New Book Reviews and Working with One’s Hands

June 3rd, 2009

Good morning, readers!

For your reading pleasure this week:

The new May 2009 reviews from Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews are now available.   There’s quite a variety of philosophers and topics covered this month — Hegel, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, al-Kindi, Simplicius, Epictetus, the liar paradox, the will, aesthetics, and more.  Are any of these worth considering for the Robbins collection?

I came across this article, “The Case for Working With Your Hands,” by Matthew Crawford, several days ago, via Brian Leiter and a few friends posting it on Facebook.  It’s a very thoughtful and profound essay, on work, education, and where our culture places its priorities.

Next week, we’re back to our regular Friday posting schedule.  See you then!

Posted by Jason Pannone Filed in Aesthetics, Ancient Philosophy, Free Will, Islamic Philosophy, Moral & Political Philosophy, New Books, Philosophical Practice
2 Comments »

2 Responses to “New Book Reviews and Working with One’s Hands”

  1. Greg Says:
    July 13th, 2009 at 8:31 pm

    I read this article a few weeks back, and I found it slightly ironic that when the bike mechanic business is slow, Matthew admitted that he supplements his income with writing.

    Wait a minute: doesn’t that mean that this impassioned argument for working with one’s hands, which is a piece of *writing*, is in itself actually a symbol of the fact that Matthew’s own handiwork just wasn’t paying the bills?

    Just seemed a bit strange to me, and it made me feel like the author was perhaps more justifying his life choices to himself rather than revealing his secret happiness in life to his readers…

    Cheers,
    Greg

  2. Jason Pannone Says:
    July 17th, 2009 at 9:17 am

    Hi Greg,

    :-) That’s a good point. Having finished the book last week, though, I have to say that Crawford does have some interesting insights about the nature of work and epistemology. Also, he does take pains to insist that he is not romanticizing mechanical labor over other forms of work. Definitely worth reading.

    Cheers,

    Jason

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