Conditions Handsome and Unhandsome: The Constitution of Emersonian Perfectionism: The Carus Lectures, 1988

by Stanley Cavell

In these three lectures, Cavell situates Emerson at an intersection of three a place where both philosophy and literature pass; where the two traditions of English and German philosophy shun one another; where the cultures of America and Europe unsettle one another.

"Cavell's 'readings' of Wittgenstein and Heidegger and Emerson and other thinkers surely deepen our understanding of them, but they do much they offer a vision of what life can be and what culture can mean. . . . These profound lectures are a wonderful place to make [Cavell's] acquaintance."—Hilary Putnam

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

163 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1990

About the author

Stanley Cavell was an American philosopher. He was the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University. He worked in the fields of ethics, aesthetics, and ordinary language philosophy. As an interpreter, he produced influential works on Wittgenstein, Austin, Emerson, Thoreau, and Heidegger. His work is characterized by its conversational tone and frequent literary references.

Reviews

[Maughn Gregory]

Cavell's take on Emerson presents a daring challenge to academic philosophy. I was frequently stirred by Cavell's writing, but I was more frequently annoyed by his hyper-clever wordplay.

[Sal Kimmet]

Stanley Cavell's style of writing and his philosophical preoccupations are both very much a product of their time, the tiresome problem of the gap between the real and the represented and how to bridge it, a task in which elusive discourse always plays a central role. But the moral earnestness he brings to the question is admirable, as is his argument for the part he believes Emerson plays in answering it. And the discourse is certainly very pretty.

[Meg]

i'm going to try not to mark this up so much so i can send it out to DBQ in CO.

and then maybe margaret will let me use her copy of tina brown's "DIANA" and then i could also send that to DBQ...the book chain is really beautiful!

[Blair]

Takes Emerson to a whole new level. That's even a huge understatement.