No comments about Wittgenstein in Cambridge: Letters and Documents 1911-1951.

No comments about Michael Polyani: A Critical Exposition (Suny Series in Cultural Perspectives).

5 comments about The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers.

1. This is a wonderful history of great thinkers as well as a brilliantly-written masterpiece in its own right.



2. I love this book. He give an overview of philosophic thought but puts each story in the context of their environment. It's great for those who want a sampler plate without gorging on one thinker. Plus it's small so it's a great travellers book.



3. This is a good book which you--if you have any interest in philosophy--should read. Durant is a fine (albeit opinionated) writer, and the philosophers he selects for illumination are treated with scholarly respect and no (except for Spinoza) hagiography. Durant's critiques never range into unfair territory, even when he confronts philosophers who disparage views--such as socialism--which he, Durant, holds dear.
   
   There are a few typos and factual errors (viz. Durant's assertion on page 411 that Wagner was "half-Semitic"), but the book overall has a nice organic flow, and some essential hand-holding when Kant and other obscurantist Teutons are examined.
   
   There are numerous conspicuous absences from amongst the more famous practitioners of philosophizing ("space forbids" as Durant sheepishly admits), and one who wants the WHOLE enchilada should acquire a copy of Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy. If you peek into that and your hair turns gray, however, The Story of Philosophy may be the set of training-wheels which will enable you to ride Russell's more formidable and scholarly work.



4. *The Story of Philosophy* is a clearly written, entertaining, and illuminating survey of the major movements in western thought from Socrates to Santayana, from Aristotle to American pragmatism. Given its easy colloquial style, it's easy to overlook that this book was originally written in the mid-1920s. But one should be aware that this means there's nothing here about existentialism, structuralism, post-modernism, etc.--the story ends with John Dewey. Still what is here is presented with a light tough, colored with the author's characteristic wry humor and everyman bonhomie.
   
   As befitting a general survey of philosophy, Durant doesn't plunge too deeply into the issues touched on in this book; but he's not entirely superficial either. What you get is each philosopher's most characteristic speculations on the big questions of life and how they fit into the overall "story" of human thought. Durant has a gift for making the complex and obscure comprehensible to the layman. Anyone who can summarize Kantian metaphysics in a handful of forthright pages and trim away all the fanciful theoretical falderal from the Hegels of the philosophical world are certainly to be commended--and appreciated. Perhaps what's best--and most enlivens this book--is the wealth of anecdote about the personal lives of these semi-mythical titans of thought. It's easy to forget that these big brains were housed in flesh-and-blood bodies subject to the same fears, prejudices, diseases, desires, and disappointments as the rest of us--and that these all-too-human factors played a significant role in their subsequent philosophy.
   
   On occasion, Durant lets his own prejudices get unduly in the way of presenting the ideas of his philosophical protagonists--especially when any philosopher such as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, or Spenser takes a particularly dark view of life or suggests that it may not, all in all, be worth living. Durant seems to feel it incumbent upon him to combat such negativity with a most unwelcome--to me, anyway--sunnyside-up rebuttal complete with the sort of Hallmarkian-style platitudes the more pessimistic among us have been groaning at since high school and find even *more* depressing than the hopelessness of which they were meant to relieve us. Yes, it's wonderful to hear birds singing, to watch children at play--sunrises, sunsets, and a good pork chop can all be a delight that inspires one to poetry; but are they worth the cancers, the wars, the car wrecks, the funerals of friends and loved ones, the catheters, the senility, the probes, the colonoscopies, the morphine drip, the casket, urn, or mausoleum we're all destined for when all's said and done? One can, in all rationality and good faith, without being the victim of a fit of childish peevishness, disenchanted idealism, or lack of maternal affection say no, no it's really not worth it, I'm stuck here yes and must make the best of it and enjoy what I can, still, all the same, thanks but no thanks, I'll pass, I wish I'd never been born.
   
   Anyway, if you can ignore Durant's annoying proclivity to pedestrian peptalks and middle-of-the-road pedantry and aren't looking for "the rest of the story" of philosophy after the turn of the 20th century, than this general survey is definitely worth the while of those who want a sound introduction to the major figures of the western philosophical tradition.



5. I was reading this book while I'm on my vacation and to my surprise, I've fall in love with philosophy instantaneously. After all this years, I didn't know that I have shared the same dogma as the world's greatest philosophers. This book is a great introduction for those who are keen on philosophy or simply wanted to gain knowledge about the history of philosophy.

2 comments about Kant on Swedenborg: Dreams of a Spirit-Seer and Other Writings (Swedenborg Studies, No. 13).

