Time in the Ditch: American Philosophy and the McCarthy Era

240 Pages·2001·111.561 MB·English

by  John McCumber

a't,s i
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American Phitosophy
and the McCarthy Era
John McCumber
@
Northwestern University Press
Evanston, Illinois
Northwestern Universiry Press
Evanston, Illinois 6A208 421 0
C"py"St @ 2001 by Northwestern University Press. Published 2001.
AII righs reserved.
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
1098765432r
ISBN 0-8101-1809-2
Ubrary of Congrese C,ataloging-in-Publication Datr
McCumber,John.
Time in the ditch: American philosophyand the McCarthy era / John
McCumber.
cm.
P.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8101-1809-2 (alk paper)
l. Philosophy, American-20th century. 2. McCanhy, Joseph,
l908-1957-[nfuence. I. Title.
8936.M362000
191-dc2l
00-010668
The paper used in this publication meer the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Informadon Sciences-Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI 239.48-L984.
To the memory of Reiner Schtirmann
and Louis Comtois
Iassou, phile!
I{ai philou!

Atque inter silvas
Academi quaerere veritatem.
-Horace

Gontents
Acknowtedgments xi
List of Abbreviations xiii
lntroduction xt
7
Philosophy's Family Secret:
The Nature and lmpact of the McCarthy Era 3
2
\7e re All Scientists Here:
Early Effects of the McCarthy Era on American Philosophy 33
3
Has It SrcppedYet?
The McCarthy Eras Lasting E$ects on American Philosophy 59
I
Culture'Wars, Culture Bores:
Philosophyt Absence from American Academic Culture 9t
5
Philosophy out of the Ditch:
A Post-McCarthy Paradigm 127
Notes 169
Bibtiography 193
lndex 205
Acknowledgments
This has been an unusually painful and troubling book to write. For-
tunately, I have had the advice and encouragemenr of an unusual num-
ber of wonderfirl people, including but nor limited to Michael Baur,
T. David Brent, John D. Caputo, Jonathan Culler, Frank Cunningham,
Jude P Dougherty, Abraham Edel, futhur Fine, N*.y Fraser, Nelly
Furman, Rondd Giere, Gary Gutting, David Hull, Reginald Lilly,
Frangoise Lionnet, Jeff Rice, Thomas Ryckman, Robert C. Scharfi,
Ellen Schrecker, Reiner Schtirmann, Charles Sherover, Laurie Shrage,
Thomas Uebel, Bruce \Tilshire, and especially Gerald Graff, Susan
Harris, and Jane '$7inston.
The book was wriften during my tenure of a faculty fellowship at
theAlice B. Kaplan Center for the Humanities at Northwestern Univer-
sity. I am grateful to the center, to its directors, rVhitney Davis and
Helmut Miiller-Sievers, and especidly to its assistant director, Elzbieta
Foeller-Pituch.
I wish to thank all these people, and many orhers, and to apologize
for the many defects that remain in spite of their efforts.
Portions ofchapters 1,2,3, and 5 appear in different form in "Time
xli Acbpwhdgnerrtt
in the Ditch: American Philosophy and the McCanhy Era,," diaritics
26 (spring 1996)z 33-49. Portions of chapter 5 appear in different form
in "Reconnecting Rorqn The Situation of Discourse in Richard Rorty's
ContingenE, Iroryt, and So lidarity," diaritics 20 ( 1 990) : 2-19.