Idolizing the Idea: A Critical History of Modern Philosophy

by Wayne Cristaudo

Ever since Plato made the case for the primacy of ideas over names, philosophy has tended to elevate the primacy of its ideas over the more common understanding and insights that are circulated in the names drawn upon by the community. Commencing with a critique of Plato’s original philosophical decision, Cristaudo takes up the argument put forward by Thomas Reid that modern philosophy has generally continued along the ‘way of ideas’ to its own detriment. His argument identifies the major paradigmatic developments in modern philosophy commencing from the new metaphysics pioneered by Descartes up until the analytic tradition and the anti-domination philosophies which now dominate social and political thought. Along the way he argues that the paradigmatic shifts and break-downs that have occurred in modern philosophy are due to being beholden to an inadequate sovereign idea, or small cluster of ideas, which contribute to the occlusion of important philosophical questions. In addition to chapters on Descartes, and the analytic tradition and anti-domination philosophies, his critical history of modern philosophy explores the core ideas of Locke, Berkeley, Malebranche, Locke, Hume, Reid, Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, Marx, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Husserl and Heidegger. The common thread uniting these disparate philosophies is what Cristaudo calls ‘ideaism’ (sic.). Rather than expanding our reasoning capacity, ‘ideaism’ contributes to philosophers imposing dictatorial principles or models that ultimately occlude and distort our understanding of our participative role within reality. Drawing upon thinkers such as Pascal, Vico, Hamann, Herder, Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber and Eugen Rosensock-Huessy Cristaudo advances his argument by drawing upon the importance of encounter, dialogue, and a more philosophical anthropological and open approach to philosophy.

344 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 16, 2019

About the author

Wayne Cristaudo is a Professor of Political Science at Charles Darwin University.

Before coming to CDU, Professor Cristaudo taught politics and then European Studies at the University of Adelaide. He then went to the University of Hong Kong where he was coordinator of European Studies and then the Division Head of West Studies in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures.

Professor Cristaudo’s areas of interest combine the study of the nature of human beings, the history and nature of ideas and social and political institutions, and how these impact the different characters of peoples and nations. Professor Cristaudo is writing a book on this topic.

The broad scope of Professor Cristaudo’s interests means that his work has always been interdisciplinary and wide-ranging. He has written on political and social theory and philosophy, metaphysics, literature, love and evil, and the Western tradition. His research interests also have led to an interest in the social and political dimensions of religion, particularly Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Professor Cristaudo has supervised a broad array of topics from theses on European politics to development and international politics, to literature and social and political philosophy.

Reviews

[Marcas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayne Cristaudo is one of the greatest philosophers in the world but scandalously unknown, even in his native Australia. His philosophy is centred around helping us to live and love well. God, human beings and other creatures around us, the earth which we call home, and even the cosmos.

This book serves that purpose centrally by undermining 'idea-ism', whereby we get fixated on one or two concepts, make them the whole picture, make them all consuming, and project a hyperreal picture onto the world instead of living it and loving it. We see this from Plato, through the history of (predominantly western) philosophy and are suffering badly from this idolatry today. Even those who feign to be about 'life': Nietzsche, Heidegger, etc do not escape this chronic intellectual temptation.

Dr Cristaudo offers another way. More dialogical, communal, embodied and real. There are several philosophers he holds up, who have done a better job: Rosenstock-Huessy, Blaise Pascal, and a few other friends on the way. Cristaudo follows in this more noble tradition. He has stated that he's writing for those one hundred years or more from now and looking at longer timescales. That's great, but it's our sorry loss if we don't read him and gain from his work now.