THE PHILOSOPHER JAMES K. FEIBLEMAN AND AMERICAN CIVILIZATION (METAPHYSICS, LOUISIANA).

摘要

This dissertation is a partial intellectual biography of a contemporary American philosopher from New Orleans named James K. Feibleman (born 1904). This young Southern businessman began writing poetry for a little magazine called The Double Dealer in the 1920's and evolved into philosophy by the 1930's. Despite a lack of academic credentials, Feibleman eventually won himself a secure position in academe at Tulane University and a respected place in the history of American philosophy.;As a long-term prescription for re-establishing a balanced perspective in American thinking, Feibleman has offered a grand perspective he terms axiological realism. Built on his concept of a "Two-Story World," Feibleman divides reality into a materialistic lower one and an idealistic upper one. The two domains are interrelated and essential to one another.;Feibleman has conducted a crusade for over fifty years to keep alive an interest in speculative philosophy. Starting with such books as Science and the Spirit of Man (1933) and What Science Really Means (1937) and continuing through his most recent books of 1985 From Hegel to Terrorism and Justice, Law and Culture, Feibleman has demonstrated the intimate nexus between philosophy, science and culture.;Since the 1930s, Feibleman has seen that Western science is based historically in roots found in classical Greek thought. He continues to believe that speculative thought is necessary for both creative philosophy as well as scientific research. The latter he saw early in his career as indispensable to the survival of the Western democracies. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).;The work focuses primarily on Feibleman's philosophy of culture and his effort to keep alive a modern rendition of Aristotle's Golden Mean in the face of powerful cultural cross-currents of mindless materialism and otherworldly idealism in America. His middle-way is captured by a metaphysical construct he terms the "Two-Story World." Feibleman believes that philosophy and culture are inseparable because each separate culture or subculture is ultimately based on a particular set of ideas which he calls an "implicit dominant ontology." All cultures are applied ontologies. Thus even during anti-philosophical ages such as that of contemporary America any escape from philosophy is illusory.