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A review by ben_smitty
Time and Philosophy: A History of Continental Thought by John McCumber
5.0
It’s difficult for me to express how much I appreciate the work McCumber has put into this book. Trying to run a common thread (time) through the big players of continental philosophy is a very difficult task—hell, just summarizing these philosophers alone is something that seems impossible. McCumber’s book, however, succeeds in building a chronological account of how each philosopher builds on the previous one. They can be understood broadly by how they dealt with the relationship between the temporal and the ideal.
The book serves as a dense introduction and a big picture view of how the continental philosophers relate to one another. I had to reread certain sections and take lots of notes, but McCumber’s book is super helpful overall. My only complaint is that the chapter on Derrida is a little weak. I was expecting a thorough treatment of Derrida’s Of Grammatology but was surprised that McCumber focuses on Derrida’s lesser-known The Politics of Friendship instead. I understand that McCumber is trying to fit Derrida into the larger picture here, but I think Of Grammatology would’ve worked better than The Politics of Friendship because the former is Derrida’s attempt to demystify and deconstruct language into a temporal construct.
The book serves as a dense introduction and a big picture view of how the continental philosophers relate to one another. I had to reread certain sections and take lots of notes, but McCumber’s book is super helpful overall. My only complaint is that the chapter on Derrida is a little weak. I was expecting a thorough treatment of Derrida’s Of Grammatology but was surprised that McCumber focuses on Derrida’s lesser-known The Politics of Friendship instead. I understand that McCumber is trying to fit Derrida into the larger picture here, but I think Of Grammatology would’ve worked better than The Politics of Friendship because the former is Derrida’s attempt to demystify and deconstruct language into a temporal construct.