Tammy M. (Tamsbooks) reviewed on 3/8/2009 + 39 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

As the cover promises The Metaphysical Club truly is the story of ideas in America. It follows the arc of four great thinkers from William James to John Dewey. The reader not only participates in their developing schools of thought (i.e., James Pragmatism) but the political, historical, and cultural contexts that framed these ideas.

Personally, it was fascinating to watch the seeds of postmodernism begin to germinate in American thought very much earlier than I had realized. It was also quite enlightening to watch how great philosophical foundations are so easily torn down and built up by men who almost unfailingly have a hubris and arrogance about their own framing of truth. Many of these great thinkers propagate their ideas with the same assurance as if they were astronomers discovering new galaxies with the Hubble telescope. My nagging sense was that their ideas seemed plucked from thin air. I came away from this book with the following caution about Metaphysics in general Buyer Beware.

Lest those who identify themselves as more rationalist in their approach, this book also serves as a caution that the boundary between physics and metaphysics is not as clear as one might think and is influenced in surprising degrees by politics, culture, and sheer randomness.

For these and many other reasons, I found this book educational on so many layers. In particular, those who like history or philosophy will find this a fascinating read.

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