The Use and Abuse of Philosophy for Life

Abstract

John McCumber’s new book takes up the current professional crisis in the discipline of philosophy and traces it back to a series of fateful philosophical distinctions that have resulted in an oppressively substantialist (“ousiodic”) disposition and, in so doing, have rendered philosophy pernicious. When humankind thrives, philosophy wanes, but when philosophy thrives, humankind generally wanes. In reviewing McCumber’s timely and important work, I also reflect on philosophy’s current crisis of relevance, both in itself and with reference to this journal.