Modernism as a Philosophical Problem: On the Dissatisfactions of European High Culture

Modernism as a Philosophical Problem, Second Edition presents an interpretation of the negative and critical self–understanding characteristic of culture since romanticism and especially since Nietzsche, and answers the question of why the issue of modernity became a philosophical problem in European tradition. Pippin defends an original re–narration of the development of modern philosophy, substantially different from that common in orthodox, postmodernist and critical theory discussions, and one much more sensitive to the radicality of the most complete expression and defense of a modernist self–understanding – the classical German Idealist tradition, especially the position defended by Hegel. This interpretation is the basis for the claim that no paradigm shift, ideology critique, or new way of thinking can dispense with or overcome such modernist aspirations. In fact, the author argues, one can still detect the persistence of such aspirations and commitments in some of the harshest modernity critics, in Nietzsche and in Heidegger especially. This unique and engaging view of modernity is an essential read for students, academics, and researchers studying Modernism, 20th Century Philosophy, Social Theory, and Hegel and German Idealism.

Introduction to the Second Edition. Acknowledgements. Part I: Introduction: The Modernity Problem . 1. Sensing the End. 2. German Homesickness. Part II: Modernity and Modernism . 3. Modernity as a Historical Category. 4. The Legitimacy Problem. 5. The ′Culture of Rupture′. 6. Paradoxes and Problems. Part III: Idealism and Modernity . 7. The Kantian Enlightenment. 8. The Limits of Transcendental Idealism. 9. Hegel′s Experiment. 10. Hegelian Teleology. Part IV: "Nihilism Stands at the Door": Nietzsche . 11. Nietzsche′s Complaint. 12. Modernity as ′Twilight′ Zone. 13. Origins and Perspectives. 14. The ′Pathos of Distance′. Part V: "The Age of Consummate Meaninglessness": Heidegger . 15. Failed Autonomy. 16. Modernity as a ′Metaphysical′ Problem. 17. The ′Vollendung′ of Metaphysics. 18. The Turn, Turning Away, and Overturning. Part VI: The Death of God and Modern Melancholy . 19. Nietzsche′s ′Insane′ Prophet. 20. Mourning or Melancholy? 21. Nietzichian Health. 22. Nietzichian Therapy. Part VII: Unending Modernity . 23. Modern Options. 24. The Dialetic of Modernity. 25. Postmodernity? 26. Modernity as Dialectic. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

Robert B. Pippin is the Raymond W. and Martha Hilpert Gruner Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. He is the author of several books on the modern philosophical tradition and one on literature, Henry James and Modern Moral Life (1999), as well as numerous articles on similar topics.