This book is the best book on German Idealism I've ever read. Engaging, clear, and deep.
I'm usually really bad about starting books and then putting them down, but I haven't been tempted to read any other books since starting "The Twenty-Five Years of Philosophy". (Watch "Game of Thrones" instead of read philosophy, yes. Read any other books, no.) I'm in the part about Schelling's Naturphilosophie now, and it's still remarkably clear. I've always wondered how Kantianism somehow lead to that stuff, and Förster is actually making that move seem intelligible. He's already made everything from Kant's first realization that there's a problem about how thought of objects which are not sensibly given can be possible to the Wissenschaftslehre clearer to me than they've ever been, and I am excited to get to the Hegel chapters (and find out what the weird swirly diagram on the cover is about).
I really have nothing to say about this book right now other than that I love it and you should read it immediately. I'm going to go back to reading it now.
23 May 2012
"The Twenty-Five Years of Philosophy"
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2 comments:
Absolutely agree.
This book is a clear example of what can happen when a scholar has time to think about an issue for a long period of time (it helps, of course, also to be Eckart Förster, a veritable mine of gold w.r.t. German Idealism).
If we weren't plagued by a horrible job market, a peculiar tenure system, and a publish/perish mentality, we might see more such classics.
One would only wish and hope.
I was wondering about this one, so thanks for the push. It's in the mail to me now (or so they *say*).
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