Humanism, Anti-Authoritarianism, and Literary Aesthetics: Pragmatist Stories of Progress

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Presenting pragmatist humanism as a form of anti-authoritarianism, this book sheds light on the contemporary significance of pragmatist aesthetics and the revival of humanism. This interdisciplinary study shows that a mediation between pragmatist aesthetics which emphasizes the significance of creating, making, and inventing and Marxist materialist aesthetics which values form promises interesting results and that the former can learn from the latter. In doing so, Ulf Schulenberg discusses 3 layers of the multi-layered phenomenon that is the revival of humanism: He first explains the potential of a pragmatist humanism, clarifying the contemporary significance of humanism. He then argues that pragmatist humanism is a form of anti-authoritarianism. Finally, he shows the possibility of bringing together the resurgence of humanism and a renewed interest in the work of aesthetic form by arguing that pragmatist aesthetics needs a more complex conception of form. Establishing a transatlantic theoretical dialogue, Humanism, Anti-Authoritarianism, and Literary Aesthetics brings together literary and aesthetic theory, philosophy, and intellectual history. It discusses a broad range of authors from Emerson, Whitman, James, Nietzsche, Proust, and Dewey to Wittgenstein, Lukcs, Adorno, Jameson, Latour, and Rorty to illuminate how humanism, pragmatism, and anti-authoritarianism are interlinked.

Reviews

In this sprawling and fascinating new book, Ulf Schulenberg argues powerfully that pragmatism, humanism, and anti-authoritarianism all hang together in a coherent, mutually reinforcing whole. The scholarship in this book is impressively wide-ranging. Drawing from a large and diverse cast of authors and thinkers, Schulenberg tells a thought-provoking story about what pragmatism is, and how it can assist in bringing about a more decent, free, and artistically rich human future. * David Rondel, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Nevada, Reno, USA *
In this provocative book, Schulenberg illuminates new entanglements between humanism, anti-authoritarianism, and pragmatism and shows why rethinking aesthetics is critical not just for the life of the arts, but for culture and practical life. He pushes back against traditional readings of Dewey (e.g. on aesthetic form) to urge pragmatist aesthetics toward more innovative approaches to contemporary art and the avant-garde. Humanism, Anti-Authoritarianism, and Literary Aesthetics will inspire fresh ways of looking at these issues and imaginative new conversations. * David L. Hildebrand, Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado, Denver, USA *
This is a major contribution to both pragmatist aesthetics and the understanding of what is now called neo-pragmatism. Questions of art were always at the center of pragmatism, and this wonderfully readable and carefully researched book demonstrate it beyond doubt. For Rorty, to mention one neo-pragmatist that is at the heart of this book, poetry, art, and literature are more fundamental than coping with the world, for coping is guided by how we (re)imagine the world. The Renaissance humanists taught us that we are like God in that we are also creators, but that the supreme creation is ourselves. This book is a great celebration of pragmatist humanism and aesthetics and how they instigate progress in our own self-making. * Eduardo Mendieta, Professor of Philosophy, Penn State University, USA *

Author Bio

Ulf Schulenberg is Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Bremen, Germany, and author of Zwischen Realismus und Avantgarde: Drei Paradigmen fr die Aporien des Entweder-Oder (2000), Lovers and Knowers: Moments of the American Cultural Left (2007), Romanticism and Pragmatism: Richard Rorty and the Idea of a Poeticized Culture (2015), Marxism, Pragmatism, and Postmetaphysics: From Finding to Making (2019), and Pragmatism and Poetic Agency: The Persistence of Humanism (2021).