Healing the Rift: How G.H. Von Wright Made Philosophy Relevant to His Life
JOURNAL FOR THE HISTORY OF ANALYTICAL PHILOSOPHY HEALING THE RIFT: HOW G. H. VON WRIGHT MADE VOLUME 7, NUMBER 8 PHILOSOPHY RELEVANT TO HIS LIFE EDITOR IN CHIEF BERNT ÖSTERMAN MARCUS ROSSBERG, UnIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT EDITORIAL BOARD In the introductory “Intellectual Autobiography” of the Georg ANNALISA COLIVA, UC IRVINE Henrik von Wright volume of the Library of Living Philosophers HENRY JACKMAN, YORK UnIVERSITY series, von Wright mentions the discrepancy he always felt be- FREDERIQUE JANSSEN-LaURet, UnIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER tween his narrow logical-analytical professional work and a drive KEVIN C. KLEMENt, UnIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS to make philosophy relevant to his life, calling it a rift in his philo- CONSUELO PRETI, THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY sophical personality. This article examines the nature of the rift ANTHONY SKELTON, WESTERN UnIVERSITY and the various stages the problem went through during von MARK TEXTOR, KING’S COLLEGE LonDON Wright’s career. It is argued that the initial impression that his AUDREY YAP, UnIVERSITY OF VICTORIA books The Varieties of Goodness and Explanation and Understanding RICHARD ZACH, UnIVERSITY OF CALGARY had contributed to healing the rift, was subdued by a gradual shift in existential focus from individualistic ethics towards a EDITOR FOR SPECIAL ISSUES critical concern for destructive ways of thinking inherent in the SANDRA LaPOINte, MCMASTER UnIVERSITY Western culture, connected with von Wright’s “political awak- ening” at the end of the 1960s. The most urgent questions of REVIEW EDITORS our times called for novel, non-analytical, ways of doing phi- SEAN MORRIS, METROPOLITAN STATE UnIVERSITY OF DenVER losophy, employed in von Wright’s later works on science and SANFORD SHIEH, WESLEYAN UnIVERSITY reason, and the myth of progress.
[Show full text]