1. This book is supposed to be the funniest thing that Kant ever wrote, and I really wanted to swim through this book before I tried to figure out what I thought was so funny, but even treading water is a challenge when the current has such a fierce undertow, and the serious "First Part, Which is Dogmatic" demands some consideration, though it ends with the famous prudence which demands "that one make the pattern of one's projects appropriate to one's powers, and if one cannot reasonably attain the great, to restrict oneself to the mediocre." (p. 40). This collection of DREAMS OF A SPIRIT-SEER and other writings from the Swedenborg Foundation Publishers, edited by Gregory R. Johnson, which puts everything that directly related to KANT ON SWEDENBORG into this book, allows a serious consideration of Johnson's view that self-defense was the essence of Kant's approach. Religious controversies had career consequences in those days, and Kant had to show he was laughing "because Swedenborg was a controversial figure. Rumors of interest in Swedenborg would have seriously jeopardized Kant's prospects for academic advancement. This is sufficient motive for him to write a book exculpating himself of the suspicion that he took Swedenborg seriously." (p. xvi). Johnson was writing a doctoral dissertation on Kant the first time he read DREAMS OF A SPIRIT-SEER in 1994, and he cites it in the notes as his COMMENTARY, (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America, 2001). The acknowledgments are dated January 2003 (p. xxvi) and I feel lucky that I received this book as soon as I did.

   I have been thinking about this book for a long time before I wrote this review, since this is the work for which Kant wondered if he had gone too far in jest. My first surprise was that Kant himself (like Hegel, he avoids mentioning names) is not entirely clear about whom he meant to be writing until page 49: "I come now to my purpose, namely, to the writings of my hero." He called his preface "A Prospectus That Promises Very Little for the Project" (p. 3) and the final paragraph of his introduction attempted to make his readers share the situation which he found himself in. "Furthermore, a large work was purchased, and, what is worse still, was read, and such effort should not be wasted. From this originated the present treatise, which, as one flatters oneself, should leave the reader in a state of complete satisfaction, in which the principal part will not be understood, the other not believed, and the remainder laughed at." (p. 4). In general, I approve of the steps Kant took to show a more enlightened view than the journals of his day. The major contrast in Johnson's Introduction is with Johann August Ernesti, who denounced Swedenborg in 1760 as a heretic in his "New Theological Library." For attempting to find meanings in the early books of the Bible which were not obvious, Swedenborg was accused of "pervert[ing] the Sacred Scriptures by the pretense of an inner sense, is in the highest degree worthy of punishment." (p. xxiv). When someone in Wurttemberg published a book on Swedenborg, "at Ernesti's urging, the Wurttemberg government declared the book heretical, confiscated all copies, and even ordered private citizens to surrender their copies on pain of arrest." (p. xxv). When a professor of Theology at Tubingen "urged a more open-minded attitude toward Swedenborg[,] Ernesti responded with yet another scathing review, asserting that Clemm's defense of Oetinger and Swedenborg was an offense that would have been worthy of the death penalty in earlier times." (p. xxv). Kant shows how modern people could be much more philosophical about these things, and though those people are all dead, there is a nice justice in the number of people who are still reading Kant and Swedenborg, even if they hardly know anyone else who does.

   The prime point in the Introduction by Johnson resides deep in personal philosophy, that professional philosophers might understand as, "that Kant's mature critical philosophy is best seen as a synthesis of Rousseauian and Swedenborgian elements (the influence of Leibniz and Hume being primarily upon Kant's elaboration of difficult technical questions once his basic vision was already in place). . . . although Kant's vision of the cosmos is more Swedenborgian than Rousseauian, it is Rousseau who provides the essentially pragmatic arguments that allow Kant to embrace the content of Swedenborg's visions but discard his enthusiasm." (p. xx).

   The notes are helpful. Only a translator is likely to notice, "Here Kant embraces the idea of general as opposed to particular providence." (p. 161, n. 26). This is what makes Kant a philosopher, "the notion that God governs the universe by framing general laws. Particular providence is the notion that he governs the universe on a case-by-case basis." Swedenborg is so religious that he argues "general providence is meaningless without particular providence." There is more on this in Johnson's (as yet, unpublished) COMMENTARY. Kant [Part I, Second Chapter, Paragraph 3] was talking about connections in the immaterial world, the former connections, before getting trapped where "nothing hinders even the immaterial beings that affect one another through the mediation of matter from also standing in a special and constant association and as immaterial beings always exercising reciprocal influences on one another, so that their relationship mediated by matter is only contingent and rests upon particular divine provision, whereas the former is natural and indissoluble." (p. 16)

   I would like to check another translation to see if this is even close to what anyone else would think. In 1992, David Walford and Ralf Meerbote had their translation published in Kant, THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY, 1755-1770. "Walford's translation is highly accurate and very readable. Indeed, it would be hard to justify a new translation of DREAMS at all were the Walford translation available in an inexpensive paperback edition." (p. xxiii). It soon might be, if that is what you would rather have.




