The Darkness and the Light

A Philosopher Reflects Upon His Fortunate Career and Those Who Made It Possible

By Charles Hartshorne

Subjects: Philosophy, Biography
Paperback : 9780791403389, 426 pages, October 1990
Hardcover : 9780791403372, 426 pages, July 1990

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Table of contents

List of Figures

Preface

Acknowledgments

Prologue

1. THE AUTHOR INTRODUCES HIMSELF

 

Thoughts on Memory
The I and the Me
Geographical
More Personal than Modest
A Frustrating but Constructive Philosophical Dream

 

2. A SHELTERED CHILDHOOD (1897-1911)

 

Earliest Recollections
A Noble Friend
Marguerite Haughton Hartshorne
Francis Cope Hartshorne
My Four Brothers
Male Chauvinism?
Public School

 

3. A BOARDING SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY (1911-1915)

 

Dr. Gardiner
Some Other Boarding School Teachers
School Life
Appendicitis and Poetry

 

4. SOME PLAYMATES AND RELATIVES

 

Small Town Society
Sister Frances, Cousin Emily, Some Aunts
Aunt Amy and Lillie Zietz
Professor J. Duncan Spaeth

 

5. HAVERFORD COLLEGE (1915-1917)

 

Choosing a College in 1915
Some Classmates: Frank Morley and Evan Phillips
Some Upper Classmen
Some Haverford Teachers

 

6. LIFE IN AN ARMY MEDICAL CORPS (1917-1919)

 

Volunteer - or Be Conscripted?
A Base Hospital and Its Nurses and Patients
Some Professional Soldiers
Commanding Officers and Psychosomatic Eye Trouble
My Life is Saved; Fellow Orderlies, Alcoholism
Religious - Philosophical Experiences
The Thrill of Youth

 

7. HARVARD, EUROPE, HARVARD (1919-1928)

 

Some Fellow Students (1919-1923)
Some Professors
Two Roommates
Some Landladies
Volunteer Work in a Camp for Boys
A Traveling Fellowship (1923-1925)
Some Letters and F. C. Hartshorne's Last Public Address

 

8. SOME YOUTHFUL EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN

 

An Old-Fashioned Way of Learning About Love
Social Relations of a Wandering Student
What Makes Life Together Endurable?
Homo- and Heterosexuality

 

9. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (1928-1955)

 

"She Was a Phantom of Delight"
Hutchins, Adler, McKeon
The X Club
Carnap
Students
Theologians and Metaphysicians
Lecturing in German (1948-1949)
Why Leave a Great University?

 

10. SOME FRIENDS IN CHICAGO, AND ELSEWHERE

 

My Admirable Relatives-in-Law
Kurt Riezler
A Neighborhood Institution
"Bird Friends Are Good Friends"
Three Russian Aristocrats
Some Excellent Household Helpers
"E. L." - A Southern Gentleman of a New School

 

11. THE MOVE TO THE SOUTH (1955-1962)

 

The Era of Civil Rights Begins
Emory: A Small but Good University
Lecturing in Seattle and Kyoto

 

12. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS (1962- )

 

John Silber
A Great Naturalist
Texas Philosophers

 

13. RECOLLECTIONS OF FAMOUS PHILOSOPHERS - AND OTHER IMPORTANT PERSONS

14. SOME OTHER PHILOSOPHERS

 

Heinrich Rickert
Kallen, Feigl, Langford
Bag Fuller and E. S. Brightman
Norman Malcolm
Morris Cohen
Max Otto
Eustace Hayden

 

15. ODDS AND ENDS

 

Violence and Some Nonacademic Jobs
The Deaths of Dear Ones
Mentally Disturbed Students
Opportunity, Genius, and Ambition
What's Wrong with Everybody?
What Is There to Regret?
"Life is Unfair"
Wordsworth's Vision

 

Epilogue

Name Index

Topic Index

Description

In this book Charles Hartshorne continues his contribution to the field with autobiographical reflections, showing the causal conditions which made his career possible.

"There is some advantage in associating philosophical beliefs with specific life situations. The reader will find suggestions for a philosophy of life and of religion. The religion is not the orthodox Protestant Christianity which I grew up in, although it is closely related, but also includes Judaism, Buddhism, and some forms of Hinduism. It will in some ways be found close to the beliefs of C.S. Peirce and also those of A.N. Whitehead. Of the persons, famous or not famous, that I have known, I recall many things that seem worth making available to others, sometimes witty remarks, expressions of outstanding goodness, remarkable wisdom, or ludicrous foolishness. In such ways the book is a celebration of life in its variety, depths, and heights." — Charles Hartshorne

Charles Hartshorne is Ashbel Smith Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Creativity in American Philosophy, Insights and Oversights of Great Thinkers, Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes, and Wisdom as Moderation all published by SUNY Press.

Reviews

"Charles Hartshorne is our one living example of an American who is a world class philosopher…" — The Modern Schoolman

"Thought by many to be the dean of living American philosophers…" — Choice