Bøker av Paul Fairfield

Historical Imagination defends a phenomenological and hermeneutical account of historical knowledge. The book's central questions are what is historical imagination, what is the relation between the imaginative and the empirical, in what sense is historical knowledge always already imaginative, how does such knowledge serve us, and what is the relation of historical understanding and self-understanding? Paul Fairfield revisits some familiar hermeneutical themes and endeavors to develop these further while examining two important periods in which historical reassessments or re-imaginings of the past occurred on a large scale. The conception of historical imagination that emerges seeks to advance beyond the debate between empiricists and postmodern constructivists while focusing on narrative as well as a more encompassing interpretation of who an historical people were, how things stood with them, and how this comes to be known. Fairfield supplements the philosophical argument with an historical examination of how and why during late antiquity, early Christian thinkers began to reimagine their Greek and Roman past, followed by how and why renaissance and later enlightenment figures reimagined their ancient and medieval past.

This book comprises the complete essays from the Philosophy Crush podcast, a miscellany of reflections and intellectual venturings that hold some relevance for our times. With topics ranging from "Philosophy as a way of life" to "Bring back the existentialists," "The importance of reading books," "Free speech 101," "What makes innovation possible?," "The individual against the mass," "Where are we going?," "The search for meaning," and "Why is Bob Dylan the greatest songwriter?," the 75 essays that make up this book are "essais" in Montaigne's sense-"attempts," with an emphasis on brevity, subjectivity, and accessibility to a general audience.

This book examines the transitional periods of archaic Greece and late antiquity, the ostensible birth and death of the ancient west. The author argues that an interpretation of the social, political, and intellectual history of these important turning points brings to light some philosophical understanding of the dynamics of change itself.

Deep disagreements exist regarding what thinking and critical thinking are and to what extent they are teachable. Thinking is learned in some measure by all, but not everything that is learnable is also teachable in an institutional setting. In questioning the relationship between teachability and learnability, Fairfield investigates the implications of thinking as inquiry, education as the cultivation of agency, and self-education. By challenging some of the standard conceptions of thinking, the author explores the limits of teachability and advances critiques of standardized tests, digital learning technologies, and managerialism in education.

Beginning with a wide-ranging discussion of liberal philosophers, Fairfield proposes that liberalism requires a complete reconception of moral selfhood, one that accommodates elements of the contemporary critiques without abandoning liberal individualism.

In Public/Private, Fairfield examines the ethical-political significance as well as the policy implications of a right to privacy. Discussing the different applications of privacy laws, technology,property, relationships, Fairfield writes in a style accessible to specialists and students alike.