All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age: Amazon.de: Hubert Dreyfus, Sean Dorrance Kelly: Englische Bücher

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"Occasionally brave philosophers do leap out of their professional lanes and illuminate things for the wider public. Hubert Dreyfus of Berkeley and Sean Dorrance Kelly of Harvard have just done this with their new book, “All Things Shining.” They take a smart, sweeping run through the history of Western philosophy. But their book is important for the way it illuminates life today and for the controversial advice it offers on how to live. A rejection of the excessive individualism of the past several decades, the emphasis on maximum spiritual freedom. In this, it’s a harbinger of future philosophies to come."--David Brooks, The New York Times

"Fascinating. Even if you don’t agree that we are caught in an age of nihilistic indecision, if you attune yourself to the authors’ energetic intelligence and deep engagement with key texts in the West, you will have much to be grateful for."-- Michael Roth, The New York Times

"An inspirational book but a highly intelligent and impassioned one. The authors set out to analyze our contemporary nihilism the better to remedy it. "All Things Shining" provides a concise history of Western thought, beginning with Homer and concluding with Descartes and Kant. But there are extended discussions as well of such contemporary authors as the late David Foster Wallace and, even more startling, of "chick lit" novelist Elizabeth Gilbert.The authors' general theme, and lament, is that we are no longer "open to the world." We fall prey either to "manufactured confidence" that sweeps aside all obstacles or to a kind of addictive passivity, typified by "blogs and social networking sites." Both are equally unperceptive. What makes their case finally compelling is their insistence on the importance of openness, on attentiveness to the given moment, on what they call "a fully embodied, this-worldly kind of sacred." If, as they claim, "the story of how we lost touch with these sacred practices is the hidden history of the West," they have offered some small but shining hints on how we might hope to recover them." --Eric Ormsby, The Wall Street Journal

"Fascinating insights about the search for meaning in our time, and the threat of nihilism. All Things Shining raises fundamental questions about the religious and ethical developments of humanity since the Axial Age. This book tackles big issues, ones that really matter in our lives today."

--Charles Taylor, author of A Secular Age

“In All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age, two distinguished philosophers, Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly, have written an extraordinary, ambitious, and provocative tour de force that frames one of the central questions of our age: how we have passed “from the intense and meaningful lives of Homer’s world to the indecision and sadness” that too often characterizes modern times. This is compelling reading because in examining the great literary works produced in the history of the West, the authors find new ways of configuring issues of choice, autonomy, fanaticism, solace, and most importantly, the ties that bind us to the past. The book is both brief and yet remarkably comprehensive as it delves into the transcendent values of the classic works that have helped to advance modern thought and inform the development of the Western world. I found myself particularly fascinated by Chapter 5, ‘The Attractions and Dangers of Autonomy.’ As with the rest of the book, reading this chapter, I could hardly put it down”

—Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York

"Dreyfus and Kelly would initiate us into a this-worldly piety of wonder and gratitude; of attunement to moments when something transcendentally excellent shines forth in the mundane. The new age that Dreyfus and Kelly hope for is a polytheistic and basically aristocratic corrective to the leveling of modern culture, which they attribute to the mindsets of monotheism and technology. You will be arrested by their reading of the tradition, and of our current situation. If you find yourself high-fiving strangers when Tom Brady connects with Randy Moss in the end zone from downtown, or would like to, this book is for you. "

-Matthew Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft

“There is a world out there that is as concealed as it is crucial to the good life. Dreyfus and Kelly have lifted the veil with pedagogical skill and striking insights. It's a world of things shining that can lend grace and depth to our lives. The book is itself a shining thing.”

—Albert Borgmann, author of Real American Ethics

“Stunning! This is one of the most surprising, demanding, and beautiful books I have ever read. My compliments gentleman, and I hope thousands of others share my admiration—and awe.”

--Charles Van Doren, author of A History of Knowledge

Kurzbeschreibung

In unrelenting flow of choices confronts us at nearly every moment of our lives, and yet our culture offers us no clear way to choose. This predicament seems inevitable, but in fact it’s quite new. In medieval Europe, God’s calling was a grounding force. In ancient Greece, a whole pantheon of shining gods stood ready to draw an appropriate action out of you. Like an athlete in “the zone,” you were called to a harmonious attunement with the world, so absorbed in it that you couldn’t make a “wrong” choice. If our culture no longer takes for granted a belief in God, can we nevertheless get in touch with the Homeric moods of wonder and gratitude, and be guided by the meanings they reveal? All Things Shining says we can.Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly illuminate some of the greatest works of the West to reveal how we have lost our passionate engagement with and responsiveness to the world. Their journey takes us from the wonder and openness of Homer’s polytheism to the monotheism of Dante; from the autonomy of Kant to the multiple worlds of Melville; and, finally, to the spiritual difficulties evoked by modern authors such as David Foster Wallace and Elizabeth Gilbert.Dreyfus, a philosopher at the University of California, Berkeley, for forty years, is an original thinker who finds in the classic texts of our culture a new relevance for people’s everyday lives. His lively, thought-provoking lectures have earned him a podcast audience that often reaches the iTunesU Top 40. Kelly, chair of the philosophy department at Harvard University, is an eloquent new voice whose sensitivity to the sadness of the culture—and to what remains of the wonder and gratitude that could chase it away—captures a generation adrift.Re-envisioning modern spiritual life through their examination of literature, philosophy, and religious testimony, Dreyfus and Kelly unearth ancient sources of meaning, and teach us how to rediscover the sacred, shining things that surround us every day. This book will change the way we understand our culture, our history, our sacred practices, and ourselves. It offers a new—and very old—way to celebrate and be grateful for our existence in the modern world.

