Richard McKeon (1900-1985)

Responses

Below is a sampling of essays that, in various fashions, assess Richard McKeon’s intellectual contributions, including a number by his students from several generations.

Selections download in PDF format, which may take several minutes due to file size. If you need a reader for PDFs, a link to Adobe Reader is provided at the bottom.

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1987 “Introduction: Richard McKeon and the Renaissance of Rhetoric” by Mark Backman
In Richard McKeon, Rhetoric: Essays in Invention and Discovery, ed. Mark Backman (Woodbridge, CT: Ox Bow Press, 1987), pp. vii-xxxii.
McK-Rhetoric_Introduction(Backman).pdf   7.7 MB
1988 “Richard McKeon’s Conception of Rhetoric and the Philosophy of Culture” by Douglas Mitchell
Special Review Essay: Rhetoric: Essays in Invention & Discovery, in Rhetorica vol. 6, no. 4 (Autumn 1988), pp. 395-414.
Mitchell_D-ReviewOfRhetoric.pdf   7.7 MB
1990 “Preface” by Zahava K. McKeon
In Freedom and History and Other Essays: An introduction to the thought of Richard McKeon, ed. Zahava K. McKeon (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), pp. vii-xi.
McK-Freedom&History_Preface.pdf   1.6 MB
1998 “General Introduction” by Zahava K. McKeon
In Selected Writings of Richard McKeon, vol. 1, ed. Zahava K. McKeon and William G. Swenson (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), pp. 1-21.
McK-SelectedWritingsV1_GenIntro.pdf   6.2 MB
2000 "McKeon: The Unity of His Thought" by Walter Watson
In Pluralism in Theory and Practice: Richard McKeon and American Philosophy, ed. Eugene Garver and Richard Buchanan (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2000), pp. 10-28.
Watson_W-McKeon'sUnityOfThought.pdf   6.2 MB
  "Memoirs of a Pluralist" by Charles W. Wegener
In Pluralism in Theory and Practice: Richard McKeon and American Philosophy, ed. Eugene Garver and Richard Buchanan (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2000), pp. 92-109.
Wegener_CW-MemoirsOfAPluralist.pdf   6.2 MB
  "The Ecology of Culture: Pluralism and Circumstantial Metaphysics" by Richard Buchanan
In Pluralism in Theory and Practice: Richard McKeon and American Philosophy, ed. Eugene Garver and Richard Buchanan (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2000), pp. 135-62.
Buchanan_R-EcologyOfCulture.pdf   6.2 MB
  "McKeon's Contribution to the Philosophy of Science" by Walter Watson
In Pluralism in Theory and Practice: Richard McKeon and American Philosophy, ed. Eugene Garver and Richard Buchanan (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2000), pp. 163-88.
Watson_W-McKeon&PhilOfScience.pdf   6.2 MB
  "Richard McKeon's Pluralism: The Path between Dogmatism and Relativism" by Wayne C. Booth
In Pluralism in Theory and Practice: Richard McKeon and American Philosophy, ed. Eugene Garver and Richard Buchanan (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2000), pp. 213-30.
Booth_W-RMcKeon'sPluralism.pdf   6.2 MB
2005 “Foreword” by William G. Swenson
In Selected Writings of Richard McKeon, vol. 2, ed. Zahava K. McKeon and William G. Swenson (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), pp. ix-xxiv.
McK-SelectedWritingsV2_Foreword.pdf   5.1 MB