From Kant to Las Vegas to Cyberspace: a Philosopher on the Edge of Postmodernism 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 CONTINUAL STRUGGLE WITH IDEAS Restlessness, in part, is what has led the professor away from the traditional study of religion and philosophy. But he sees his output as of a piece, a continual struggle with the ideas put forth by the thinkers he says one must think with -- Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche. In his office at home, he takes down a binder from a shelf. Neatly inside are the syllabus and papers from a philosophy course he took as a junior at Wesleyan University, the course he says set him on his intellectual path. "A splendid piece of exposition," his professor wrote on the title page of the final paper, the word "splendid" underlined. "If I had had any doubts that you were ready for graduate school, this would have settled it!" Mr. Taylor went on to graduate school. "Then I took my poststructuralist turn," he says, snapping the notebook shut, "and he wouldn't talk to me again." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education http://chronicle.com Date: 05/29/98 Section: Research & Publishing Page: A16