Espen Hammer at Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews:
While on paper an obvious insider, Raymond Geuss has for decades been criticizing contemporary philosophy as though he were an outsider, viewing it as an intellectually limiting practice too occupied with academically narrow, self-generated problems. He performs this critique with an eye to the past, returning often to canonical or more peripheral figures from the history not only of philosophy but adjacent fields such as literature and classics; accordingly, he aspires to occupy the position of the interdisciplinary critic and interpreter, highlighting exemplary achievements that inspire a more inclusive approach to philosophy.
To be sure, Geuss is also known for his cutting remarks on philosophers and politicians whose judgments depend on a commitment to some unifying principle that, in his view, tends to misrepresent our standing in the world. Moral and political ‘rule-first’ normativists, such as Kant, Rawls, and Habermas, and power politicians prone to speak in the name of pretentious moral ideals, such as Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, have been the targets of some rather scathing treatment. If anything, Geuss’s impulse has always been nominalist, prioritizing particulars over generalities, perspectivism over objectivism, and to couch that within an equally decisive measure of realism.
more here.
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