Philosophy and the Evolution of Consciousness: Owen Barfield's Saving the Appearances

Rating:
Summary: A helpful guide
Review: Owen Barfield's Saving the Appearances is a challenging book. If you are willing to follow along, Barfield introduces you to a whole new landscape-- a way of thinking about thinking and language and consciousness that requires a suspension of everyday assumptions that most of us take for granted. Given the demands of this work, I found myself wishing for a guide, and that's how I found Philosophy and the Evolution of Consciousness.

This work will probably be appreciated most by those with training in philosophy. Smitherman situates Barfield's work within the stream of philosophical discourse and takes on some significant philosophical issues to illustrate the power of Barfield's thought. It would thus be a mistake to think of this book as a "Reader's Guide to Saving the Appearances." Although I do not have the philosophy background that would permit me to judge this work on those merits I did find that it opened my eyes to some of the more important themes that Barfield develops. Smitherman makes use of a number of examples from his personal experiences and from other fields and writers that explicate his points. His writing is clear and reasoned. I failed to give it 5 stars only because I did not feel qualified to judge it on its philosophical merits. I have no problem recommending it to others who wish to dive into Barfield's world.