This book considers the role of postmodernism (skepticism towards metanarratives and anti-essentialism) in Ralph Waldo Emerson's philosophy by putting it in conversation with key 20th and 21st century thinkers such as Beauvoir, Coates, Derrida, Paz, Rorty, and Zizek. Postmodern Emerson shows how Emersonian skepticism to metanarratives such as sexism, racism, Beauvoiran "serious values," and others, can help us face some of society's gravest contemporary social and philosophical challenges. Methodologically, the book exemplifies Emersonian postmodernism by defying traditional philosophical metanarratives about the difference between high and low culture or serious and ridiculous subjects, and Emerson with what would seem to be his opposite. This is itself a postmodern gesture, breaking rules of genre and topic to make unlikely but interesting connections. Above all, this book proves that in this time of social division and widespread despair, Emerson can help.  

In this volume, Richard Gilmore explores film as a channel through which to engage in philosophical reflection and analyzes the relationship between philosophy and film. This book argues that philosophy and film can and should be used for the amelioration of life's difficulties and the promotion of life's boons. Gilmore identifies how philosophy and film complement and enrich one another and explores their relationship by connecting classic wisdom texts to significant movies. For example, the volume analyzes the Coen brothers' films The Big Lebowski and A Serious Man in light of The Book of Job. Gilmore considers the ancient idea of philosophy as "spiritual exercise" and a way of life. The volume concludes by examining what the author labels "sublime conversations" as the highest expression of philosophy. The book identifies and dissects these conversations in movies directed by the likes of Robert Bresson, Yasujiro Ozu, Jean-Luc Godard, and Ingmar Bergman, among others.

The style of Wittgenstein's writing in his Philosophical Investigations seems quite peculiar to many readers, and is in many way unlike any other style of writing in the history of philosophy. In Philosophical Health, Richard Gilmore argues that Wittgenstein's ultimate goal in the "Investigations" is to restore us to a condition of philosophical health. The traditional methods and styles of doing philosophy, Gilmore suggests, led to a strange kind of philosophical sickness. Philosophical health is a condition that does not repudiate the philosophical search or philosophical wonder, but does free us from a kind of sickness that results from looking in the wrong places for the wrong kinds of answers. According to Gilmore, Wittgenstein thought that to do philosophy in the right way we have to pay careful attention to the way we speak and think about things in our everyday lives. Philosophical Health is an original and thought-provoking look at Wittgenstein's later philosophy.

In this volume, Richard Gilmore explores film as a channel through which to engage in philosophical reflection and analyzes the relationship between philosophy and film. This book argues that philosophy and film can and should be used for the amelioration of life's difficulties and the promotion of life's boons. Gilmore identifies how philosophy and film complement and enrich one another and explores their relationship by connecting classic wisdom texts to significant movies. For example, the volume analyzes the Coen brothers' films The Big Lebowski and A Serious Man in light of The Book of Job. Gilmore considers the ancient idea of philosophy as "spiritual exercise" and a way of life. The volume concludes by examining what the author labels "sublime conversations" as the highest expression of philosophy. The book identifies and dissects these conversations in movies directed by the likes of Robert Bresson, Yasujiro Ozu, Jean-Luc Godard, and Ingmar Bergman, among others.