2. This work is often described as Kant's most "mysterious". The mystery lies in the fact that here in this treatise the Great Professor of Metaphysics unreservedly admits in the existance of "immaterial natures in the world", i.e. spirits and a spirit world. There is nothing mysterious about this statement, it is just that modern readers refuse to accept it. I've never understood why this should be so hard for some, since Kant's System of critical idealism is perfectly consistent with this view. Kant claimed that we could never know the true nature of the world around us, the true causes of sensations. He always held that there is a real world that we can never accurately know. This real world corresponds with a "spirit world", or if you prefer, a platonic world of Ideals lieing outside of our human perception of time and space. Kant unmistakably states that "We should ... regard the human soul as being conjoined in its present life with two worlds at the same time...." Nothing could be more unambiguous, especially considering his references to the writings of Swedenborg.

   I think that this book has been largely ignored because it is just too divergent from the rational empiracism of the modern scientific mind. The scienitfic materialist conveniently ignores the fundamental questions of material "reality" that Kant couldn't ignore. Furthermore, when the Prussian government banned this work it set into motion the series of events that culminated in the profound physical and spiritual disasters of the 20th cetury- and beyond.
   
   It may yet be proven that the ideas in this forgotten book are far more "real" than the modern materialist concensus of reality....

No comments about Avicenna and Medieval Muslim Philosophy (World of Philosophy).

No comments about Walter Benjamin: An Aesthetic of Redemption (Weimar and Now : German Cultural Criticism, No 7).

5 comments about Street Zen: The Life and Work of Issan Dorsey.

1. I read this book because I heard about a renowned Buddhist named IssanDorsey at a dharma talk. I'm gay myself, and hearing that Issan Dorsey was also a gay man made me interested in finding out about his life. So, I popped his name into a search engine, and ordered this book from amazon.
   Up until recently, my relationship with religion in general has been a bad one. The tendency of Western religions to preach hate toward my kind has made it all but impossible for me to participate in any of them. Legislators on both sides of the political aisle have used religion as a vehicle for either passing laws to restrict my freedom or turn a blind eye to these efforts, for fear that any support for my community would render one 'unelectable'. None of this has made for a very good advertisement of religion for my community.
   Buddhism struck me as being fundamentally different, and when I read this book, I realized just how different it was. Issan Dorsey was from my side of the tracks, and instead of preaching self-loathing to him, Buddhism taught him how he could make a major difference in the lives of those who needed him the most.
   I'm pretty inspired to give this Buddhism thing a try now. I've never heard of a religion that doesn't judge people before. Maybe this is the one for me.



2. I enjoyed this book, and nearly gave it four stars, but I felt that it was missing something.
   
   There was a little too much of the dark history. I know it was setting the stage, but I found that it went from depressing to numbing. Perhaps that's my own baggage: Having known drag queens, drug addicts, drug dealers, and hustlers, I guess I could have skipped over most of the first half of the book.
   
   The intimate details of death towards the end of the book were powerful, and appreciated. Again, perhaps it's just me, but it was refreshing to hear such honest detail without the author becoming gruesome or patronizing. Death, without the facade we in America often use to hide from it.
   
   Two things I would have enjoyed: (1) More details about the author's relationship with Issan, e.g., more conversations they had had simply as friends; (2) Samples of Issan's talks and teachings.
   
   Still, a good book about a great man.



3. My impression from this book was it was a story of a present day Bodhisattva.
   A story of a man whom lived life fearlessly. Who lived as a Herman Hesse's Narcissi but in reality not between book covers. In this book I felt was a true betrayal of the concepts of the Bodhisattva. Issan seems to have had spontaneously.
   
   
   Earlier statements of cheapness is sad.Value statements betray a judgment and lack of Bodhisattva sentiment. Was Milarepa's story a cheap story? The fact that murderer he was? Or is it part of the story of that Bodhisattva's life? I find Issan Dorsey's life neither cheap or over blown. I have known others with similar lives so the fellow whom judges this book as " straight " has a "bent" view. Again cheapness ...well it saddens me to hear a student of Dharma make such a statement.



4. I read the reviews of this book before purchasing it. As a queer writer in Spirituality and Religion I have a great deal of sensitivity about heterosexist bent towards gay characters and history. So, David Sunseri's review of the book sat perched on my shoulder as I read this book.
   
