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Rorty and the Prophetic interrogates and provides a constructive
assessment to the American neo-pragmatist philosopher Richard
Rorty's critiques of Jewish ethics. Rorty dismisses the public
applicability of Jewish moral reasoning, because it is based on
"the will of God" through divine revelation. As a self-described
secular philosopher, it comes as no surprise that Rorty does not
find public applicability within a divinely-ordered Jewish ethic.
Rorty also rejects the French Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's
ethics, which is based upon the notion of infinite responsibility
to the Face of the Other. In Rorty's judgment, Levinas's ethics is
"gawky, awkward, and unenlightening." From a Rortyan perspective,
it seems that Jewish ethics simply can't win: either it is either
too dependent on the will of God or over-emphasizes the human
Other. The volume responds to Rorty's criticisms of Jewish ethics
in three different ways: first, demonstrating agreements between
Rorty and Jewish thinkers; second, offering reflective responses to
Rorty's critiques of Judaism on the questions of Messianism,
prophecy, and the relationship between politics and theology;
third, taking on Rorty's seemingly unfair judgment that Levinas's
ethics is "gawky, awkward, and unenlightening." While Rorty does
not engage the prophetic tradition of Jewish thought in his essay,
"Glorious Hopes, Failed Prophecies," he dismisses the possibility
for prophetic reasoning because of its other-worldliness and its
emphasis on predicting the future. Rorty fails to attend to and
recognize the complexity of prophetic reasoning, and this book
presents the complexity of the prophetic within Judaism. Toward
these ends and more, Brad Elliott Stone and Jacob L. Goodson offer
this book to scholars who contribute to the Jewish academy, those
within American Philosophy, and those who think Richard Rorty's
voice ought to remain in "conversations" about religion and
"conversations" among the religious.
Virtue theory, natural law, deontology, utilitarianism,
existentialism: these are the basic moral theories taught in
"Ethics," "History of Philosophy," and "Introduction to Philosophy"
courses throughout the United States. When the American philosopher
William James (1842 - 1910) find his way into these conversations,
there is uncertainty about where his thinking fits. While
utilitarianism has become the default position for teaching James's
pragmatism and radical empiricism, this default position fails to
address and explain James's multiple criticisms of John Stuart
Mill's formulaic approach to questions concerning the moral life.
Through close readings of James's writings, the chapters in William
James, Moral Philosophy, and the Ethical Life catalogue the ways in
which James wants to avoid the following: (a) the hierarchies of
Christian natural law theory, (b) the moral calculus of Mill's
utilitarianism, (c) the absolutism and principle-ism of Immanuel
Kant's deontology, and (d) the staticity of the virtues found in
Aristotle's moral theory. Elaborating upon and clarifying James's
differences from these dominant moral theories is a crucial feature
of this collection. This collection, is not, however, intended to
be wholly negative - that is, only describing to readers what
James's moral theory is not. It seeks to articulate the positive
features of James's ethics and moral reasoning: what does it mean
to an ethical life, and how should we theorize about morality?
In Narrative Theology and the Hermeneutical Virtues: Humility,
Patience, Prudence, Jacob L. Goodson offers a philosophical
analysis of the arguments and tendencies of Hans Frei's and Stanley
Hauerwas' narrative theologies. Narrative theology names a way of
doing theology and thinking theologically that is part of a greater
movement called "the return to Scripture." The return to Scripture
movement makes a case for Scripture as the proper object of study
within Christian theology, philosophy of religion, and religious
ethics. While thinkers within this movement agree that Scripture is
the proper object of study within philosophy and religious studies,
there is major disagreement over what the word "narrative"
describes in narrative theology. The Yale theologian, Hans Frei,
argues that because Scripture is the proper object of study within
Christian theology and the philosophy of religion, Scripture must
be the exclusive object of study. To think theologically means
paying as close attention as possible to the details of the
biblical narratives in their "literal sense." Different from Frei's
contentions, the Christian ethicist at Duke University, Stanley
Hauerwas claims: if Scripture is the proper object of study within
Christian theology, then the category of narrative teaches us that
we ought to give our scholarly attention to the interpretations and
performances of Scripture. Hauerwas emphasizes the continuity
between the biblical narratives and the traditions of the church.
