Interpreting the universe

"John Macmurray argued that philosophers should learn to think from the standpoint of action, which involves participation in real life, and not from the perspective of the pure thinking self for whom the world is an object. At the heart of all his work was his attempt to reverse modern philosophy's commitment to an "egocentric" starting point, with the self understood primarily as thinker withdrawn from action and participation in the world. Macmurray did not reject the work of philosophy as a reflective activity, but he tried to recast its role in the service of more fulfilling and more basic personal communion with others, with the world, and, ultimately, with God."--BOOK JACKET.