perhaps the most important message he takes from his experience at West Wind comes not from an American thinker but from the French existentialist Gabriel Marcel, who believed that the true aim of life isn't to come up with all the answers but to be open to them so one can remain in touch with and receive what life can teach. What Kaag learns and takes away from West Wind to tell us is that one must hold on to the freedom to learn and the freedom to love.
The love of deep thought is only part of the love story, though. He enlists a colleague from UMass, Carol, to help in the cataloging. Their personal love for each other develops amid the dusty, wormy books. On p210 Kaag calls philosophy "that epic love affair with wisdom." That idea helps to wed the potent emotional experience of handling and learning from the valuable books to his love for Carol. This love story of the title makes it easy to relate his and Carol's story with the love of Charles Sanders Peirce and his wife, the May-December love of William James for 24-year old Pauline Goldmark, and the late life affair of William Ernest Hocking and Pearl S. Buck.
Ironically, perhaps the most important message he takes from his experience at West Wind comes not from an American thinker but from the French existentialist Gabriel Marcel, who believed that the true aim of life isn't to come up with all the answers but to be open to them so one can remain in touch with and receive what life can teach. What Kaag learns and takes away from West Wind to tell us is that one must hold on to the freedom to learn and the freedom to love.
June 26, 2017
An engaging account of a young philosopher's immersion in works by the Transcendentalists and Pragmatists: Emerson, Thoreau, Hocking, James, etc. His attempt to frame his marital struggles in terms of these ideals, while also engaging, is less successful. I enjoyed his excitement exploring the long-neglected library of William Ernest Hocking on a remote New Hampshire hillside.
Quotes:
---"Pragmatism holds that truth is to be judged on the basis of its practical consequences, on its ability to negotiate and enrich human experience."
---Montaigne: "Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out."
---Emerson: "in the morning a man walks with his whole body; in the evening only with his legs."
---Thoreau at the beginning of Walden: "In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else, whom I knew as well. Unfortunately I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience."
Quotes:
---"Pragmatism holds that truth is to be judged on the basis of its practical consequences, on its ability to negotiate and enrich human experience."
---Montaigne: "Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out."
---Emerson: "in the morning a man walks with his whole body; in the evening only with his legs."
---Thoreau at the beginning of Walden: "In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else, whom I knew as well. Unfortunately I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience."
June 15, 2017
Not what I was expecting. I misunderstood the title and was hoping that this philosopher was going to present American philosophy in such a way as to create for the reader a "love affair" with it. He does a bit of that. But mostly he engages us in a somewhat sophomoric, self-indulgent recounting of his own personal life and love woes. I imagine that he was trying frame philosophy in terms of biography, in service of the way in which many American philosophers feel it is best framed. But it just doesn't work here. At least not for me. The philosophy suffers - thins out - in the service of the biographical detail.
September 9, 2020
This was a very enjoyable and educational read. John Kaag creatively interweaves the personal narrative of his failed first marriage and ensuing personal crisis with an overview of American pragmatic philosophy. This comes about with his discovery of the country estate and library of W. Ernest Hocking, possibly one of the last great, well-known American philosophers who was personally acquainted with the likes of William James, Emerson, Royce, Thoreau and many others. The library consists of many volumes of these scholars that are personally signed and annotated.
Kaag becomes obsessed with Hocking's rundown library on the estate in New Hampshire, and starts a project with Hocking's granddaughters to catalog the incredible collection of books before they are completely destroyed by mold, mischievous rodents, and time itself. Kaag brings us along for the ride as he explains many of the philosophies held within these scholarly tomes, while simultaneously reflecting upon his own personal troubles and loss of direction and meaning in his life. I found the philosophical insights, along with anecdotes of the personal struggles of folks like William James and John Royce, very well presented and explained by Kaag.
However, my biggest criticism of the book is that sometimes Kaag skips ahead in his personal story, leaving me feeling as though I'd missed some milestone in his personal journey, since I was so absorbed in the philosophical discussion. For example, fairly early in the book it seems that Kaag has only just begun his project at the library, when you suddenly realize a few pages later that he has been there for several months, is now divorced, and is forming a new relationship with a work colleague. I realize the author can't delve into all these personal details too much, but somehow it felt that the parallel of his personal journey wasn't always in synch with his revamped exploration of the pragmatic-school of American philosophy.
