The Burden of Philosophy: Evil and the Human Condition
This article attempts to identify certain shortcomings in analytic philosophy as practised today. First, it identifies a disconnect between the darker aspects of the human condition and philosophers’ inability to engage with them. Second, it locates this inability in a certain logic of detachment, e...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
Review of ecumenical studies
Year: 2024, Volume: 16, Issue: 2, Pages: 291-316 |
| Further subjects: | B
Petrarch
B Human Condition B Cosmic Question B Evil B Fallenness B Epistemology of Detachment / Logic B Analytic Philosophy B Peter Strawson B Platonising Attitude B Constantin Noica B Thomas Nagel |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This article attempts to identify certain shortcomings in analytic philosophy as practised today. First, it identifies a disconnect between the darker aspects of the human condition and philosophers’ inability to engage with them. Second, it locates this inability in a certain logic of detachment, explored by Peter Strawson. Third, it points out problems with Strawson’s analysis, which it then tries to overcome, using Constantin Noica’s account of the Platonising attitude philosophers are perennially tempted by - one of several ways in which humans try to overcome their fallen condition. This is contrasted with Thomas Nagel’s valuable but still deficient discussion of the "cosmic question". This brings us, finally, to a reconsideration of an older tradition in philosophy, which focused more explicitly on human fallenness. Petrarch’s Secretum meum is used as an example to show that while the failure of analytic philosophers has deep existential roots, it is not commendable. Philosophers must learn, again, to reflect on the darkness of the human soul - their own darkness. |
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| ISSN: | 2359-8107 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of ecumenical studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2478/ress-2024-0020 |
