Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
Today’sTransvaluedHumanismafterAnti-Humanism
|
33
investigations.Bloombelievesthisturnsscholarsofliteratureintoamateur
politicalscientists,incompetentanthropologists,mediocrephilosophersor
overlyenthusiasticculturalhistorians-allthisbecausetheydonotlike
readingliteratureorharboraresentmenttowardsit.However,inmybook
Idonotomitcontextualization.
HaroldBloomdistanceshimself-andIdotoo-fromthestructural-
istreductionofaliteraryworktoanassemblageofsigns:HApoeticltext’,
thewayIinterpretit,isnotagatheringofsignsonapage,butisapsychic
battlefield.”69Tisturntowardstheexplorationofthepsychealsosetshim
apartfromdeconstruction,althoughheisoccasionallycountedamongexpo-
nentsofAmericandeconstructionism.PeterV
.Zimaisrighttonotethat:
[ł]HaroldBloom’swork[ł]cannotsimplybesubsumedundertheconceptofDeconstructionl
BloomhimselfhascontinuallyemphasizedtheoppositionsthatdividehimfromtheYaleDecon-
structionists,andthedistrustwithwhichheregardsthisgroupofauthorsincreasedwhenthe
nationalistandanti-SemiticwritingsoftheyoungPauldeManwerediscoveredl70
MarthaC.Nussbaum,ProfessorofLaw,ClassicsandPhilosophy,pro-
posesarenewedhumanism,aHthirdway”betweentraditionalismandcultural
revisionism.HarvardphilosopherandculturaltheoristKwameAnthony
AppiahnotesNussbaum’sbeliefintheutmostandenduringimportanceof
thestudyofclassics.Nussbaumpostulatesareturntothestudyofclassi-
calantiquityandtohumanisminthesenseoftheearlyfourteenth-century
intellectualtrendinItaly.TesestudiahumaniorawouldincludeSocratic
dialogue-themeetingwiththeother-aswellasSocraticintrospection.
ReadingsbyStoicsandNeostoicswouldhelpshapecitizensoftheworld.
Nussbaumproposesincludingthestudyofsexuality,gender,minoritiesand
religionsintothehumanisteducation.71
MarthaC.Nussbaum’shumanitiesarepluralandpluralist.Attheirheart
liesaconfrontationwiththeOther,withalterity,forhumanismmeanstran-
scendingthenearandthefamiliar,includingnationalidentity.Tisiswhat
makesnotablehercriticismofRichardRorty’sphilosophy:inheressayFor
LoveofCountry:DebatingtheLimitsofPatriotism,Nussbaumwrites:HRorty
69
HaroldBloom,PoetryandRepression.RevisionismfromBlaketoSteven(NewHaven:Yale
UniversityPress,1980),2.
70
PeterV.Zima,DeconstructionandCriticalTeory(London:Continuum,2002),151.
71
MarthaC.Nussbaum,CultivatingHumanity:AClassicalDefenseofReforminLiberalEducation
(Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversityPress,1998).