That said, I heartily recommend this to dabblers of philosophy who appreciate a creative way of presenting works that may be considered hard to interpret in their original sources. Kaag's love of the subject and unique narrative make this truly a love story in more ways than one.
Kaag becomes obsessed with Hocking's rundown library on the estate in New Hampshire, and starts a project with Hocking's granddaughters to catalog the incredible collection of books before they are completely destroyed by mold, mischievous rodents, and time itself. Kaag brings us along for the ride as he explains many of the philosophies held within these scholarly tomes, while simultaneously reflecting upon his own personal troubles and loss of direction and meaning in his life. I found the philosophical insights, along with anecdotes of the personal struggles of folks like William James and John Royce, very well presented and explained by Kaag.
However, my biggest criticism of the book is that sometimes Kaag skips ahead in his personal story, leaving me feeling as though I'd missed some milestone in his personal journey, since I was so absorbed in the philosophical discussion. For example, fairly early in the book it seems that Kaag has only just begun his project at the library, when you suddenly realize a few pages later that he has been there for several months, is now divorced, and is forming a new relationship with a work colleague. I realize the author can't delve into all these personal details too much, but somehow it felt that the parallel of his personal journey wasn't always in synch with his revamped exploration of the pragmatic-school of American philosophy.
That said, I heartily recommend this to dabblers of philosophy who appreciate a creative way of presenting works that may be considered hard to interpret in their original sources. Kaag's love of the subject and unique narrative make this truly a love story in more ways than one.
July 15, 2021
This is the first of what I consider to be John Kaag's popular philosophy trilogy, which includes Hiking with Nietzsche and Sick Souls, Healthy Minds. It's very much a precursor to Sick Souls, Healthy Minds, which goes more in-depth on William James' life and philosophy. This book is a general survey anchored by the Boston Brahmins, and includes Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Peirce, John Dewey, Jane Addams, William Ernest Hocking, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Josiah Royce, George Santayana, and Fanny Parnell—and of course, William James.
Part memoir, part history of philosophy, Kaag's book is an accessible exploration of American philosophy, through the lens of Kaag's own physical tramping through the mostly lost book collection at West Wind, the former home of Ernest Hocking, an influential American philosopher the general public hears very little about.
I appreciate the perspectival approach Kaag takes to philosophy, reminding us, in pragmatist fashion, that any given philosophy is always from the perspective of an "I."
Kaag is involved in a valuable effort to blur the lines between the public and the now over-technicalized world of academic philosophy. Much has been lost as philosophy has moved to ivory towers, yet there are advocates of public philosophy that still draw breath!
This short-ish book makes for a good gift to those intimated by philosophy, going through a divorce (as Kaag was while writing it), or wanting to become acquainted with some of the great, albeit mostly male, thinkers of the 19th and early 20th-century world centered around New England.
Part memoir, part history of philosophy, Kaag's book is an accessible exploration of American philosophy, through the lens of Kaag's own physical tramping through the mostly lost book collection at West Wind, the former home of Ernest Hocking, an influential American philosopher the general public hears very little about.
I appreciate the perspectival approach Kaag takes to philosophy, reminding us, in pragmatist fashion, that any given philosophy is always from the perspective of an "I."
Kaag is involved in a valuable effort to blur the lines between the public and the now over-technicalized world of academic philosophy. Much has been lost as philosophy has moved to ivory towers, yet there are advocates of public philosophy that still draw breath!
This short-ish book makes for a good gift to those intimated by philosophy, going through a divorce (as Kaag was while writing it), or wanting to become acquainted with some of the great, albeit mostly male, thinkers of the 19th and early 20th-century world centered around New England.
April 20, 2020
I wanted and expected to like this book more than I did. This book is part memoir (a young philosophy professor in a failing marriage) while also being the portrayal of a historical exploration for the origins of American philosophy. During his exploration the author discovers the estate library of an extraordinary philosopher: William Ernest Hocking. In the course of exploring the library and learning of the lives of Hocking's compatriots, the author discovers a new love in his own life.
