Reshaping Reason: Toward a New Philosophy

by John McCumber

In Reshaping Reason, John McCumber breathes new life into American philosophy. Moving past the tired divide between "analytic" and "continental" camps, he proposes new directions to unite a discipline which has become more unfocused and invisible. McCumber recommends a new set of rational tools to enable philosophers and then puts these tools to work to redefine epistemology, ontology, and ethics. Reshaping Reason explores philosophy's achievements and failures in a cold light and paves the way for the discipline to become more meaningful and relevant to society at large.

Genres: Philosophy

Paperback

First published December 1, 2004

About the author

John McCumber is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the UCLA Department of Germanic Languages. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy and Greek from the University of Toronto. Prior to his tenure at UCLA, Prof. McCumber taught at Northwestern University, The Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, and the University of Michigan–Dearborn.

Reviews

[John Russon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exciting new book that uses ideas from Hegel and Heidegger especially to try to develop an adequate conceptuality for comprehending the distinctively self-transforming character of human life. I recommend starting with the 4 (final) chapter, because it is here that we discover the essential human situation that is the basis for the books argument--from this point, the earlier, more technical chapters make clear sense, whereas reading through them in sequence might leave the reader unsure why the book is unfolding as it does. I recommend this especially to readers interested in pragmatism or existentialism.