False Moves in Philosophy and Social Theory

This book considers diverse philosophical topics unified by the identification of false moves commonly found in modern philosophy, mainstream Anglo-American philosophy, and social theory. The authors expose the sources of fundamental problems that recur in philosophybasic problems with what the authors call "factoring philosophy." Factoring philosophy fails to attend to the phenomenological task of determining when what is distinguishable is separable and when not. Consequently, factoring philosophy makes phenomenological mistakesfalse moveswhen it treats as separable what is only distinguishable. Analytic philosophy is prone to false moves when it fails to recognize that phenomenology is the necessary complement to analysis. There is nothing wrong with analysiswe might as well give up thinking as give up analysisand nothing is wrong with the values prized by analytic philosophy. As Hegel observed, philosophizing requires, above all, that each thought should be grasped in its full precision and that nothing should remain vague and indeterminate. Ultimately, this book contends that false moves prevail in philosophical analysis and social theory when they neglect their phenomenological foundations.

Extends analysis of the basic problems of factoring philosophy beyond the discipline itself into public life Attempts to diagnose the ills of philosophy and social theory and provide a plan for conceptual healing Synthesizes thought from Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, and more

Autorentext

Patrick Murray is John C. Kenefick Faculty Chair in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska. He is author of Marx's Theory of Scientific Knowledge and The Mismeasure of Wealth and editor of Reflections on Commercial Life. His research interests center on capitalism and modern philosophy. Jeanne Schuler is Professor of Philosophy at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska. She has published in the history of philosophy and critical theory, including articles on Hume, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Arendt, Iris Murdoch, and Habermas. She is working on a series of articles on Hegel and modern philosophy.

Inhalt
Introduction: How Factoring Philosophy Puts Philosophy on the Sidelines.- Chapter One: Is Life Absurd?.- Chapter Two: Being Mortal.- Chapter Three: Reinventing Humans: The Strange Allure of Stoicism.- Chapter Four: Beyond the Illusion of Philosophical Egoism: Recovering Self-Love and Selfishness.- Chapter Five: Moral Luck, Responsibility, and this Worldly Life.- Chapter Six: The Pure Self in Political Life: Reconsidering the Primacy of the Right over the Good.- Chapter Seven: Values as Purely Subjective: Against the Idea of A New Creation.- Chapter Eight: Setting Aside the Purely Subjective: Reclaiming the Discourse of Truth and Error.- Beyond the Illusion of the Economic: Renewing the Concept of Capital: A Foreword to Chapters Nine, Ten, and Eleven.- Chapter Nine: Why Wealth is a Poor Concept.- Chapter Ten: Capital, the Truth about Utility.- Chapter Eleven: The Myth of Instrumental Reason and Action.- Conclusion: Just Enough Phenomenology.- Appendix A: Dogmas of Factoring Philosophy.- Appendix B: Symptoms of Factoring Philosophy.