Stanley Cavell
Stanley Louis Cavell ( born September 1, 1926 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American philosopher. He is Emeritus Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and General Theory of Value at Harvard University.
- 5.1 works Cavell 5.1.1 German
- 5.1.2 English
Life
Born the son of Jewish immigrants, Cavell first got a musical education, and received in 1947 a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of California, Berkeley. During his studies at Harvard in 1954, he made the acquaintance of JL Austin, whose concept of " ordinary language " a revolution in his thinking triggered, and its students and defender he was. Currently Cavell lives in Brookline, Massachusetts. At times he was chairman of the American Philosophical Association.
Cavell is a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books.
In 1992 he was MacArthur Fellow.
Philosophy
Although Cavell's roots actually lie in the Anglo-American analytic philosophy, Cavell often tried to talk to the European tradition. Therefore, he is also quite expected to flow to the Post Analytic Philosophy. His work " Must we mean what we say? " advanced in recent years become one of the most important works of the later philosophy of language.
In addition to traditional topics in philosophy, he has also repeatedly expressed to areas of literature and film. So the works " Pursuits of Happiness" are (1981) and " Contesting Tears: The Melodrama of the Unknown Women" (1996 ) philosophical arguments with the classical Hollywood cinema. In " Pursuits of Happiness" he suggests Hollywood comedies of the 30s and 40s than the happy experience of our daily lives that can affect our life significantly. Thus, the protagonists of these films try to push the boundaries of everyday life and thus also recognize him. As a viewer, who can laugh at these movies, you can then also be placed in a position to recognize their own " pursuit of happiness" ( Pursuits of Happiness ) and to realize. Ultimately, Cavell, we do not find our happiness or argumentative about standards, but are attrahiert of a happy life. Cavell brings this to the concept of " moral perfectionism ". In " Contesting Tears ", however, he describes melodrama as a voice crises that by sufferers usually female characters in the movies. Only if they find their voice in society, they can also realize itself.
Cavell became particularly apparent with works of Martin Heidegger, and especially the late work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. He is considered one of the most prominent Wittgenstein exegete contemporary philosophy. His unusual approach to Wittgenstein is often referred to as the "new Wittgenstein ". He also dealt with the American transcendentalism and its main representatives of Henry Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The topics of these authors go through all the writings of Cavell. A central aspect of his philosophy is therefore also a philosophical investigation of the everyday and ordinary.
Major works
Cavell's work only recently been systematically translated into German.
Must We Mean What We Say? (1969)
Cavell was first with this collection of essays the attention of a wider audience. Cavell treated in problems of language use, the metaphor, the skepticism, the tragedy and literature interpretation, with constant regard to the philosophy of ordinary language, he presents as their supporters and defenders themselves.
The claim of reason ( The Claim of Reason: Wittgenstein, Skepticism, Morality, and Tragedy, 1979)
Cavell's most famous book, the sources of which go back to his thesis. Cavell thereby combines such diverse topics as the romantic comedies of Shakespeare, epistemological skepticism, John Dewey, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Heinrich von Kleist. Cavell special effort is paid to attempt subterranean " harmonies " between seemingly incommensurable subject areas to reach, such as between philosophy and literature.
Cities of Words ( 2004)
Cities of Words is a history of the position of ethical perfectionism in Western philosophy and literature that Cavell had previously secured to Thoreau and Emerson. This work is also one of the few film books of Cavell, which is entirely in the German translation.
Philosophy the Day after Tomorrow (2005)
In this recent collection of essays, Cavell claims that John Austin's concept of performative speech act could be justified only by a concept of "impassioned speech act ": a performative speech act is merely an offer to participate in a lawful order, a " passionate " speech, however, was an improvised innovation in the chaos of feelings, which order was only presume. The book also deals also with Friedrich Nietzsche, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Henry James, Fred Astaire and other, typical for Cavell topics, such as William Shakespeare, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger.