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Alienation

Rahel Jaeggi

This book reconceives alienation as the absence of a meaningful relationship to oneself and others, something that manifests itself in feelings of helplessness and the despondent acceptance of ... More

This book reconceives alienation as the absence of a meaningful relationship to oneself and others, something that manifests itself in feelings of helplessness and the despondent acceptance of ossified social roles and expectations. It draws on the Hegelian philosophical tradition, phenomenological analyses grounded in modern conceptions of agency and recent work in the analytical tradition. It notes that the Hegelian–Marxist idea of alienation fell out of favor after the post-metaphysical rejection of humanism and essentialist views of human nature. It shows how a revived approach to alienation helps critical social theory engage with phenomena such as meaninglessness, isolation, and indifference. By severing alienation's link to a problematic conception of human essence while retaining its social-philosophical content, the book provides resources for a renewed critique of social pathologies, which is a much-neglected concern in contemporary liberal political philosophy. The work revisits the arguments of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Søren Kierkegaard, and Martin Heidegger, placing them in dialogue with Thomas Nagel, Bernard Williams, and Charles Taylor.Less

Cut of the Real: Subjectivity in Poststructuralist Philosophy

Katerina Kolozova

This book reclaims the relevance of categories traditionally rendered “unthinkable” by postmodern feminist philosophies, such as “the real,” “the one,” “the limit,” and “finality,” thus critically ... More

This book reclaims the relevance of categories traditionally rendered “unthinkable” by postmodern feminist philosophies, such as “the real,” “the one,” “the limit,” and “finality,” thus critically repositioning poststructuralist feminist philosophy and gender/queer studies. It follows François Laruelle's nonstandard philosophy and the work of Judith Butler, Drucilla Cornell, Luce Irigaray, and Rosi Braidotti. It argues that poststructuralist (feminist) theory sees the subject as a purely linguistic category, as multiple, nonfixed, and fluctuating, as something for limitless discursivity and as constitutively detached from the instance of the real. It goes on to argue that this re-conceptualization is based on the exclusion of and dichotomous opposition to notions of the real, the one (unity and continuity) and the stable. It makes the case that the non-philosophical reading of postructuralist philosophy engenders new forms of universalisms for global debate and action, and that these can be expressed in a language the world can understand. It also liberates theory from ideological paralysis, recasting the real as an immediately experienced human condition determined by gender, race, and social and economic circumstances.Less

The Fate of Wonder: Wittgenstein's Critique of Metaphysics and Modernity

Kevin Cahill

This book reclaims one of Ludwig Wittgenstein's most passionately pursued endeavors: to reawaken a sense of wonder around human life and language and its mysterious place in the world. Following the ... More

This book reclaims one of Ludwig Wittgenstein's most passionately pursued endeavors: to reawaken a sense of wonder around human life and language and its mysterious place in the world. Following the philosopher's spiritual and cultural criticism and tying it more tightly to the overall evolution of his thought, the book frames an original interpretation of Wittgenstein's engagement with Western metaphysics and modernity, better contextualizing the force of his work. It synthesizes several approaches to Wittgenstein's life and thought. It stresses the nontheoretical aspirations of the philosopher's early and later writings, combining key elements from the so-called resolute readings of the Tractatus with the “therapeutic” readings of Philosophical Investigations. It shows how continuity in Wittgenstein's cultural and spiritual concerns informed if not guided his work between these texts, and in the reading of the Tractatus, the book identifies surprising affinities with Martin Heidegger's Being and Time—a text rarely associated with Wittgenstein's early formulations. In his effort to recapture wonder, Wittgenstein both avoided and undermined traditional philosophy's reliance on theory. As the author relates the steps of this bold endeavor, he forms his own innovative, analytical methods, joining historicist and contextualist approaches to text-based, immanent readings.Less

Ibn Sina's Remarks and Admonitions: Physics and Metaphysics: An Analysis and Annotated Translation

Al-Ishārāt wal-Tanbīhāt (Remarks and Admonitions) is one of the most mature and comprehensive philosophical works by Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980–1037). Grounded in an exploration of logic (which Ibn Sina ... More

Al-Ishārāt wal-Tanbīhāt (Remarks and Admonitions) is one of the most mature and comprehensive philosophical works by Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980–1037). Grounded in an exploration of logic (which Ibn Sina described as the gate to knowledge) and happiness (the ultimate human goal), the text illuminates the divine, the human being, and the nature of things through a wide-ranging discussion of topics. The sections of Physics and Metaphysics deal with the nature of bodies and souls as well as existence, creation, and knowledge. Especially important are Ibn Sina's views of God's knowledge of particulars, which generated much controversy in medieval Islamic and Christian philosophical and theological circles and provoked a strong rejection by eleventh-century philosopher al-Ghazali. This book provides the first annotated English translation of Physics and Metaphysics and edits the original Arabic text on which the translation is based. It begins with a detailed analysis of the text, followed by a translation of the three classes or groups of ideas in the Physics (On the Substance of Bodies, On the Directions and Their Primary and Secondary Bodies, and On the Terrestrial and Celestial Souls) and the four in the Metaphysics (On Existence and Its Causes, Creation Ex Nihilo and Immediate Creation, On Ends, on Their Principles, and on the Arrangement [of Existence], and On Abstraction. The Metaphysics closes with a significant discussion of the concepts of providence, good, and evil, which Ibn Sina uses to introduce a theodicy.Less

Of Reality: The Purposes of Philosophy

Gianni Vattimo and Robert T. Valgenti

We think it is wise to accept reality, rather than fight for something that does not exist or might never be. But in Of Reality, Gianni Vattimo condemns this complacency, with its implicit support of ... More

