Word: cantors
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...Cantor begins his work with a recapitulation of great modern questions (justice, intellectual progress, etc.). Unfortunately, he chooses some of the world's most controversial authors as philosophical influences for this book. Cantor claims that brilliant writers like Nietzsche and Freud have only revealed the pressing concerns of our society, not created them...
...However, Cantor disappoints the reader by digressing into lengthy historical and cultural examples to prove this point. By the time he reminds the reader of his original premise, we have lost the main idea. For example, he devotes the better part of a chapter to recapitulating the notions he put down in Krazy Kat, one of his previous works. While the reader floats in jargon and bygone culture, he misses the author's central concern, the lack of any stimulating media...
...Although Cantor's use of Freud's death instinct supplies this work with chunks of evidence, evolutionary theorists have successfully disputed this and many of other of Freud's basic theories. This unprofessional selection discredits Cantor's theory and obscures any original thought he might have contributed to this work...
Philosophical questions boil down to the conflict between the welfare state and the free market. He may be right--man would be more civilized and peaceful if everything were equitable and planned. But Cantor harps too long on the forces which suppress man's progress...
Even worse, Cantor latches onto Nietzsche's concept that humanity's focus has shifted from God to the community. Cantor adds no contemporary wisdom to the ideas of this late German philosopher--he just parades them as a grand "I told you so" rebuff to the media and other cultural evils of modern society...