Talk:Brand Blanshard

Untitled
A very good article on Brand Blanshard. I was much impressed with his book _Reason and Analysis_ which, at least to my mind, was a demolition job of currents in analytic philosophy, though I isagree with Blanshard's own positive views. I still can't figure out how someone like Blanshard, who writes in a clear, rational fashion gets lets attention than an obscurantist like Heidegger or one who writes in an ocular fashion like Wittgenstein.


 * I fear the explanation is sadly obvious :>(

MWAK--217.122.44.226 13:25, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Scott Ryan, please!
The two links to your writings have died. Please repair!

I am intrigued to discover that Objectivists deem Blanshard a mainstream philosopher they can respect.

I believe that literary style ultimately carries the day. But I had not heard before that Blanshard wrote beautifully. In this respect, he is a brother under the skin to Gilbert Ryle and Quine (in his better moments).

Re Heidegger: rest assured that his reputation is in deep, deep trouble. The only exception is some points Heidegger made, to which Berkeley's Hubert Dreyfus has drawn careful attention, that can be read as a powerful critique of the possibility of machine intelligence. By 2050, no one in the English speaking world will be reading Heidegger.

Re Wittgenstein: he fascinates that part of many people's brain tickled by Zen Bhuddism. He also fascinates because he was an engineer by training and self-educated as a philosopher. As the 20th century keepers of the Wittgenstein flame (Anscombe, von Wright, etc.) die, the Wittgenstein cult will fade away.

On Establishing a Blanshard Society
The contributions of Ryle, Quine, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger all pale by comparison with Blanshard's. However, this counts for much less than it should while Blanshard goes unread - by both the public and by other professional philosophers. What is much needed, therefore, is a Blanshard Society, which would have as its aim, among other things, the examination of Blanshard's thought with reference to contemporary philosophical, social, and political issues. This could be done in a very low-cost electronic format.

I made a preliminary attempt to establish such a society a few years ago, but those principally interested in the thought of Blanshard had numerous other commitments at that time. However, I remain interested in the establishment of a society of this kind, and a related e-journal.

Those willing to contribute something toward such an effort may contact me at: X editor  @   Xprogressiveliving. org X

(Please be sure to remove the spaces and capital Xs in the above e-mail address when corresponding. They've been added in an effort to avoid robospam.)

(I am the author of the Blanshard biography most often referenced on the internet: http://www.progressiveliving.org/brand_blanshard.htm) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.214.184.6 (talk) 21:44, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Link removed, edits made
I'm Scott Ryan, the author of the original version of this article (almost all of which, I'm happy to see, has been left intact). I no longer maintain the website at which one of my articles was posted, so I've removed the link to it. The link to the other one works fine.

I've also edited the reference at the end of the biographical summary, which previously stated that most of the information in the summary was adapted from the Progressive Living website. Progressive Living is an excellent site, but I did not refer to it in writing that summary (or anything else); I referred directly to Blanshard's autobiographical essay in The Philosophy of Brand Blanshard and, for the observation about Blanshard's conduct in philosophical controversy, to the short article on Blanshard in The Oxford Companion To Philosophy (two of the sources that Progressive Living cites for its own biography). I've been reading Blanshard for well over twenty years, and there's no reason I would use even a high-quality secondary source as a reference for such information.

Life
The well-intended writer of the previous version erroneously dismisses Paul Blanshard with one sentence and, IMO, damnation by faint praise. When twins each have Wikipedia entries, the material for their early years must be in synchrony, unless there is provable difference. Paul and Brand spent each day of their lives together from birth in 1892 (no birth date had been provided) to the year 1913 when Brand won his Rhodes Scholarship and bolted to Oxford. By pure coincidence, the twins later wound up together at Columbia University - and were simultaneously introduced to the woman who would marry Brand. Both lads had an affection for James Dewey, and he for them, as later proven in all their lives.

While in high school, the two boys discussed the pros and cons of changing the spelling of their name to BLANCHARD. They agreed to leave their name as given, no matter the frequent trouble this caused. Necessary corrections concern their father, Rev. Francis Blanshard, who was afflicted by tuberculosis. Francis traveled alone to both Montana and New Mexico, while the boys remained in Michigan with their paternal grandmother. Rev. Blanshard died in 1904. In the summer of 1908 the family moved from the northeastern shore of Lake Michigan so the lads could attend the exceptional, nationally known Detroit Central High School. Any person who is bothered by these corrections should (please) first read carefully the first four chapters of "Personal and Controversial," the autobiography of Paul Blanshard, Beacon Press, 1973. Thanks. Ed Chilton.

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