We think it is wise to accept reality, rather than fight for something that does not exist or might never be. But in Of Reality, Gianni Vattimo condemns this complacency, with its implicit support of the status quo. Instead he urges us to never stop questioning, contrasting, or overcoming reality, which is not natural, inevitable, or objective. Reality is a construct, reflecting, among other things, our greed, biases, and tendencies toward violence. It is no accident, Vattimo argues, that the call to embrace reality has emerged at a time when the inequalities of liberal capitalism are at their most extreme. Developed from his popular Gifford Lectures, this book advances a critical approach that recovers our interpretive powers and native skepticism toward normative claims. Though he recognizes his ideas invite charges of relativism, the philosopher counters with a discussion of truth, highlighting its longstanding ties to history and social circumstance. Truth is always contingent and provisional, and reason and reasonableness are bound to historical context. Truth is therefore never objective, and resistance to reality is our best hope to defeat the indifference that threatens the scope of freedom and democracy.Less

Self-Consciousness and the Critique of the Subject: Hegel, Heidegger, and the Poststructuralists

Simon Lumsden

Poststructuralists hold Hegel responsible for giving rise to many of modern philosophy’s problematic concepts-the authority of reason, self-consciousness, the knowing subject. Yet, according to this ... More

Poststructuralists hold Hegel responsible for giving rise to many of modern philosophy’s problematic concepts-the authority of reason, self-consciousness, the knowing subject. Yet, according to this book, this animosity is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of Hegel’s thought, and resolving this tension can not only heal the rift between poststructuralism and German idealism but also point these traditions in exciting new directions. Revisiting the philosopher’s key texts, the book calls attention to Hegel’s reformulation of liberal and Cartesian conceptions of subjectivity, identifying a critical though unrecognized continuity between poststructuralism and German idealism. Poststructuralism forged its identity in opposition to idealist subjectivity; however, the book argues this model is not found in Hegel’s texts but in an uncritical acceptance of Heidegger’s characterization of Hegel and Fichte as “metaphysicians of subjectivity.” Recasting Hegel as both post-Kantian and postmetaphysical, it sheds new light on this complex philosopher while revealing the surprising affinities between two supposedly antithetical modes of thought.Less

Situating Existentialism: Key Texts in Context

Robert Bernasconi and Jonathan Judaken (eds)

This book provides a history of the systemization and canonization of existentialism, a quintessentially antisystemic mode of thought. Situating existentialism within the history of ideas, it ... More

This book provides a history of the systemization and canonization of existentialism, a quintessentially antisystemic mode of thought. Situating existentialism within the history of ideas, it features new readings on the most influential works in the existential canon, exploring their formative contexts and the cultural dialogues of which they were a part. Emphasizing the multidisciplinary and global nature of existential arguments, the chosen texts relate to philosophy, religion, literature, theater, and culture; and reflect European, Russian, Latin American, African, and American strains of thought. Readings are grouped into three thematic categories: national contexts, existentialism and religion, and transcultural migrations that explore the reception of existentialism. The book explains how literary giants such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy were incorporated into the existentialist fold and how inclusion into the canon recast the work of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, and it describes the roles played by Karl Jaspers and Martin Heidegger in Germany and the Paris School of existentialism in France. Chapters address not only frequently assigned works but also underappreciated discoveries, underscoring their vital relevance to contemporary critical debate. Designed to speak to a new generation’s concerns, the book deploys a diverse range of voices to interrogate the fundamental questions of the human condition.Less

Theory of Identities

François Laruelle

François Laruelle proposes a theory of identity rooted in scientific notions of symmetry and chaos, emancipating thought from the philosophical paradigm of Being and reconnecting it with the real ... More

François Laruelle proposes a theory of identity rooted in scientific notions of symmetry and chaos, emancipating thought from the philosophical paradigm of Being and reconnecting it with the real world. Unlike most contemporary philosophers, Laruelle does not believe language, history, and the world shape identity but that identity determines our relation to these phenomena. Both critical and constructivist, Theory of Identities finds fault with contemporary philosophy’s reductive relation to science and its attachment to notions of singularity, difference, and multiplicity, which extends this crude approach. Laruelle’s new theory of science, its objects, and philosophy, introduces an original vocabulary to elaborate the concepts of determination, fractality, and artificial philosophy, among other ideas, grounded in an understanding of the renewal of identity. Laruelle’s work repairs the rift between philosophical and scientific inquiry and rehabilitates the concept of identity that continental philosophers have widely criticized. His argument positions him clearly against Deleuze, Badiou, the new materialists, and other thinkers who stray too far from empirical approaches that might revitalize philosophy’s practical applications.Less

Under Suspicion: A Phenomenology of Media

Boris Groys

The public generally regards the media with suspicion and distrust. Therefore, the media's primary concern is to regain that trust through the production of sincerity. Advancing the field of media ... More

The public generally regards the media with suspicion and distrust. Therefore, the media's primary concern is to regain that trust through the production of sincerity. Advancing the field of media studies in a new way, this book focuses on the media's affect of sincerity and its manufacture of trust to appease skeptics. This book identifies forms of medial sincerity and its effect on politics, culture, society, and conceptions of the self. It relies on different philosophical writings thematizing the gaze of the other, from the theories of Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Marcel Mauss, and George Bataille to the poststructuralist formulations of Jacques Lacan and Jacques Derrida. It also considers media “states of exception” and their creation of effects of sincerity—a strategy that feeds the media's predilection for the extraordinary and the sensational, further fueling the public's suspicions. Emphasizing the media's production of emotion over the presentation (or lack thereof) of “facts,” the book launches a study challenging the presumed authenticity of the media's worldview.Less