Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Continental Philosophy Criticized

  • Kimball on Kolakowski on Marxism as a Bogus Form of Religion

    I have argued time and again that Marxism is not a religion. But many have a burning need so to misunderstand it. What the great Kolakowski says below reinforces me in the correctness of my opinion.  As for Fredric Jameson, whom Roger Kimball discusses in his Guilt of the Intellectuals, I haven't read him and…

  • Bad Stuff: Badiou

    Top o' the Stack. ………………………. On 03/03/2023 17:29, William F. Vallicella from Philosophy in Progress wrote: And I say this as someone who has read practically all of Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Gadamer, a crapload of Derrida (who, according to John Searle, gives bullshit a bad name) and plenty of others besides. I know Continental…

  • Scruton on Foucault

    Although linkage does not entail endorsement, I do endorse the following from Powerline: Roger Scruton’s charming and invaluable memoir, Gentle Regrets: Thoughts from a Life, includes a chapter explaining how he first started turning in a conservative direction (he wasn’t raised one—his father was a devoted semi-socialist Labourite), when he witnessed first-hand the student revolt in…

  • Style, Substance, and Michel Henry

    Some philosophers write so obscurely that the problems they purport to discuss are occluded by the problems they cause the reader. One has to waste time figuring out what the author is saying, time that ought to be spent on assessing whether what is being said is true. The French are prime offenders, allergic as…

  • On Continental Philosophy: Response to a German Reader

    This is an edited re-post (re-entry?) from 21 February 2017 to satisfy current interest. Against my better judgment, I am allowing comments. …………………………. The following from a German sociologist (my comments are in blue): Perhaps you know the old joke: Analytic philosophers think that continental philosophy is not sufficiently clear; continental philosophers think that analytic philosophy is…

  • More on the French and their Pretentious Preciosity and Lack of Rigor

    Cyrus contributes, Your correspondent, M. Boisson, writes: The French used to be praised for their clarity of expression. They are now known for their pretentious preciosity and complete lack of rigor. Could he please provide us with an example of a clear French philosopher other than the very impressive and exceptional M. Descartes? In fact, given…

  • Deleuze and his Chiasmus

    This excellent missive just over the transom from a long-time correspondent, the erudite Claude Boisson.  He is responding to yesterday's On Gilles Deleuze.  Many French philosophers can surely be infuriating. They are to me too, even though I am French. In fact *because* I am French and I remember that there was a time when the French…

  • On Gilles Deleuze

    Reader Hector C. poses a question: What do you think of Gilles Deleuze? I have recently been reading Gabriel Marcel and it seems such a shame to me that such a brilliant writer should be nearly forgotten when the work of a poseur (as he seems to me) like Deleuze has become the basis of…

  • Are Gender Studies Garbage?

    If they are, they have not been proven to be by the Conceptual Penis as Social Construct 'Son of Sokal' Hoax. If you care to 'bone up' on this, this Reason article has the links for you.

  • Alain Badiou

    Like Neven Sesardić , I too take a dim view of Badiou. Teaser quotation: Here is what I would say to Badiou et al. Define your terms. Make an assertion and defend it. Tell us what your thesis is. Say something definite. Try to be clear. Philosophy is hard enough even when one is clear. Avoid…

  • On Continental Philosophy: Response to a German Reader

    The following from a German sociologist (my comments are in blue): Perhaps you know the old joke: Analytic philosophers think that continental philosophy is not sufficiently clear; continental philosophers think that analytic philosophy is not sufficient. Having just reread the Kritik der reinen Vernunft, I don't see Kant as an analytic philosopher. Hegel and Nietzsche certainly belong…

  • What is Continental Philosophy?

    I am afraid much of it fits the following 'definition': What is continental philosophy? Continental philosophy is thinking, it is questioning, elaborating questions, making them more comprehensive, deeper, making them worse, proliferating these same questions and adding more and other associated questions. It includes reflection, musing, quandaries, provocations, sometimes it includes comparisons, say, but this…

  • How Responsible is Sartre for the Decline of Continental Philosophy?

    A London philosopher sends the following along which I take to be a quotation from Jasbir Puar: One, I examine discourses of queerness where problematic conceptualizations of queer corporealities, especially via Muslim sexualities, are reproduced in the service of discourses of U.S. exceptionalisms. Two, I rearticulate a terrorist body, in this case the suicide bomber,…

  • Continental Philosophers I Respect and the ‘Continental-Analytic Divide’

    From the mail bag: I'm a new reader of your blog and about two years into my own layman's study of philosophy. By that I mean I'm just reading whatever strikes my fancy as best as I can and building up a sort of mental repertoire. It's equally exciting and frustrating. Are there any so-called…

  • John D. Caputo’s Truth Problem

    As I said last Friday, the last time I read anything by John D. Caputo was at the end of the '70s.  His articles and books  struck me as worth reading at the time.  His recent work, however, appears to be incompetent rubbish.  One could say of the latter-day Caputo what Searle of Derrida: he…