Philosophical Myths of the Fall

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Philosophical Myths of the Fall
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Stephen Mulhall
SeriesPrinceton Monographs in Philosophy
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:192
Dimensions(mm): Height 216,Width 140
Category/GenreHistory of Western philosophy
Philosophy of religion
ISBN/Barcode 9780691133928
ClassificationsDewey:128
Audience
Professional & Vocational
Tertiary Education (US: College)

Publishing Details

Publisher Princeton University Press
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publication Date 26 August 2007
Publication Country United States

Description

Did post-Enlightenment philosophers reject the idea of original sin and hence the view that life is a quest for redemption from it? In Philosophical Myths of the Fall, Stephen Mulhall identifies and evaluates a surprising ethical-religious dimension in the work of three highly influential philosophers--Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein. He asks: Is the Christian idea of humanity as structurally flawed something that these three thinkers aim simply to criticize? Or do they, rather, end up by reproducing secular variants of the same mythology? Mulhall argues that each, in different ways, develops a conception of human beings as in need of redemption: in their work, we appear to be not so much capable of or prone to error and fantasy, but instead structurally perverse, living in untruth. In this respect, their work is more closely aligned to the Christian perspective than to the mainstream of the Enlightenment. However, all three thinkers explicitly reject any religious understanding of human perversity; indeed, they regard the very understanding of human beings as originally sinful as central to that from which we must be redeemed. And yet each also reproduces central elements of that understanding in his own thinking; each recounts his own myth of our Fall, and holds out his own image of redemption. The book concludes by asking whether this indebtedness to religion brings these philosophers' thinking closer to, or instead forces it further away from, the truth of the human condition.

Author Biography

Stephen Mulhall is Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at New College, Oxford. His recent books include "On Film and Inheritance" and "Originality: Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Kierkegaard".

Reviews

"Mulhall's re-opening of issues of fall and redemption is not so much a re-construction of a specific answer as it is a re-articulation of the germane questions and a re-thinking of possible responses. Mulhall simultaneously puts into question the adequacy of the philosophical myths and raises the prospect of reconsidering the Christian account."--Thomas Hibbs, First Things