Jan Olof Bengtsson

Its Proponents and Critics

Rodopi, 2002     Amazon.com

From the Back Cover:

This book presents selected addresses presented before the Personalist Discussion Group meetings held in conjunction with the annual meetings of The American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division. It includes the central ideas of American Personalistic Idealism developed during the twentieth century, its major criticisms, and recent developments by philosophers who are either Personalistic Idealists or sympathetic to the position.

Review:

“Personalism Revisited is one of the latest offerings in the Value Inquiry Book Series (VIBS), belonging to the subseries Histories and Addresses of Philosophical Societies (HAPS). Editions Rodopi and the VIBS are doing the philosophical community a great boon by encouraging the leaders of the various philosophical societies to gather and publish their histories before those histories begin to pass away…[Richard T.] Hull wrote a foreword and compiled an outstanding index for Personalism Revisited and is by anyone’s standards doing yeoman’s work for the profession…HAPS is, as Hull states “saving from obscurity and loss the elements of much philosophy done in the post-modern era”… [the archival committee has done] a tremendous job, and the amount of effort expended in documenting and structuring this volume has been immense…If this volume documents one thing clearly, it is that the dynamic conversation of philosophical minds, sincerely and openly engaged, can lead to the development of more adequate perspectives. The editors of this volume have done an excellent job of presenting these essays in ways that make it possible for attentive readers now and in the indefinite future to see how philosophy can work when it does work.”  Journal of Speculative Philosophy

JOB’s Comment:

See my review essay in Appraisal, No. 1, 2004.