This disagreement is best described as a hermeneutical one: Frei
thinks that the primary place where interpretation happens is in
the text; Hauerwas thinks that the primary place where
interpretation occurs is in the community of interpreters. In order
to move beyond the dichotomy found between Frei's and Hauerwas'
work, but to remain within the return to Scripture movement,
Goodson constructs three hermeneutical virtues: humility, patience,
and prudence. These virtues help professors and scholars within
Christian theology, philosophy of religion, and religious ethics
maintain objectivity in their fields of study.
Centred on the lives of the employees at a Manhattan advertising
firm, the television series Mad Men touches on the advertising
world's unique interests in consumerist culture, materialistic
desire, and the role of deception in Western capitalism. While this
essay collection has a decidedly socio-historical focus, the
authors use this as the starting point for philosophical,
religious, and theological reflection, showing how Mad Men reveals
deep truths concerning the social trends of the 1960s and deserves
a significant amount of scholarly consideration. Going beyond mere
reflection, the authors make deeper inquiries into what these
trends say about American cultural habits, the business world
within Western capitalism, and the rapid social changes that
occurred during this period. From the staid and conventional early
seasons to the war, assassinations, riots, and counterculture of
later seasons, The Universe is Indifferent shows how social change
underpins the interpersonal dramas of the characters in Mad Men.
Prophetic pragmatism is a gritty philosophical framework that
undergirds the intellectual and political work done by those who
seek to overcome despair, dogmatism, and oppression. It seeks to
unite one's intellectual vocation and one's duty to fight for
justice. Cognizant of the ways in which political forces affect
thought, while also requiring political action to not be so sure of
itself that it simply replaces one oppressive structure with
another, prophetic pragmatism requires a critical temper through
the mode of Socratic questioning. Introducing Prophetic Pragmatism
argues that hope lies between critical temper and democratic faith.
Socratic questioning, prophetic witness, and tragicomic hope open a
space for democratic energies to flourish against the forces of
nihilism and poverty. Critical temper keeps democratic faith from
becoming too idealistic and Pollyannaish, and democratic faith
keeps critical temper from being pessimistic about the ability to
change current realities. These twin pillars provide the best and
most helpful framework for understanding the nature and purpose of
prophetic pragmatism. Through their dialogue, Jacob L. Goodson and
Brad Elliott demonstrate why prophetic pragmatism is, in the words
of Cornel West, "pragmatism at its best."
This collection introduces readers to the philosophical
interpretation of Scripture, specifically within American
Philosophy. The purpose of the collection concerns starting a
conversation about the practice and task of the philosophical
interpretation of Scripture. Reflections on the philosophical
interpretation of Scripture have been treated more as a
"conversation-stopper" than a conversation-starter within the
American academy. To start such a conversation, this collection
offers substantive accounts of the role of Scripture in the
philosophical thought of fifteen American philosophers: Jane
Addams, Henry Bugbee, Stanley Cavell, John Dewey, Jonathan Edwards,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, William James, Martin Luther
King, Jr., Charles Sanders Peirce, Josiah Royce, Richard Rorty,
George Santayana, Henry David Thoreau, and Cornel West.
Virtue theory, natural law, deontology, utilitarianism,
existentialism: these are the basic moral theories taught in
"Ethics," "History of Philosophy," and "Introduction to Philosophy"
courses throughout the United States. When the American philosopher
William James (1842 - 1910) find his way into these conversations,
there is uncertainty about where his thinking fits. While
utilitarianism has become the default position for teaching James's
pragmatism and radical empiricism, this default position fails to
address and explain James's multiple criticisms of John Stuart
Mill's formulaic approach to questions concerning the moral life.
