The Highroad Around Modernism (SUNY series in Philosophy) - Hardcover

"Robert Neville's book is most welcome and most timely. It introduces a neglected but important voice to the debate on postmodernism -- the voice of 'speculative pragmatism.' Neville shows convincingly that certain distinctively non-modernist forms of philosophy -- from Peirce and Whitehead to Weiss and his own writing -- do not fall under the scythe of postmodernist critique. Having never been modernist, they cannot rightly be rejected or dismissed in the company of views which they had themselves effectively criticized. In arguing for an extended (and renewed) hearing for a vital strand of philosophical thought, the author offers telling judgments of contemporary philosophers such as Derrida and Rorty -- and behind them, Heidegger and Nietzsche. A forceful and engaging book." -- Edward S. Casey

"I think this is in all respects an exceptionally good book. Few authors are able to use tradition originally as has been done here. Moreover, the book has the potential to mark an important historical turn in late twentieth century thinking." -- Douglas R. Anderson

"It's hard to put down! Neville's style is elegant; his gentle wit interposes a chuckle in the midst of metaphysical profundities; his command of the philosophical, historical, and political literature is amazing and adds an unexpected richness to the text. The quagmire of post-modernism has reduced twenty-three centuries of Western metaphysical thought to the level of the silly. Others have attempted a rescue, but none so brilliantly as Neville." -- Elizabeth M. Kraus

Discussions of modernism and postmodernism in philosophy and the arts are usually based on a narrow reading of the Western tradition and are not conscious of the narrowness. The modern period, beginning with the European Renaissance, spawned many developments, not just the modernist one in terms of which the tradition has been read. From the standpoint of the highroad around modernism, both modernism and post-modernism look like nothing more than two late modern movements, perhaps too preoccupied with themselves and their historical place to engage a swiftly changing world containing more than the Western tradition. The Highroad Around Modernism develops and defends an explicitly non-modernist and non-postmodernist extension of modernity applicable to the problems of world-wide cultural interactions.