Practical Judgments

by Kingwell, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780802036759
• ISBN10: 0802036759
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

What does it mean to be both a professor of philosophy and a public intellectual in an age when every CEO is hailed as an intellectual, every adman a visionary? When the opinions of TV pundits and 'fast thinkers' seem to carry the day? When academics bemoan the loss of critical engagement and dialogue? The essays and book reviews collected in Practical Judgmentsrepresent popular Toronto philosopher and cultural theorist Mark Kingwell's negotiation of the space where academe collides with the world outside the ivory tower. Kingwell considers cricket and consciousness, dandies and television, the ethics of books and lifestyles, and the possibility of critical theory. He looks to Nietzsche, Husserl, and Adorno for inspiration, but also to Cary Grant, Bruce Mau, and Jorge Luis Borges. Throughout, Kingwell shows a deep respect for the philosophical enterprise in its peculiar current conditions and a commitment to think sharply and with self-awareness about these conditions. Intended as both a philosophical examination of the commonplace virtues of wonder, civility, and common sense, and a realistic illustration of how Kingwell sees them working, Practical Judgmentscalls attention to the process of thinking and, by example, encourages the reader to engage in similar philosophizing. The book itself is structured to show the arc of thought, from the more abstract, scholarly examinations of people and ideas, to critical reflections on the impetus for philosophy and its possibilities as a force for change in the world around us. Practical Judgmentsreveals the sources and developments of Kingwell's thought and examines the nature and limits of intellectual engagement. It displays Kingwell's political commitment to a hermeneutic form of social democracy by revealing a careful attention to the texture of daily cultural affairs. Arguing for a form of critical engagement without which political action is impossible, Kingwell shows that attention to everyday life is worthwhile both in itself and as part of a larger philosophical endeavour.

Author Biography

Mark Kingwell (PhD Yale 1991) is Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Senior Fellow of Massey College, University of Toronto. He is the author of five previous books and has been awarded many prizes for his writings.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: Representations of the Intellectual in Everyday Life	3	(32)
PART I: FOUNDATIONS
The Plain Truth about Common Sense: Scepticism, Metaphysics, and Irony	35	(28)
Husserl's Sense of Wonder	63	(32)
Phronesis and Political Dialogue	95	(21)
Keeping a Straight Bat: Cricket, Civility, and Post-Colonialism	116	(39)
PART II: REACTIONS
Two Concepts of Pluralism	155	(16)
Critical Theory and Its Discontents	171	(11)
Nietzsche's Styles	182	(12)
Viral Culture	194	(18)
Interior Decoration	212	(17)
PART III: INTERVENTIONS
Tables, Chairs, and Other Machines for Thinking	229	(19)
Being Dandy: A Sort of Manifesto	248	(20)
Storage and Retrieval	268	(16)
Fear and Self-Loathing in Couchland: Eight Myths about Television	284	(23)
What Does It All Mean?	307	(16)
Index	323