Serious larks : the philosophy of Ted Cohen / edited and with an introduction by Daniel Herwitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cohen, Ted, author.

Contributor:

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Herwitz, Daniel Alan, 1955- editor, writer of introduction.

Standardized Title:

Works. Selections (Herwitz)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy, American.

Popular culture--Philosophy.

Popular culture.

Physical Description:

xxii, 239 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2018.

Summary:

Ted Cohen was an original and captivating essayist known for his inquisitive intelligence, wit, charm, and a deeply humane feel for life. For Cohen, writing was a way of discovering, and also celebrating, the depth and complexity of things overlooked by most professional philosophers and aestheticians?but not by most people. Whether writing about the rules of baseball, of driving, or of Kant?s Third Critique; about Hitchcock, ceramics, or jokes, Cohen proved that if you study the world with a bemused but honest attentiveness, you can find something to philosophize about more or less anywhere. ?This collection, edited and introduced by philosopher Daniel Herwitz, brings together some of Cohen?s best work to capture the unique style that made Cohen one of the most beloved philosophers of his generation. Among the perceptive, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny reflections on movies, sports, art, language, and life included here are Cohen?s classic papers on metaphor and his Pushcart Prize?winning essay on baseball, as well as memoir, fiction, and even poetry. Full of free-spirited inventiveness, these Serious Larks would be equally at home outside Thoreau?s cabin on the waters of Walden Pond as they are here, proving that intelligence, sensitivity, and good humor can be found in philosophical writing after all.

Contents:

North by Northwest

Metaphor and the cultivation of intimacy

Notes on metaphor

What's special about photography?

Sports and art

Clay for contemplation

There are no ties at first base

A driving examination

Objects of appreciation

And what if they don't laugh?

Liking what's good: why should we?

Language games

Ethics class

Kings and salesmen

One way to think about popular art

Caring

The idea of absolute gin

Playing by the rules

Freedom from rules.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780226511122

022651112X

9780226511269

022651126X

OCLC:

1002129364