These lectures by one of the most influential and original philosophers of the t
wentieth century constitute a sustained argument for the philosophical basis of
romanticism, particularly in its American rendering. Through his examination of
such authors as Emerson, Thoreau, Poe, Wordsworth, and Coleridge, Stanley Cavell
shows that romanticism and American transcendentalism represent a serious philo
sophical response to the challenge of skepticism that underlies the writings of
Wittgenstein and Austin on ordinary language.
