Towards the History of a Heterodox Tradition in Analytic Philosophy: Transformative, Humanistic, Conversational

A widespread impression is shared among scholars that an heterodox tradition can be found within contemporary analytic philosophy. The present project assumes that such tradition – characterized by family resemblances rather than by necessary and jointly sufficient conditions – exists and is well recognizable, although its exact contours and nature are matter of debate. This tradition is often identified either by providing an open and incomplete list of authors – among them Cavell, Williams, Rorty, Bernstein, Margolis, Diamond, Murdoch, McDowell, MacIntyre, Wollheim, Brandom, Conant, the “later” Putnam, Foot, Winch, Midgley, Hampshire, Nussbaum, Shusterman, Price – or by concocting such labels as post-analytic philosophy, perfectionism, Wittgensteinian philosophy, post-Sellarsian thought, and philosophy as a humanistic discipline. The present project originates from the conviction that, though useful, such labels do not allow one to tell a comprehensive story of the heterodox tradition and to distinguish it from both the analytic mainstream and non-analytic or continental traditions. The project aspires to provide the interpretative keys and methodological tools to make such a history possible. We propose as interpretative keys three main intertwined features that characterize the tradition under investigation: a) Transformative analysis. Philosophy is a distinctive kind of therapeutic activity, which does not consist in providing a reductive or connective analysis of concepts in the abstract, but rather aims at concretely transforming the subject engaged in the philosophical investigation. b) Humanistic style. The writing style has a genuine philosophical import, and as such it is no mere ornament. Form matters for philosophical content, as it does for other humanistic disciplines, in the measure in which the text addresses and challenges the reader rather than merely conveying a neutral message. c) Conversational stance. Conversations are constitutive of philosophical activity in at least two senses: philosophy has to do with personal dialogues, rather than with impersonal truths; and it constructs itself through the exchange with other disciplines (such as for example art criticism, literary criticism, film studies, psychoanalysis, but also the cognitive sciences) and with non-analytic philosophical traditions (most notably pragmatism, hermeneutics, existentialism, post-structuralism, feminism, but also Hegelianism and Marxism). From a methodological point of view the project is characterized by the systematic combination and integration between the traditional tools of the history of philosophy, such as conceptual and contextual analysis, and quantitative methods, such as citation analysis and distant reading. This constant interaction will allow us to achieve the main result of the project: to provide the prolegomena for a comprehensive history of the heterodox tradition in analytic philosophy.