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All Things That Matter 6. M�rz 2011

Von Karla Schmidt

Format:Gebundene Ausgabe

Für Leser, die des Englischen wirklich mächtig sind, ist dieses kleine Werk ein echter Gewinn - trotz einiger inhaltlichen "Längen". Wenn Sie des fast ausschließlich erkenntnistheoretischen Charakters der angelsächsischen Philosophie müde sind, ist dieses Werk sehr empfehlenswert.

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Fascinating book that might inspire reflections on our modern state of mind 13. Januar 2011

Von Alexander Zock

I found the book very inspiring. May it be for the interesting treatment of Homer, David Foster Wallace, Dante's Devine Comedy or Moby Dick. But for sure for its clear and precise analysis of the modern state of mind. Torn between nihilism or monotheism we Moderns are faced by a no win situation according to Dreyfus and Kelly. We either despair as there is no meaning in the world or have to deny important aspects of ourselves if we devote our lifes to an abstract deity that transcends our every day lifes. Dreyfus and Kelly do not stop with this diagnosis but offer a way out of this situation by lending heavily from the pre-socratic greeks as well as from the tradition of medieval craftsmenship as sources for meaning in our lifes. The core idea is that meaning is not given to us by a god or is created from within ourselfs (which would transform us into gods as Nietzsche claims), but is the result of the cultivation of personal skills that prepare us to see meaningful differences in the world around us that are already there. Dreyfus and Kelly propose an attitude towards the world that is based on the ability to attune to moods that surround us like love, hate, fear, agape, pride etc. in combination with the ability to enact in the world in a skillful way. Last but not least this set of abilities is complemented by a so called meta-poiesis, a meta-skill, that requires us to be able to differentiate a situation in which it is "good" to let oneself get whooshed away by the mood of the moment (a great baseball game for an American or a great soccer match for us Europeans) from a situation in which it is prohibited to let oneself go e.g. a speech by Hitler. Through this combination of the skill of attunement and the skills required for being a real "Craftsman" and a "Meta-Craftsman" Dreyfus and Kelly are hoping for a life that is both authentic and meaningful and thus potentially fulfilling and joyful.

Independent of if you agree to such a proposal, to me it seems at least a convincing challenge to our existing attitudes towards our every day life. I myself must confess that I found the presented vision of a third way not only intriguing but also inspiring and fascinating. Read the book and see for yourself.

Anti-Esoterik 30. April 2011

Von Unser

Nicht alle Dinge erstrahlen in der Welt, aber es gibt Dinge oder Situationen, die es tun. Wir selber können daran eher wenig tun, außer offen zu sein und uns ihnen hinzugeben. Dreyfus und Kelly bemühen sich nach Kräften, den cartesischen Münchhausen-Trick mit dem autonomen Subjekt zu entlarven und der Leser weiß nicht so recht, ob er den Schritt vom befreiten Subjekt zum 'empty head turned to the world' mitmachen möchte oder nicht. Irgendwie scheint es uns doch heroischer und reizvoller, wie Nietzsche am Abgrund zu tanzen. Brauchen wir einen Sinn in unserer Welt? Ist der Nihilismus wirklich so unerträglich, dass er selbst so leuchtende Geister wie David Foster-Wallace in den Abgrund reißt - um von Nietzsche selbst mal zu schweigen.
Die beiden Autoren, wären nicht, wer sie sind, wenn sie diese Widerstände nicht sehen und in ihrem Modell auch zu erklären versuchen würden. Wenn wir uns in unserer Kultur gar nicht anders denn als autonome Subjekte denken können, wie sollen wir gerade davon absehen können, ohne dass sich das wie eine Selbstauslöschung anfühlt. Der Weg, den die Autoren vorschlagen, führt dann auch weniger uber das bewusste Räsonnieren, als über Erfahrungen und Praktiken, die am Rande unserer Kultur noch existieren. Die hingebunsvolle Entwicklung handwerklicher, künstlerischer oder sozialer Fähigkeiten, das Einfühlen in Gruppenstimmungen führen uns über uns selbst hinaus in eine Welt, in der die Unterscheidung von Subjekt und Objekt überschritten wird. Dann ist nicht alles erleuchtet, aber einige Dinge fangen wieder an zu strahlen.
Im Vergleich mit Dreyfus' Vorlesungen, auf denen das Buch beruht ist dieser Durchgang durch die europäische Geistesgeschichte insgesamt etwas rasend, einige Argumente werden verkürzt und Hintergründe nicht erläutert. Wenn man es aber, wie ja wohl von den Autoren beabsichtigt als Denkanstoß betrachtet, so sind diese unterhaltsamen 224 Seiten sicherlich hilfreicher als ein dickes Buch, das dann keiner liest. Faszinierende Anti-Esoterik.

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