American Philosophy in Translation - by Naoko Saito (Hardcover)

About the Book

Exploring the possibilities of American philosophy from the perspective of translation, and in turn elucidating the dynamism and tension within American philosophy, this book invokes the idea of philosophy as translation as human transformation and presents a broader concept o...

Book Synopsis

Exploring the possibilities of American philosophy from the perspective of translation, and in turn elucidating the dynamism and tension within American philosophy, this book invokes the idea of philosophy as translation as human transformation and presents a broader concept of translation as internal to the nature of language and of human life.

Review Quotes

Translation is both a skill and an impossibility. By putting translation at the heart of American philosophy, Saito has found a concept that amazingly leads Dewey's instrumentalism towards Cavell's transcendentalism, what she calls his an-archic perfectionism. Content with no fixed principles, beyond the language of mutual recognition, acknowledging only the blank impossibility of understanding ourselves and others, Saito outlines a Cavellian modulation of what Dewey called "democracy as a way of life." In our divisive time, this extra-vagant work of philosophy is sorely needed.

About the Author

Naoko Saito is Associate Professor of Education at Kyoto University, Japan. Her publications include The Gleam of Light: Moral Perfectionism and Education in Dewey and Emerson (2005).