Cavell's work
Stanley Cavell is best known for his work on American philosophy, literature and film. A major part of his work focuses on the themes of skepticism, ordinary language philosophy, romanticism and oppositional forms of modernity. Specifically, in his book The Claim of Reason (1979), he explored the implications of skepticism for philosophy and morality. In this work, he argued that the philosophical project of finding certainty in ethics and metaphysics is ultimately pointless as there can never be certainty. He also makes connections between skepticism, romanticism and modernist poetry. In his later work, Philosophy the Day After Tomorrow (2005), Cavell further developed his ideas on language, skepticism and romanticism by including discussions of Wittgenstein, Emerson, Austin and others. His work in this book focuses on the idea of creating a unique language of modernity that would be capable of responding to present-day problems. His work on film is perhaps best known through his blog written for the Criterion Collection, in which he explored the way film can open up the inner life of an individual, thereby giving the audience an experience of philosophical encounter. Themes of skepticism, modern identity, and avant-garde filmmaking are addressed in this work.