The story portrays the author's browsing of the estate library and a discussion of the books authored by an amazing cast of intelligentsia of Hocking's time period. As the author peruses the material found in the library (letters, books, magazines,...), he discusses the import of that person in Hocking's life, as well as the relevance of that person to the American literary or philosophy scene. This book was highly informative.
The characters and stories within the book are very interesting, and the intermixing of the memoir with the discussion of the American philosophy trends makes for a fascinating read at times. Unfortunately the book lost me when it went to deep into some stories which seemed hardly relevant, and it ends in a way that does not provide any real closure.
The story portrays the author's browsing of the estate library and a discussion of the books authored by an amazing cast of intelligentsia of Hocking's time period. As the author peruses the material found in the library (letters, books, magazines,...), he discusses the import of that person in Hocking's life, as well as the relevance of that person to the American literary or philosophy scene. This book was highly informative.
The characters and stories within the book are very interesting, and the intermixing of the memoir with the discussion of the American philosophy trends makes for a fascinating read at times. Unfortunately the book lost me when it went to deep into some stories which seemed hardly relevant, and it ends in a way that does not provide any real closure.
April 21, 2017
I was thoroughly charmed by John Kaag's "American Philosophy: A Love Story" ... he stumbles upon William Hocking's neglected collection of rare books, and writes about them in the process of cataloging and preserving. I have a deeper appreciation for Emerson, William James (I can't get enough of him), Kant, Royce and Hocking ... I found more titles to explore ("A Stroll with William James," "Aids to Reflection," "The Meaning of God in Human Experience") ... I got yet another pang that a certain U on the bluff has no courses on American philosophy ... I learned more about Jane Addams (the only American philosopher to win a Nobel Prize), Lydia Child and Ella Cabot (Kaag's very good at restoring women philosophers to the canon) ... and he writes thoughtfully and engagingly about the collapse of his first marriage and his connection to the woman he then fell in love with and married ... happy endings all around.
October 13, 2016
John Kaag's book is marvelous, the first philosophical page-turner I've ever read. He has thrown down a massive challenge to all philosophers to write books men and women will want to buy and read. The criticism of it leveled in the NDPR is unwarranted, but the praise heaped upon it by the NPR review is deserved. Hats off to him.
November 17, 2016
I seem to be an outlier on this one. I thought it shallow as a love story and not very rich in its treatment of American philosophy (for example, where is Peirce's logic). Does inadvertantly make the case for the relative paucity of great American philosophers.
June 4, 2021
I suppose you could call this a study of William James and his l9th century contemporaries beginning with Thoreau and Emerson, and later including Josiah Royce, William Hocking, Charles Pierce, John Dewey, and others, many of these names not too familiar today. Kaag, a professional philosopher himself, talks about the personal lives of these men, as well as some of their major ideas as he came across them in books he found in an old private library he was examining. The library belonged to William Hocking, now owned by his estate, and was in run-down and neglected condition. . It was known to the family as the “West Wind” library, located on the Hocking estate in an isolated area of New England.
Kaag’s approach is an interesting one. He points out that in graduate school he was taught “to carefully ignore the personalities that give rise to philosophical arguments,” but when it comes to American philosophers that was difficult to do. Thoreau always talks in the first person, pointing out logically that there was no one else that he knew as well as himself. The American Transcendentalists generally held that philosophy should be integrated into the conduct of life. Otherwise, what’s the point of philosophizing?
If there’s one idea that can b e found in American philosophy, from the Puritan Jonathan Edwards in the 18th century into the 21st century, Kaag thinks it is about the possibilities of rebirth and renewal. Rummaging through this old library and finding valuable first editions, often autographed, Kaag even experiences that feeling himself and talks freely about his own life, his recent divorce, and the discovery of a new relationship.
The books impress him, both in their sheer numbers and quality and reawaken his interest in these out-of-fashion authors and philosophers. At times, it’s a challenge to sort through and assess the writings of all of these dead white men He describes seeing a photograph of Hocking and two of his teachers, Royce and William James, sitting on a split rail fence near Mr. Chocorus (the subject of a poem by Wallace Stevens, by the way), all obviously taking a break from their philosophical speculations, as if to suggest that everything should be put in context.
