Conditions Handsome and Unhandsome: The Constitution of Emersonian Perfectionism (Paul Carus Lectures)

In taking the perspective of the Carus Lectures as an opportunity to recommend Emerson, despite all, to the closer attention of the American philosophical community, I hope I may be trusted to recognize how generally impertinent his teachings, in style and in material, can sound to philosophical ears-including still, from time to time, despite all, my own. In these lectures, Cavell situates Emerson at the intersection of three crossroads: a place where both philosophy and literature pass; where the two traditions of English and German philosophy shun one another; and where the cultures of America and Europe unsettle one another.