Philosophy unmasked

by Laurie Calhoun

Philosophy Unmasked is a subtly reasoned polemic that offers a critique and appraisal of analytic philosophy. It advances a metaphilosophical theory that expresses a skepticism about all first-order philosophical theories, contending that philosophy is a subjective enterprise, devoid of facts. Philosophy amounts ultimately to imposing one's values upon the phenomena with which one is confronted. Interweaving observations on such subjects as art, psychiatry, and science with her own experience in philosophy, Calhoun renders complex ideas comprehensible in a unique style. She reconsiders just what makes some philosophical works "respectable" and, in the epilogue, contrasts her speculations with the work of Richard Rorty, another thinker who has criticized professional philosophy. According to Calhoun, extricating oneself from "The Cave" amounts to no more and no less than recognizing the actual nature of what one is doing, and acknowledging that no one of us mortals has a God's-eye view