Lost Intimacy in American Thought

"Edward Mooney's Lost Intimacy in American Thought proceeds in a lyrical mode, as though to exemplify, as well as to assert, that we can be redeemed from the quiet desperation that underlies modernity, and much of contemporary philosophy. He joins Stanley Cavell in attempting to undo the repression of voice and of particularity in our intellectual consideration of philosophy and literature. Mooney, in every chapter, resists the de-humanization of the humanities. He investigates, elaborates, elucidates, and aligns himself with a group of thinkers and writers who can help provide us a basis for such resistance - including, besides Cavell, Kierkegaard, Thoreau, Wittgenstein, J. Glenn Gray and Hannah Arendt. Most especially, he finds inspiration in the neglected American philosopher Henry Bugbee, and reintroduces him into our contemporary conversation about the humanities. Mooney's discussions of literary texts, for example by Dostoevsky and Henry James, exemplify the complementarity of literature and philosophy, and in his argument for the necessity of an autobiographical basis in philosophy, he generously shares his own such basis. He continues Kierkegaard's project of reminding us what it is to be a human being. This is a book to be savored." -- Stanley Bates, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Middlebury College, VT, USA. "Much of Edward Mooney's writing during his long and distinguished career has been influenced by the themes and style of Henry G. Bugbee. Indeed, for some four decades Mooney has been Bugbee's paramount disciple, having done more than anyone else to keep Bugbee a living presence on the American cultural scene. In Lost Intimacy in American Thought, Mooney offers fresh perspectives on his lifelong teacher, the original source of his theme of intimacy. But this excellent book is hardly limited to Bugbee. It also contains fascinating meditations on Henry Thoreau, Stanley Cavell, Henry James, and J. Glenn Gray, among others. Lost Intimacy in American Thought is a wide-ranging saunter at the side of an open-minded and eloquent companion. It's a book that speaks to the heart, not just the head, acutely aware that the quality of our understanding depends on the depth of our personal engagement." -- Steven E. Webb, author of Presence, Memory, and Faith: Excerpts from a Notebook on The Inward Morning. "This book is a work of love, in which a group of extraordinary thinkers are defended as exemplars of authentic philosophy and united as part of an alternative canon. True to the spirit of his epigraph from Ortega, Edward Mooney devotes careful attention to these American philosophers and their ideas, unveiling and thus demonstrating their significance. Lost Intimacy In American Thought subverts the myth of impersonal reflection, the assumption that philosophers should write books without being writers, and 'the apathetic fallacy,' as Mooney aptly terms it, which arises from the belief that reality is factual but not valuable. In fact, as Mooney shows, the world is a place that overflows with meaning in ways that our best philosophers have sought to understand and account for - and to develop a significant philosophical vision of reality, as Mooney convincingly argues, is nothing less than a sacred task. Apart from Alphonso Lingis, no one other than Mooney has done so much to bring a lyric voice to contemporary philosophy. Readers who are just discovering Mooney's work will be in for a delightful surprise, and those who have admired his writings on the existential tradition will enjoy a new and distinctive addition to his corpus. This is truly an essential text." -- Rick Anthony Furtak, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Colorado College, USA "'Lost Intimacy' resurrects a strain in American thought dedicated to celebrating life and its endless potential. It seeks a philosophy of celebration and appreciation and prais

Edward F. Mooney is Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Syracuse University, NY, USA. His publications include On Soren Kierkegaard (Ashgate, 2007)

Introduction; Thinking from Imagination and the Heart; Part One: Bugbee, Thoreau, And Cavell; A Philosophy in Wilderness; When Philosophy Becomes Lyric; On Death and the Sublime; Becoming What We Pray; Two Testimonies: Stanley Cavell and Henry Bugbee; Part Two: Five Praising Explorations; Stanley Cavell: Acknowledgment, Suffering and Praise; Bruce Wilshire: Primal Roots and Hungers; Henry James: An Ethics of Intimate Conversation; Singing from the Heart of the Humanities; J. Glenn Grey and Hannah Arendt: Poetry in Time of War; Thoreau: Lilies and Raising John Brown; Conclusions.