Publisher Description
Hardly a club in the conventional sense, the organization referred to in the title of this superb literary hybrid—part history, part biography, part philosophy— consisted of four members and probably existed for less than nine months. Yet its impact upon American intellectual life remains incalculable. Louis Menand masterfully weaves pivotal late 19th-and early 20th-century events, colorful biographical anecdotes, and abstract ideas into a narrative whole that both enthralls and enlightens. The Metaphysical Club is a compellingly vital account of how the cluster of ideas that came to be called pragmatism was forged from the searing experiences of its progenitors’ lives. Here are Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey, all of them giants of American thought made colloquially accessible both as human beings and as intellects.
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“This had been on my to-read list for far too long after todd highly recommended it. I finally got around to it this Fall, starting with little bits before I went to bed, and eventually going through most of it during Christmas vacation. The book provides biographies of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Charles S. Peirce, William James and John Dewey, winding its way through the interesting features of their intellectual backgrounds (and there are quite a few) and the way their lives brought them to interact. The title comes from a short-lived discussion group James, Peirce and Holmes attended, one of a number of such groups with shifting members in Cambridge over the years. Menand’s prose is generally smooth, occasionally spirited, and never obscures any of the philosophical ideas, of which his knowledge seems solid and his presentation is clear. Definitely worth reading for anyone even dimly interested philosophy, history, and science. Plus, I’ll lend you todd’s copy if you want to read it.”
—
Anthony (4 out of 5 stars)
