“Interanimations brings together thinkers from an impressive variety of traditions around Hegel and Nietzsche. The fascination of seeing one mind respond to people as diverse as McDowell, Strauss, and Žižek is what really makes this book stand out, and I know of no one today other than Pippin who could write it.”
— John McCumber, University of California, Los Angeles
“Among Pippin’s many superlative gifts is the ability to write lucid, probing, and original assessments of recent philosophical texts that engage with classic issues in the writings of earlier philosophers, mainly (as here) in the German tradition from Kant and Hegel to Nietzsche and Heidegger and beyond. Basic to this ability is Pippin’s conviction that, rightly understood, the issues in question are of the highest contemporary interest—an intellectual stance that thrillingly informs all the essays in this remarkable book.”
— Michael Fried, Johns Hopkins University
“In Interanimations, Pippin’s treatment of crucial and intensely difficult issues in the interpretation of Hegel and Nietzsche is of extraordinary quality; at every point he brings to bear his total mastery of the post-Kantian development and provides original, striking insights. The same holds for the book’s broader agenda—to throw much-needed light on the practice of the history of philosophy, where we appear to face a hard choice between either consigning texts to the past or instrumentalizing them for present purposes. Pippin not only demonstrates that a course can be steered between these unpalatable alternatives but explains why, for deep and principled reasons, philosophical satisfaction demands their combination.”
— Sebastian Gardner, University College London
“Pippin has long been a leading voice in the history of philosophy. With Interanimations, he brings his readership right into the process of philosophizing historically. The book brings together eleven chapters that engage with other important readers of some of his touchstone historical philosophers (notably Hegel, Nietzsche, Kant). It thereby advances debates with prominent thinkers like McDowell, Brandom, Nehamas, Williams, Heidegger, and MacIntyre. But its real stakes are still larger: Pippin’s book aims to show us what it is to advance philosophy through engaging the great minds of the past—and through an ongoing conversation and argument with others doing the same. From this point of view, philosophizing historically is very much a future-oriented enterprise, addressing the foundational philosophical concerns of our culture. Every reader who cares about the problems and prospects of modernity will find stimulation, provocation, and remarkable inspiration in these pages.”
— R. Lanier Anderson, Stanford University
“In Interanimations, Pippin brings his interpretations of German philosophers into conversation with others' interpretations. . . . This book is highly recommended.”
— Choice