Last Conference (Paperback)

Arild Pedersen

ISBN 10: 8232103221 / ISBN 13: 9788232103225

Published by Akademica Publishing, Trondheim, 2013

About this Item

Paperback. Once, philosophers like Plato and Kierkegaard combined narratives and logical arguments to engage both brain hemispheres, creating a kind of Gesamtphilosophy. Nowadays, philosophers mostly communicate with their left hemisphere. In this book, Gesamtphilosophy is restored in a spirit of pragmatism. It is the story of an inexperienced NY Times journalist who is sent to Reykjavik by his editor to cover a philosophy conference on experience, where he himself becomes experienced. During the conference he reports from five presentations on views of experience: Those of Timothy Williamson, John McDowell, Robert Brandom, Richard Rorty, and John Dewey, all representing increasingly complex theories. At the same time, he experiences what the theories say. He becomes a participant, rather than a mere reporter, and finds himself living a modern saga, with striking similarities to a certain Old Norse saga. Dramatic events, involving love and power struggle, are crowned by a volcanic eruption with fatal consequences, before he returns to NY as a very experienced man. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9788232103225

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Last Conference (Paperback)
• Publisher: Akademica Publishing, Trondheim
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 8232103221
• ISBN 13: 9788232103225
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Once, philosophers like Plato and Kierkegaard combined narratives and logical arguments to engage both brain hemispheres, creating a kind of 'Gesamtphilosophy.' Nowadays, philosophers mostly communicate with their left hemisphere. In this novel, Gesamtphilosophy is restored in a spirit of pragmatism. It is the story of an inexperienced New York Times journalist who is sent to Reykjavik by his editor to cover a philosophy conference on experience, where he himself becomes experienced. During the conference, he reports from five presentations on views of experience: those of Timothy Williamson, John McDowell, Robert Brandom, Richard Rorty, and John Dewey, all representing increasingly complex theories. At the same time, he experiences what the theories say. He becomes a participant, rather than a mere reporter, and finds himself living a modern saga with striking similarities to a certain Old Norse saga. Dramatic events, involving love and a power struggle, are crowned by a volcanic eruption with fatal consequences, before he returns to New York as a very experienced man. *** ". . . Author Arild Pedersen clearly draws upon his many years of experience and expertise as a professor of philosophy at the University of Oslo (Norway) and his familiarity with old Norse saga traditions to craft a complex and engaging novel set in contemporary times. The result is a solid and original entertainment." - The Midwest Book Review, Small Press Bookwatch, The Fiction Shelf, May 2014Ã?Â?