Farewell to Matters of Principle: Philosophical Studies

by Odo Marquard, Robert M. Wallace, Susan Bernstein, James I. Porter, Josue Harari

Overview

This book is the latest addition to the Odéon series, a multidisciplinary series devoted to original works and translations by European writers in the areas of literature, criticism, philosophy, history and politics.
An English translation of the German best-seller Abschied vom Prinzipiellen, the book offers a series of essays that present a philosophy of human morality critical of philosophical utopianism. Marquard, widely considered the heir of Gadamer, Habermas, and Blumenberg, describes his role as "skeptical philosopher" and discusses the 18th-century formation of such themes and disciplines as aesthetics, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of history, the nature of myth and attempts to account for it, and hermeneutics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195051148
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/28/1989
Series:	Odéon
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.78(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.66(d)

About the Author

University of Gniessen

Table of Contents

1.	Farewell to Matters of Principle (Another Autobiographical Introduction)	3
2.	Competence in Compensating for Incompetence? (On the Competence and Incompetence of Philosophy)	22
3.	Indicted and Unburdened Man in Eighteenth-Century Philosophy	38
4.	The End of Fate? (Some Observations on the Inevitability of Things Over Which We Have No Power of Disposition)	64
5.	In Praise of Polytheism (On Monomythical and Polymythical Thinking)	87
6.	The Question, To What Question Is Hermeneutics the Answer?	111
	Name Index	141
	Subject Index	143

Editorial Reviews

"Written in a witty style reminiscent of Rorty, the essays offer an interesting perspective from a contemporary German philosopher not part of either the poststructural or Habermasian projects. The well-documented footnotes offer a wealth of information on contemporary German thought not easily available to English-speaking audiences."—Choice

"Deserves to reach the widest audience."—The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies (1990)

From the Publisher