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| Plot Summary of The Metaphysical Club |
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"Menand's study looks at the lives and thought of four representative American thinkers who variously ascribed to a philosophy known as pragamatism: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., William James, Charles Sanders Pierce, and Thomas Dewey. The first three met briefly in 1872 as the "Metaphysical Club," but their respect for and effects upon one another went much further than that. Menand concludes they were largely responsible for laying the foundations for free speech and thought in the U.S. today. Holmes was wounded three separate times in the Civil War, and concluded that certainty leads to violence, and no idea is worth dying for. Amazingly, he became a Supreme Court justice and lived into his 90s. James, psychologist brother of the novelist, was an intuitive, emotional thinker, who said: "Truth happens to an idea. It becomes true...." Other fascinating characters slip through the pages of this book: Jane Addams, Louis Agassiz, Emerson, and Darwin. Though philosophy is the subject, the book reads remarkably smoothly."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Metaphysical Club |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
job/profession:
- philosopher
Job/profession/poverty story
Yes
Period of greatest activity?
- 1800's
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- teacher/professor
Age:
- long lived adults
Biography of famous person?
Yes
Ethnicity
- White
Nationality
- American (!)
How sensitive is this person?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other people
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 1 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
- Midwest
Century:
- 19th century
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Book makes you feel?
- thoughtful
Commentary on society?
Yes
Commentary on
- race
- war
- justice system
- dying
- religion
Writer's slant towards subject:
- favorable
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of nearly entire life
Is this a biography of several people?
Yes
Pictures/Illustrations?
- A ton 16-20 B&W
How much dialogue in bio?
- significantly more descript than dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?
- 0-25% of book
How much is philosophy rather than life story?
- 51-75% of book
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Click here for more information about this book
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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