Humanism Anti-Authoritarianism and Literary Aesthetics

<b>Presenting pragmatist humanism as a form of anti-authoritarianism this book sheds light on the contemporary significance of pragmatist aesthetics and the revival of humanism.</b><br/><b><br/></b>This interdisciplinary study shows that a mediation between pragmatist aesthetics - which emphasizes the significance of creating making and inventing - and Marxist materialist aesthetics - which values form - promises interesting results and that the former can learn from the latter.<br/><br/>In doing so Ulf Schulenberg discusses 3 layers of the multi-layered phenomenon that is the revival of humanism: He first explains the potential of a pragmatist humanism clarifying the contemporary significance of humanism. He then argues that pragmatist humanism is a form of anti-authoritarianism. Finally he shows the possibility of bringing together the resurgence of humanism and a renewed interest in the work of aesthetic form by arguing that pragmatist aesthetics needs a more complex conception of form.<br/><br/>Establishing a transatlantic theoretical dialogue <i>Humanism Anti-Authoritarianism and Literary Aesthetics</i> brings together literary and aesthetic theory philosophy and intellectual history. It discusses a broad range of authors - from Emerson Whitman James Nietzsche Proust and Dewey to Wittgenstein Lukács Adorno Jameson Latour and Rorty - to illuminate how humanism pragmatism and anti-authoritarianism are interlinked.