The title of this book invites the question “what makes a metaphysical club real?” Overthinkers like myself may wonder whether metaphysical clubs can partake of varying degrees of reality or whether the distinction is, more likely, one between imposters and the genuine article. It only heightens the curiosity to read, in the general introduction to the book, that metaphysical clubs both preceded and followed the so-called “real” one and that the real one was itself divided into two phases. Given, then, that there appear to have been more than one actual metaphysical club, what is the point of characterizing the subject of this anthology as real?
The Real Metaphysical Club focuses entirely and thoroughly on the club that met in Cambridge, MA, from 1872 to 1879 and that was made famous by Louis Menand in his book The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America (New York:...