Through close readings of James's writings, the chapters in William
James, Moral Philosophy, and the Ethical Life catalogue the ways in
which James wants to avoid the following: (a) the hierarchies of
Christian natural law theory, (b) the moral calculus of Mill's
utilitarianism, (c) the absolutism and principle-ism of Immanuel
Kant's deontology, and (d) the staticity of the virtues found in
Aristotle's moral theory. Elaborating upon and clarifying James's
differences from these dominant moral theories is a crucial feature
of this collection. This collection, is not, however, intended to
be wholly negative - that is, only describing to readers what
James's moral theory is not. It seeks to articulate the positive
features of James's ethics and moral reasoning: what does it mean
to an ethical life, and how should we theorize about morality?
Synopsis: Prior to his death in 2007, the self-described secular
philosopher Richard Rorty began to modify his previous position
concerning religion. Moving from "atheism" to "anti-clericalism,"
Rorty challenges the metaphysical assumptions that lend
justification to abuses of power in the name of religion. Instead
of dismissing and ignoring Rorty's challenge, the essays in this
volume seek to enter into meaningful conversation with Rorty's
thought and engage his criticisms in a constructive and serious
way. In so doing, one finds promising nuggets within Rorty's
thought for addressing particular questions within Christianity.
The essays in this volume offer charitable yet fully confessional
engagements with an impressive secular thinker. Endorsements:
"Jacob Goodson and Brad Stone have brought together a fair sampling
of contemporary thinkers . . . The three sections of Rorty and the
Religious take on the status of Christianity in analytic
philosophy, the implications of Rorty's thought for Christian moral
understanding, and the prospects for social hope. This book . . .
brings together the intellectual life, as exemplified by Rorty, and
the 'sustained practice' informed by 'spiritual nourishment and the
hope of the risen Christ.'" --G. Scott Davis, University of
Richmond "Goodson and Stone's spirited gathering of Christian
thinkers shows us not only why, but how Rorty's pragmatism needs an
account of religion to ground its vision of hope and love. It
shows] why and how contemporary Christian theology needs a
chastened pragmatism to bring its imaginings back down to earth.
Here is an engaging philosophy and a critically minded theology, a
reason for hope. --Peter Ochs, University of Virginia "Goodson and
Stone have brought together an excellent group of religious
thinkers who take seriously the invitation to start a new
conversation with a secular, though not antireligious, thinker, one
who recognized the power of telling and retelling in our private
lives, but also in the generation of civic solidarity. By doing so,
they have enriched and expanded our understanding of Rorty's
thought and of our religious America." --Eduardo Mendieta, Stony
Brook University Author Biography: Jacob L. Goodson (PhD,
University of Virginia) is Visiting Professor of Religious Ethics
in the Department of Religious Studies at the College of William
& Mary. He has published scholarly essays in The American
Journal of Theology and Philosophy and Contemporary Pragmatism.
Brad Elliott Stone is Associate Professor of Philosophy and
Director of the University Honors Program at Loyola Marymount
University. He has published several essays and book chapters in
pragmatism, continental philosophy, and Spanish philosophy.
Recent work by Stanley Hauerwas, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Robert
Bellah has brought considerable attention to bear on the ethics of
virtue. Little clarity has, however, emerged from that discussion
on what difference such an ethic would make in practical and
political deliberations. Warcraft and the Fragility of Virtue
presents, for the first time, a well-developed and effective
Aristotelian perspective on reasoning about war and warfare.Author
G. Scott Davis first sketches the fundamentals of as Aristotelian
approach to the ethics of war, arguing that the virtue is a craft,
of itself fragile, that must be sustained by a community that makes
the highest demands upon itself. Introduced as a criterion for
evaluating alliances and international relations, the concept of
moral community is also of the highest significance for
interpreting those ruptures within the community, including
resistance and rebellion, that arise concomitantly with the
prospect and onset of war.
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