   Having finished this book I have to say that I am left seriously questioning Sunseri's criticism of the book. It is a wonderful story and a tender account of a remarkable person. Having read this book and appreciating the care given to speak to the myriad parts of Issan Dorsey's (full) life story, I have to wonder if Sunseri isn't speaking from a place of internalized homophobia. Nowhere did I find the "sensationalizing" of homosexuality that Sunseri and Harper Leah (?) mention.
   
   In fact, I am now left to believe that Sunseri and Leah would prefer a completely sex-free, queer-free reading of Dorsey's life.
   If the book had sensational parts, that's because parts of Issan Dorsey's life were sensational and outrageous. That's not heterosexist bias dear ones. Heterosexist bias would be to "clean up" those stories and de-queer Dorsey. Fortunately Schneider doesn't suffer from any such prudery.
   
   A closer reading of Sunseri's reviews show what is clearly a bitter bias towards anything involving the entire Soto Zen community. Sunseri states that quite vividly in his review of Robert Winson's "Dirty Laundry."
   
   Fortunately, I don't suffer from that bias. I approached this book wanting to know more about this intriguing person, Issan Dorsey, who, by all accounts, wasn't afraid to embrace the totality of his life's existence and who has left a legacy of caring for others in need.
   
   Do not miss this book if you're interested in a truly remarkable story of a Gay pioneer and spiritual elder. It is not the complete story. But it is one of the stories and it deserves to be read. Perhaps members of the Hartford Zen Center complaining about the lack of Issan's "teachings" in the book could get off their zazen pillows and publish them. I'm sure they have more access to it than anyone.



5. I found this book extremely inspiring. The life of Issan Dorsey is a must read for anyone who has ever felt dragged down, left out, and mentally or physically ill. That should include everyone!

No comments about Paracelsus: His Personality and Influence as Physician, Chemist and Reformer.

3 comments about Autobiography: Chapters in the Course of My Life: 1861-1907 (The Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner).

1. Steiner's autobiography is a real classic, telling of his childhood in central Austria, his antics as a schoolboy, and his youth in thriving Vienna. It is an inner narrative about the events and impressions that shaped him, written in the last two years of his life. This Complete Works edition is copiously annotated by Paul Marshall Allen, who explains many references that, while understandable to German speakers in 1925, have since become obscure.



2. As long as this book is, it does get boring at times.
   
   The whole autobiography is described in purely external events, and done in the most detatched and objective way imaginable. That's why I think that it's stale in the beginning and middle sections.
   
   It all starts to get interesting (for me) around 1900 when he gets involved with the Theosophical Society, then the occult action and drama picks up and doesn't let up. And right when you least expect, it abruptly ends, in 1907.
   
   This is very intriguing because you think that he will talk about his spiritual experiences throughout but he doesn't. He just keeps it on the physical all the way, and it's like he does it on purpose. He only rarely mentions anything spiritual, but when he does, he does in an almost "intellectual" way, it's very strange!
   
   I give it 3 stars because as much as I love Steiner, it still is too long of a book and somewhat tiresome. A lot of the what he talks about really doesn't means mean much to me in the long run, Eg: going to this place and hearing about the personality of this guy etc. I don't understand why he includes such random details? (as interesting as some of them are).
   
   I would recommend reading others' reminiscinces and recollections of Steiner rather than his own autobiography.
   
   But it is a necessary read for any Steinerite at least once. His language demands that you take leaps and bounds within your own thinking to meet him on "his" level.



3. If you are wondering how to approach the work of Rudolph Steiner, this autobiography is a great place to start. It gives an excellent presentation of the development of Steiner's ideas, including how he was influenced and who he worked with and why. The extensively researched endnotes lead to an endless array of avenues for further study of people and ideas associated with Steiner. Steiner's methodology for his own studies serves as inspiration for anyone who wants to delve more deeply into his work.

2 comments about Frege's Lectures on Logic: Carnap's Jena Notes, 1910-1914 (Full Circle).

1. I have not worked my way through this book yet but at least want to note how neat it is to have copies of some of the original notes. This should be interesting especially with regard to understanding Frege's development.



2. Imagine discovering Aristotle's lecture notes on a class he took from Plato. This book is very nearly as momentus, and no doubt scholars 2,000 years from now will be studying with as much interest as we're reading it today.
   
   The introductory material is quite enlightening: not only does it explain Frege's bizzaro 2D notation for his system of logic, it also gives many anecdotes about what Frege was like as a person and what it would have been like to be a student in his class.
   
   Frege is credited with the first real substansive advance in logic since Aristotle, and Carnap was really kicked into a higher orbit after taking this class, going on to become a towering figure in 20th Century philosophy. This book provides fascinating view into one of the most important logic classes which took place last century.