Speculations, as Kaag points out that deviated from European thinkers such as Decartes and Hobbes, and moved away from abstract concepts such as the “pure reason” of Kant. Rather they were meant to help individuals work through the trials of personal experience. All of these men wrote extensively and have been categorized – James as the founder of psychology as a discipline, and a pragmatist, Royce as the founder of American idealism, Pierce, sometimes known as the father of pragmatism, Dewey, an early proponent of what came to be known as progressive education. The lesser known Hocking wrote mostly about religion, and had a major influence on Gabriel Marcel, a later French existentialist and contemporary of Jean Paul Sartre.
Kaag’s book is really not about what all these terms mean, though. He writes, “The West Wind library taught me many things. Philosophy and the humanities more generally once served as an effective cult of the dead – documenting, explaining, and revitalizing the meaning and value of human pursuits. At its best, philosophy tried to explain why our lives, so fragile and ephemeral, might have lasting significance. . .”
As to the physical fate of the books, many already in bad shape, the more valuable ones were moved to the archives at the University of Massachusetts, and there as a remnant of Hocking’s grand moment of a library, they’ll be preserved much longer under ideal conditions.
Kaag’s approach is an interesting one. He points out that in graduate school he was taught “to carefully ignore the personalities that give rise to philosophical arguments,” but when it comes to American philosophers that was difficult to do. Thoreau always talks in the first person, pointing out logically that there was no one else that he knew as well as himself. The American Transcendentalists generally held that philosophy should be integrated into the conduct of life. Otherwise, what’s the point of philosophizing?
If there’s one idea that can b e found in American philosophy, from the Puritan Jonathan Edwards in the 18th century into the 21st century, Kaag thinks it is about the possibilities of rebirth and renewal. Rummaging through this old library and finding valuable first editions, often autographed, Kaag even experiences that feeling himself and talks freely about his own life, his recent divorce, and the discovery of a new relationship.
The books impress him, both in their sheer numbers and quality and reawaken his interest in these out-of-fashion authors and philosophers. At times, it’s a challenge to sort through and assess the writings of all of these dead white men He describes seeing a photograph of Hocking and two of his teachers, Royce and William James, sitting on a split rail fence near Mr. Chocorus (the subject of a poem by Wallace Stevens, by the way), all obviously taking a break from their philosophical speculations, as if to suggest that everything should be put in context.
Speculations, as Kaag points out that deviated from European thinkers such as Decartes and Hobbes, and moved away from abstract concepts such as the “pure reason” of Kant. Rather they were meant to help individuals work through the trials of personal experience. All of these men wrote extensively and have been categorized – James as the founder of psychology as a discipline, and a pragmatist, Royce as the founder of American idealism, Pierce, sometimes known as the father of pragmatism, Dewey, an early proponent of what came to be known as progressive education. The lesser known Hocking wrote mostly about religion, and had a major influence on Gabriel Marcel, a later French existentialist and contemporary of Jean Paul Sartre.
Kaag’s book is really not about what all these terms mean, though. He writes, “The West Wind library taught me many things. Philosophy and the humanities more generally once served as an effective cult of the dead – documenting, explaining, and revitalizing the meaning and value of human pursuits. At its best, philosophy tried to explain why our lives, so fragile and ephemeral, might have lasting significance. . .”
As to the physical fate of the books, many already in bad shape, the more valuable ones were moved to the archives at the University of Massachusetts, and there as a remnant of Hocking’s grand moment of a library, they’ll be preserved much longer under ideal conditions.
May 18, 2017
Inasmuch as this is a story, it comes up short. Ostensibly the account of how our narrator dug himself out of an experience of what we might call false consciousness – life in an unhappy marriage with a range of career choices before him – most of this is instead a record of the cataloguing of the library of William Ernest Hocking, a mostly forgotten one-time titan of American philosophy. We don’t get the details of a traditional love story – in fact, all of the romance between Kaag and the woman he eventually marries would fit in a handful of pages.
