Reading Brandom

<p>Robert Brandom’s rationalist philosophy of language, expounded in his highly influential <i>Making It Explicit</i>, has been the subject of intense scrutiny and debate, establishing him as one of the leading philosophers of his generation. In <i>A Spirit of Trust</i>, Brandom presents the fruits of his thirty-year engagement with Hegel. He submits that the <i>Phenomenology of Spirit</i> holds not only many lessons for today’s philosophy of language, but also a moral lesson much needed in today’s increasingly polarized societies, in the form of a postmodern ethics of trust.</p><p>In this outstanding collection, leading philosophers examine and assess <i>A Spirit of Trust</i>. The twelve specially commissioned chapters explore topics including:</p><ul> <p> </p> <li>negation and truth</li> <li>empirical and speculative concepts</li> <li>experience</li> <li>conflict and recognition</li> <li>varieties of idealism</li> <li>premodern ethical life and modern alienation</li> <li>a postmodern ethics of trust.</li> </ul><p>Reading Brandom: On A Spirit of Trust is<i> </i>essential reading for all students and scholars of Brandom's work and those in philosophy of language. It will also be important reading for those studying nineteenth-century philosophy, particularly Hegel and the <i>Phenomenology of Spirit</i>.</p> <p>Introduction <i>Gilles Bouché </i><b>Part I: Semantics </b>1. Brandom on Hegel on Negation <i>Robert B. Pippin </i>2. Truth and Incompatibility <i>Elena Ficara </i>3. Brandom on the <i>Introduction</i> to the <i>Phenomenology</i> <i>John McDowell </i>4. The Possibility of a Semantic Interpretation of Hegel’s Conception of Consciousness <i>Paul Redding </i>5. Where is the Conflict in Brandom’s Theory of Recognition (and Why Should There Be Any)? <i>Georg W. Bertram </i>6. Intentional Agency and Conceptual Idealism: Brandom on Hegelian Reason <i>Dean Moyar </i><b>Part II: With an Edifying Intent </b>7. Semantic Self-Consciousness <i>Terry Pinkard </i>8. Is Brandom a Positivist? Notes on Alienation, Trust, Confession, and Forgiveness <i>J.M. Bernstein </i>9. Spirit and Alienation in Brandom’s<i> A Spirit of Trust</i>: <i>Entfremdung</i>, <i>Entäußerung</i>, and the Causal Entropy of Normativity <i>Italo Testa </i>10. A Pure Philosophy of Language with an Edifying Intent: Brandom’s Reply to Rorty <i>Gilles Bouché </i>11. Brandom on Postmodern Ethical Life: Moral and Political Problems <i>Franz Knappik </i>12. Brandom’s Hegel <i>Charles Taylor. Index</i></p>