American Philosophy: A Love Story by John Kaag (Laney #11)
American Philosophy: A Love Story is a story written by John Kaag about himself. It follows his life during a 3 year period during which he falls out of love with American philosophy due to burn out and his first wife, and falls back in love with philosophy and Carol. His love for philosophy comes back upon his discovery of an old philosopher’s (William Ernest Hocking) library called West Wind. The book is full of happy, sad, funny, and inspiring moments, and of course, philosophy. It had many quotes and stories I enjoyed. I genuinely enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone that has an interest in philosophy as it would give back stories and facts about countless philosophers.
I wanted to share a few of the quotes I liked:
“He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had tried and failed.”- William James
“Where do we find ourselves? Experience.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The task of life is to transcend the past, to never remain where one starts, to find a place of one’s own.”- John Kaag
“The lover widens his experience as the non-lover cannot. He adds to the mass of his idea-world, and acquires thereby enhanced power to appreciate all things.”- William Ernest Hocking; “There was a reason why Dante didn’t make the long journey toward Salvation all by himself, why Virgil and Beatrice had to accompany the poet. It’s because Salvation can’t be accomplished in isolation.”- John Kaag
“The most notable feature of the past is that it is irrevocable… unchangeable, adamantine, the safest of storehouses, the home of the eternal ages.”- Josiah Royce
As well as some of the ideas I found most interesting:
“Pragmatism holds that truth is to be judged on the basis of its practical consequences, on its ability to negotiate and enrich human experience.”
“Philosophy helps us make sense of life—to understand it, yes, but also to awaken us to its nuances and potentialities.”- Kaag on James’ interpretation of philosophy
“The point of philosophy…was neither to sublimate self-interest nor to construct systems that keep people in check, but rather to awaken individuals to their own active minds and thereby make them pointedly aware of their moral duty.”- Kaag on Kant’s interpretation of philosophy
“Framing the universe—and our estrangement from it—as a problem to be definitely solved has the unintended consequence of distracting us from our ongoing participation in what Marcel called the “mystery of being.”- John Kaag on Gabriel Marcel
This is a picture of Mount Chocorua, which is pretty important in the history of American philosophy:
Kaag talks about the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which he said
“This was the place where American intellectual life was to take root.”
This is a link to The Academy explaining their history
One of my favorite chapters from the book was called “Women in the Attic.” It was about women philosophers which I really like because upon my introduction to philosophy through class and readings, there is hardly any presence of women. One of the things Kaag discusses in the chapter in the Hull House founded by Jane Addams. She won a Nobel prize in 1931, making her the first American woman to do so. This is a link is to a short biography on Addams’ life.
On the topic of women, the following chapter is about Agnes Hocking, William Hocking’s wife. In history she was portrayed as subordinate and subservient to her husband. In reality, this was just a result of her time and she did lead her own life. Agnes had her own school called the Shady Hill School. It was a Montessori style school hosted at the Hocking’s house. Here, Agnes did not use textbooks and preferred that the children be acquainted with original literary sources, including Homer and Shakespeare. The chapter was inspired by May Sarton’s, I Knew a Phoenix. This is an article version of Sarton’s memoir
Good start... but instead of "This is the article..." and "This is a link to..." (etc.), just select a word or phrase in your text and link directly to that. No need to announce that a link is a link. Maybe embed a video or two instead of just linking to them... When declaring that a particular text (like WJ's "Pragmatism") was "good and informative" or that Chocorua was "pretty important," say why you think so. (NOTE that there's a formatting problem, where the line about Chocorua spills over the margin. Fix formatting problems with the "Remove formatting" icon.)
ReplyDeleteWhat do you make of Kaag's statement about Marcel? Why is it relevant?
Tell us a little something about May Sarton's influence on Agnes Hocking...
etc.