Of course, I realize the intent of that subtitle. It’s a reference to any number of potential love stories: not just Kaag and Carol, but also Kaag and the library, Hocking and his own wife, Hocking and life itself, and Kaag and a discipline he’d embraced only through his intellect rather than his full emotional register. We don’t get details of the meaningful but mundane romance that brings Kaag his new wife. Instead, we get a range of biographical sketches and interpretations of philosophical trends.
I am, in many ways, the target audience here. I’m a scholar of American literature, and I know the literary siblings of the philosophers who stand on center stage here. (That’s literally true in the case of William and Henry James, but it’s metaphorically true of the many writers who come in as friends of the philosophers in question.) I know the joy of finding some puzzle piece of information or insight in a forgotten text, and I have tried to share it with others myself. (And I have generally failed.)
So, my verdict is that this one is too much of a mess to be a full success. It’s part memoir, though I took it for fiction, and it’s part philosophical treatise. It fails to come entirely together… but I want to put an asterisk to that observation.
It takes a while, but Kaag eventually gives us a wide and working definition of what distinguishes American philosophy from the more familiar continental strain. There are vast schools of thought that find their roots in Descartes, that take as axiomatic that we begin thinking as individual selves. As Kaag develops a series of interconnected arguments, he presents us with a compelling alternative. That is, some thinkers (such as C.S. Pierce) proposed that our experience originates not in the self but in our interaction with others. It is not so much the thunderbolt of “I think, therefore I am,” as it is – and I paraphrase from my own understanding – “We love one another, therefore we are.”
That, of course, is the central notion of “love” at the heart of the subtitle, and it’s a powerful one. (It’s just one that I’m convinced could have come more efficiently and with more power in some other form – memoir would be fine, but it would need to be memoir that didn’t so fully parrot the structure of the novel and instead found some fresh approach.)
In fact, while I find the form of this book disappointing, I’m genuinely inspired by what Kaag has to share in these seemingly dry old characters. As he tells us, American philosophy stood in contrast to the continentals in that it attacked the problems of what it means to live an everyday life. It found a middle ground between pure logic and the abstract contemplation of morality. Because the founders of American philosophy, from Emerson through William James, Pierce, Josiah Royce, and eventually Hocking himself, wanted always to explore “experience” (something I knew to be at the heart of Emersonian thought but that it has taken Kaag to help me understand in this new light) they wrote about overlapping ideas.
In other words, one reason we have seen the tradition of American philosophy wither is that it is, from its axiomatic beginnings, messy. It doesn’t start with self, but with community, with a people between or among whom lies the potential for love. (For Emerson and his literary sibling Whitman, that love is both between individuals and in the nature of citizenship.)
So, to the asterisk in my judgement of the book over all: Kaag’s very moving take on the nature of this tradition is messy enough that it seems to have inspired a messy structure in its work. (And, if you want to see “messy” done masterfully, check out almost any of Emerson’s essays.) I think this book falls short of the masterpiece it suggests, but I think it does so in part because Kaag, for all that he embraces this tradition, sees it as a tradition that failed to keep its foothold in our culture. To put it sadly, he’s fallen in love with a ghost, and he can’t quite bring himself to pronounce his new love dead.
There’s real potential in the metaphor of the library, a decaying place that stood for a generation as the ultimate coming together of a century of the finest thinkers our nation could produce. And note that the library, put into an order that perhaps only Hocking himself fully understood, is beautifully and inspirationally messy.
I am certainly glad I read this one, but I can’t recommend it entirely to others. I’ll keep thinking about it, I’m sure, but I’ll be as aware of the faults in its structure as I am in the deep wisdom – and love – that it circles around so messily.
Of course, I realize the intent of that subtitle. It’s a reference to any number of potential love stories: not just Kaag and Carol, but also Kaag and the library, Hocking and his own wife, Hocking and life itself, and Kaag and a discipline he’d embraced only through his intellect rather than his full emotional register. We don’t get details of the meaningful but mundane romance that brings Kaag his new wife. Instead, we get a range of biographical sketches and interpretations of philosophical trends.
