EHE Book Reviews

Theories/Hypotheses Record Type: Review ID: 332
Modernity and Its Discontents Marsh, James L., Caputo, John D., & Westphal, Merold. (Eds.).
This volume originates from a 1989 symposium held at Fordham University. Two contemporary philosophical approaches, critical modernism and postmodernism, are presented by Caputo and Marsh, respectively. Both present their viewpoints and dialogue with each other about their stands. Westphal, the "moderator," says the basic question considered is "what role critical reason can play in shaping and supporting a truly humane society" (p. xiv). The book begins with a chapter in which Caputo reviews/responds to Marsh’s Post-Cartesian Meditations followed by one in which Marsh reviews/responds to Caputo’s Radical Hermeneutics. Westphal points out that both sides "agree that all forms of foundationalism have failed be they rationalist, empiricist, phenomenological, positivist, or whatever" (p. xi). Two other philosophers, Mark Yount and Martin J. De Nys, respond to Marsh and Caputo in separate essays. There follows questions and answers from an open forum at the Fordham conference and then a philosophical dialogue among Marsh, Caputo, and Westphal. The book closes with two final chapters by Caputo and Marsh.
Publisher Information:	New York: Fordham University Press, 1992. 219p. Chap. notes; Index: 217-219

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Modernity and Its Discontents