Wealth of Shenanigans: The Tactile Underbelly of Concept

Book excerpt: Gary Van Den Heuvel was born on a dairy farm in western Wisconsin, and he epitomized the independence of mind, humor, earthiness, and pragmatism of a working class, rural life. For most of his life he worked as a solitary, independent scholar, and as a result, his penetrating vision is virtually unknown by the larger world. Gary possessed a brilliant and insightful philosophical mind that wrestled constantly and fruitfully with the great challenges of our time. The present book synthesizes his vision by combining memoir, essay, Joycean irrationality, and spiritual insight. It illuminates how an understanding of touch as the foundation of mind can shift how we live. Engaging with his ideas can help us better face the serious challenges of our current situation through a radical shift in our philosophical paradigm. Van Den Heuvel also abridged his hero Susanne K. Langer's three-volume masterwork Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling for The Johns Hopkins University Press, which published it in 1988.