I am, in many ways, the target audience here. I’m a scholar of American literature, and I know the literary siblings of the philosophers who stand on center stage here. (That’s literally true in the case of William and Henry James, but it’s metaphorically true of the many writers who come in as friends of the philosophers in question.) I know the joy of finding some puzzle piece of information or insight in a forgotten text, and I have tried to share it with others myself. (And I have generally failed.)
So, my verdict is that this one is too much of a mess to be a full success. It’s part memoir, though I took it for fiction, and it’s part philosophical treatise. It fails to come entirely together… but I want to put an asterisk to that observation.
It takes a while, but Kaag eventually gives us a wide and working definition of what distinguishes American philosophy from the more familiar continental strain. There are vast schools of thought that find their roots in Descartes, that take as axiomatic that we begin thinking as individual selves. As Kaag develops a series of interconnected arguments, he presents us with a compelling alternative. That is, some thinkers (such as C.S. Pierce) proposed that our experience originates not in the self but in our interaction with others. It is not so much the thunderbolt of “I think, therefore I am,” as it is – and I paraphrase from my own understanding – “We love one another, therefore we are.”
That, of course, is the central notion of “love” at the heart of the subtitle, and it’s a powerful one. (It’s just one that I’m convinced could have come more efficiently and with more power in some other form – memoir would be fine, but it would need to be memoir that didn’t so fully parrot the structure of the novel and instead found some fresh approach.)
In fact, while I find the form of this book disappointing, I’m genuinely inspired by what Kaag has to share in these seemingly dry old characters. As he tells us, American philosophy stood in contrast to the continentals in that it attacked the problems of what it means to live an everyday life. It found a middle ground between pure logic and the abstract contemplation of morality. Because the founders of American philosophy, from Emerson through William James, Pierce, Josiah Royce, and eventually Hocking himself, wanted always to explore “experience” (something I knew to be at the heart of Emersonian thought but that it has taken Kaag to help me understand in this new light) they wrote about overlapping ideas.
In other words, one reason we have seen the tradition of American philosophy wither is that it is, from its axiomatic beginnings, messy. It doesn’t start with self, but with community, with a people between or among whom lies the potential for love. (For Emerson and his literary sibling Whitman, that love is both between individuals and in the nature of citizenship.)
So, to the asterisk in my judgement of the book over all: Kaag’s very moving take on the nature of this tradition is messy enough that it seems to have inspired a messy structure in its work. (And, if you want to see “messy” done masterfully, check out almost any of Emerson’s essays.) I think this book falls short of the masterpiece it suggests, but I think it does so in part because Kaag, for all that he embraces this tradition, sees it as a tradition that failed to keep its foothold in our culture. To put it sadly, he’s fallen in love with a ghost, and he can’t quite bring himself to pronounce his new love dead.
There’s real potential in the metaphor of the library, a decaying place that stood for a generation as the ultimate coming together of a century of the finest thinkers our nation could produce. And note that the library, put into an order that perhaps only Hocking himself fully understood, is beautifully and inspirationally messy.
I am certainly glad I read this one, but I can’t recommend it entirely to others. I’ll keep thinking about it, I’m sure, but I’ll be as aware of the faults in its structure as I am in the deep wisdom – and love – that it circles around so messily.
December 4, 2016
"American Philosophy: A Love Story" combines autobiography, literary adventure, and philosophical exposition. John Kaag tells an unflinchingly self-aware story of his own personal development as he discovers and curates the library of early-20th century Harvard philosopher Ernest Hocking. Kaag recounts his own struggle with his father's death, his latent alcoholism, and separation and divorce, coming to terms with these events by exploring the philosophers and the books in the library at Hocking's "West Wind" estate in rural New Hampshire.
There's much to love in Kaag's love story. Bibliophiles will relish Kaag's unearthing of first editions of landmark 16th through 19th century philosophical tomes, some of them personally inscribed to Hocking by their authors. Historical paparazzi will love the connections Kaag draws between Hocking and his library and pre-eminent 19th and 20th century academic and literary figures: William James, Robert Frost, John Dewey, Gabriel Marcel, and Pearl Buck, among many others. Kaag provides small sketches of these figures and what he learns from them for his own life and transformation.
The book provides a mini-course in American philosophy, from Dante's inferno, to transcendentalism, to pragmatism, and all the way through to existentialism and feminism. The writing is accessible and the Kaag's own story is poignant and gives energy to the narrative. Kaag's love story refers to his love for his subject, for Hocking's library, and eventually his own finding of love and companionship for himself.
There's much to love in Kaag's love story. Bibliophiles will relish Kaag's unearthing of first editions of landmark 16th through 19th century philosophical tomes, some of them personally inscribed to Hocking by their authors. Historical paparazzi will love the connections Kaag draws between Hocking and his library and pre-eminent 19th and 20th century academic and literary figures: William James, Robert Frost, John Dewey, Gabriel Marcel, and Pearl Buck, among many others. Kaag provides small sketches of these figures and what he learns from them for his own life and transformation.
The book provides a mini-course in American philosophy, from Dante's inferno, to transcendentalism, to pragmatism, and all the way through to existentialism and feminism. The writing is accessible and the Kaag's own story is poignant and gives energy to the narrative. Kaag's love story refers to his love for his subject, for Hocking's library, and eventually his own finding of love and companionship for himself.
December 12, 2016
It isn't just philosophy. It's serendipity.
John Kaag went for a drive. He had a lot to get away from--a failing marriage, an unclear career transition. And he found a home called Westwind.
What makes the philosophy here enjoyable is the way Kaag intersperses it with the events of his own life. When he is looking for direction, he profiles American thinkers who were looking for reasons to go on in an intellectual milieu that Darwins had separated from God. When he finds love, he reads the truly passionate encounters and complicated trysts of these same philosophers. And as his admiration for his lover, Carol, grows, the import of women in American philosophy comes into clearer view.
A book that makes philosophy accessible , and one that will introduce readers to new, significant influences on American though, this is one love story that will make readers think--and enjoy the experience.
John Kaag went for a drive. He had a lot to get away from--a failing marriage, an unclear career transition. And he found a home called Westwind.
What makes the philosophy here enjoyable is the way Kaag intersperses it with the events of his own life. When he is looking for direction, he profiles American thinkers who were looking for reasons to go on in an intellectual milieu that Darwins had separated from God. When he finds love, he reads the truly passionate encounters and complicated trysts of these same philosophers. And as his admiration for his lover, Carol, grows, the import of women in American philosophy comes into clearer view.
A book that makes philosophy accessible , and one that will introduce readers to new, significant influences on American though, this is one love story that will make readers think--and enjoy the experience.
November 21, 2018
A pleasant and undense read which lends a struggling human perspective to American philosophy's quest for the purposiveness of living. Although most primarily an autobiographical account of the author's relationship with American philosophy, the book is a goldmine of reading suggestions, including such names as William James, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, William Ernest Hocking, Royce, Palmer, Santayana, Charles Sanders Peirce, Paul Carus, John Dewey, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Margaret Fuller, Jonathan Edwards, Cornel West, George Howison, James Russell Lowell, Samuel Coleridge, Virginia Woolf, Lydia Maria Child, Jane Addams, George Herbert Mead, and Gabriel Marcel.
May 25, 2017
Part intellectual musing, part personal memoir, this overview of the American philosophies of self-reliance, pragmatism, and transcendence takes to the woods and tells the story of a priceless library discovered and its impact on a scholar's personal journey to a fuller life. It reinforces my love of books and makes me want to read more Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman...
November 20, 2016
My review to come in the December issue of Numero Cinq.
