PHILOSOPHERS AND PHILOSOPHIES

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Document status: March 21, 2004

Maintained out of interest

Essential content absorbed to and no further action needed for Journey in Being [Design for a Journey in Being]

For the list see Design for a Journey in Being

PURPOSE

Study for Journey in Being

Emphasize modern and especially recent philosophy

Classify according area and importance

Note the following: kind of philosopher, interests, what is useful to Journey in Being, important texts

INCLUSION / EXCLUSION

No matter how important or signifant a philosopher is, he or she is not included unless significant to Journey in Being

Thus three classes of philosopher are included
Those who I think are truly great i.e. their work is fundamental to my view of the world and therefore to Journey in Being
Those who I think might be fundamental to my work in some way but whose work I need to study further to be sure
Those who make a point that I have not used thus far

Non-inclusion is not always permanent
I have often found significance in thought that I earlier rejected as trivial, as marginal or as quixotic
And, given time, it is often an enjoyment to take up the study of or travel in something that seems to be decidedly eccentric even when I have hitherto
studiously avoided such study. Always, I have sought to avoid and minimize the sophistry of my era… but there may be a time to indulge in that sophistry if I do not otherwise live with complete abandon…
I change, my focus changes, and what is important to me and my focus changes… Susanne K Langer was once hugely interesting to me…

For a list of philosophers to whom I am or might be sympathetic – a much larger collection than in this critical list, see History of Western Philosophy
If I feel that a philosophy arises as a result of a conflict of special interests and that the philosophy has no other appeal it is definitely excluded
Of course, I may be mistaken in my assessment, but, since there are more stones than there are seconds in my life, I must leave somes stones
merely glanced at but not unturned. Thus, I exclude both Hans-Georg Gadamer for whom I have a certain respect and Jürgen Habermas

I exclude those philosophers who are already treated in History of Western Philosophy, in Design for a Journey in Being and in related documents
Thus, the following are not included here: Karl Raimund Popper, Ludwig Johann Wittgenstein, and Martin Heidegger
I find William James to be profoundly uninteresting despite his obvious interest, prolificity and intelligence… and despite having The Principles of Psychology on my shelf and waiting to be read… I would love to reverse my attitude toward James but, given the wonders of other minds and of the actual universe… and given that I am at least for now beyond merely random reading, I doubt that that will happen [I may be surprised and it would not be my first surprise of this kind]

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