Moods and the Meaning of Philosophy

Bibliographic Data

ID5111457
AuthorsLars Svendsen, Lars Fr H Svendsen (corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume43
Issue3
Pages419-431
Publication date2012-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Literary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0028-6087 • E-ISSN: 1080-661X
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/nlh.2012.0033
OpenAlexW2078171520
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited4

Following Heidegger, I argue that our understanding is always attuned in some way, and our attunement always contains an understanding. Every philosophical investigation will therefore be carried out within or be subject to a certain mood, even if the philosopher may not be aware of this. Is there a particularly prevalent mood in contemporary philosophy? I argue that it is in fact boredom. An airport becomes a place of boredom when it fails to provide you with what you want from it: the opportunity to enter an airplane and leave it. Along similar lines, a philosophical text becomes boring when it fails to provide you with what you need from it. It lacks a purpose. What Kant described as "pedantry," a self-contained and formalist style of writing, has become the norm in academic philosophy. In order to truly matter, philosophy must maintain its relation to the pre- and postphilosophical, to its origin in problems that have an emotional impact on us and to its possibilities for transforming our lives. Such a philosophy is possible

Aesthetics · Art · Attunement · Boredom · Epistemology · Literature · Meaning (existential) · Metaphysics · Philosophy of mind · Relation (database) · Style (visual arts) · Computer Science · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Mind wandering and attention · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy · Philosophy

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