July 28, 2017
An odd but interesting mix of memoir and history of a branch of American philosophy, American pragmatism, with an emphasis on how the personal lives of various philosophers affected their work, and all tied together by connections to the philosopher William Ernest Hocking and his library at West Wind. The narrative, which shifts between the story of Kaag's own life – his failing marriage, alcohol abuse, and developing romance with a co-worker – and the lives of the philosophers whose works from the Hocking library he is cataloging, is weighted far too heavily for me towards his own woes and worries. If I'd found him more sympathetic this would have been less of a problem, but he is, perhaps, too honest about his self-absorption, and, actually, he even fails to make his new romance come alive. While I never managed to care about the author's fights with his ex, his guilt, etc., I did very much enjoy his stories about the philosophers he studies and teaches about at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. I didn't feel like the two aspects of the book were well tied together – the personal narrative parts could have been entirely removed, as far as I was concerned, and I would have enjoyed the intellectual history even more – but Kaag knows his philosophers, and does an excellent job with the lives and works of people like Josiah Royce, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and William James. My favorite chapter, though, was the one about Ernest's wife Agnes, and the Shady Hill School which she and her husband founded in 1915 (and which is still operating) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Kaag doesn't spend enough time on the Hockings' work in education, but I did think his efforts to bring attention to Agnes's work were commendable. On the whole, his knack for presenting the more human aspects of American philosophers, whom the uninformed might have thought rather dry and colorless, goes a fair way in compensating for the dullness of his personal story. I listened to this as a Blackstone audio recording read by Josh Bloomberg, who has a pleasant voice but whose frequent mispronunciations detracted a bit from my enjoyment of the book. Three and a half stars, rounded up by coin flip.
”The Shady Hill School might have looked a bit like a Montessori school, offering the type of progressive education that encouraged students to pursue their own interests instead of following a strict curriculum, but looks could be deceiving. Yes, Agnes had a “constitutional aversion to textbooks,” but this did not translate into pedagogical laxity or an educational free-for-all. Agnes Hocking believed that bringing young children into contact with original literary sources – Homer, Shakespeare, Dante – would go a long way in cultivating mature and sustaining intellectual interests. (Shady Hillers still read The Iliad and The Odyssey in fourth grade.) The Hockings wrote that they
'were often classified as progressive – chiefly, I suspect, on the ground of a certain informality in our procedures, which led to the supposition that, like the typical progressive school, we were consulting and catering to the existing “interests” of children. Our principle was the exact reverse of this. Interest was of course of first importance, and we secured it; but not by bending our work to what was on the surface of children's minds. We expect children to take an interest in what was worthy of their interest; and with teachers who cared for their subjects, they did so.'"
Kaag doesn't spend enough time on the Hockings' work in education, but I did think his efforts to bring attention to Agnes's work were commendable. On the whole, his knack for presenting the more human aspects of American philosophers, whom the uninformed might have thought rather dry and colorless, goes a fair way in compensating for the dullness of his personal story. I listened to this as a Blackstone audio recording read by Josh Bloomberg, who has a pleasant voice but whose frequent mispronunciations detracted a bit from my enjoyment of the book. Three and a half stars, rounded up by coin flip.
November 7, 2019
American Philosophy is a memoir interwoven with the history of transcendentalism and pragmatism. Kaag tells the story of his discovery of a priceless library that had belonged to a now mostly forgotten American philosopher and he uses the books in the library as springboards to discussions of the ideas of thinkers such as Emerson and William James.
He also weaves in his own personal drama of getting divorced and then falling in love. American Philosophy argues that philosophy should be useful, and it should be something that enriches the lives of ordinary people. American Philosophy doesn’t get into the ideas of its philosophers to any great depth, but it’s an enjoyable read and it goes down easy. If you want an entry level book about American Philosophy from Emerson to Dewey, this might be it.
He also weaves in his own personal drama of getting divorced and then falling in love. American Philosophy argues that philosophy should be useful, and it should be something that enriches the lives of ordinary people. American Philosophy doesn’t get into the ideas of its philosophers to any great depth, but it’s an enjoyable read and it goes down easy. If you want an entry level book about American Philosophy from Emerson to Dewey, this might be it.
April 19, 2019
What makes life worth living?
Making good on all of its possibilities. Standing in awe in the face of all its wonders. Bathing in the love from the people that surround us, and loving in return. ❤️
We each define life's meaning for ourselves but, in effect, it's worth it simply because we exist and can take it all in.
Making good on all of its possibilities. Standing in awe in the face of all its wonders. Bathing in the love from the people that surround us, and loving in return. ❤️
We each define life's meaning for ourselves but, in effect, it's worth it simply because we exist and can take it all in.
May 31, 2017
Reinvigorates my love for the classics and my desire to read some more of that beautiful, thought provoking language.
November 21, 2017
What a very, very good book. Excellently thought through and artfully crafted.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews