German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
This is a brief response to comments by Struan Jacobs and Peter Blum on The Calling of Social Thought, Rediscovering the Work of Edward Shils, a recent collection of essays edited by Christopher Adair-Toteff and Stephen Turner. It identifies a distinctive contribution of Shils to the larger problem of the tacit.
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
In light of the mandate of social distancing imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the subsequent disruption in habitual practices involving physical contact, the essay explores the ancient gesture of the handshake with reference to both its cultural codifications and its iconography, widespread especially in Mediterranean and Near Eastern areas. While involving manifold semantic and symbolic significance, the handshake is taken into account especially as a gesture implying a tactile exposure to another, hinting at the possibility of joining radically discontinuous (...) worlds. Ancient Greek funerary art is considered and a few final remarks return to the experience of isolation we lived on a global scale in recent years. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
By putting forward the notions of “eco-sensibilities” and “eco-permeable relationalities,” this paper explores a non-instrumentalizing mode of relation with the “non-human.” On this basis, it shows the possibility of affectively disempowering the hold of “ecological indifference” as Nancy Tuana describes it. It focuses on “animal becoming” and “elemental architecture” as “eco-sensibilities” that effect such a disempowerment.
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
Symptomatic of the crisis of the current global political order are the millions of displaced that have fled their homes but are not allowed to enter the country in which they seek refuge. Instead, they are placed in camps. To understand the site of the camp and the bare life it produces, testimonies of refugees are indispensable. This essay aims to examine and listen to these testimonies by, first, introducing the notion of testimony and some of the characteristics of the (...) testimony of refugees; second, examining what it means to listen to testimony and which role is played therein by the narrative, literary structure of testimony; and, third, by interpreting the form of life to which the testimonies of the camp attest, which several witnesses describe as a life in “limbo.” This essay concludes with some brief remarks on the relation between experience, truth, and language in testimony. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
This paper proposes to reflect self-critically on an ongoing research project entitled “Grammars of listening,” which started as a philosophical approach to the question of listening at the site of trauma and the challenges this kind of listening poses to our conceptions of memory and history, and has recently shifted to asking about the possible limitations to such a reflection when confronted with a decolonial perspective on temporality. I start by presenting a conceptual background for my inquiry, and asking what (...) kind of listening is required when trauma is considered as a colonizing form of violence – that is, when its effects are not only understood as an assault on life but on the conditions of production of sense that make life legible. Following the kind of challenges that such an understanding of trauma poses to the responsibility to listen to its testimony, the paper moves on to propose that only a decolonial approach to listening can truly do justice to the task of rendering testimonies of traumatic violence audible. By decolonizing the frameworks that organize and determine colonial and colonizing distributions of sense, I propose that grammars of lo inaudito understood as decolonial grammars contribute to resisting and disorganizing the criteria for legibility and audibility that colonizing forms of violence not only institute but constantly actualize in their attempt to perpetuate their silencing power.1. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
This paper examines the figure of silence in the works of Michel Serres and Simone Weil. It argues that, in the spirit of Serres and Weil, our time of crisis calls not for a short-term response, but for long-term engagement in a dialectics of silence: the dialogical movement between the silencing of institutions and the attentive silence of visionary insights. Such dialectics can revalidate the value of institutional silencing if based on solid rational proof while simultaneously showing the value of (...) visionary ideas that rightfully combat problematic institutional silencing. Especially in this current moment, in which science and scientific propositions are relentlessly questioned, there is a need to lean into silence so as to promote a productive dialogue that regains trust in proven scientific ideas and institutions while allowing visionary insights their place as well, provided that we are willing to test them. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
Thirty years ago, Fukuyama announced the end of history in the form of the triumph of liberal democracy and free markets. Crises were going to be something of the past. Today, crises abound. Does this mean that the eschatology of the 1980s and 90s should give way to a crisology? Given the many ways in which the vocabulary of crisis is used, and crises are instrumentalized, can the word crisis become a rigorous philosophical concept? In this essay, I analyze the (...) extent to which, and contexts in which, philosophy has claimed crisis as a central concept ; offer a tentative typology of crisis in relation to the problem of normativity ; conclude with a few remarks on critique as the philosophy of crisis. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
The articles in this special issue of the Journal of Speculative Philosophy were selected from revised versions of papers that were originally presented at the fifty-ninth annual meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy in September 2021. This virtual conference took place on September 17–18 and 23–26 after the cancellation of the 2020 conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Bonnie Honig and Mel Y. Chen gave the SPEP 2021 Plenary Addresses and we are grateful to be able to include (...) Honig's plenary, "Taking Back the Camera: Race and Agonism in Mr. Deeds and The Fits" in this special issue. Thinking both with and against Stanley Cavell's and Giorgio Agamben's respective readings of... (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT This article formulates the “enigma of time” as the paradoxical compatibility between the apparent completeness of a temporal object’s presence and the actual incompleteness of its manifestation. Proceeding with the methodological assumption that this paradox cannot be “solved” by positing an atemporal foundation, I point to a constant risk in Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology that the temporality of temporal phenomena is traced to an atemporal activity arranging equally atemporal contents—and thereby is explained away rather than explained. The risk was already (...) recognizable in the “schematic model” of apprehension, and it persisted in the foundationalist interpretation of “absolute time-consciousness.” By contrast, I suggest a hermeneutics that takes time seriously, which comprehends the paradox and make it the productive core of philosophizing. Only in this way can time cease to be a petrifying impasse and instead redefine the landscape of philosophy. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT This article argues that Hegel’s speculative logic has an essentially rhythmic structure. Rhythm shows up in paragraphs 56–61 of the Preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit, where Hegel introduces the speculative proposition and explains his speculative logic. The article begins by analyzing some critical sections in the Preface to show how rhythm secures the formal passage of the subject into the predicate within the speculative proposition. Then, I briefly explore how Hegel’s speculative logic gets taken up in the writings (...) of Gadamer and Nancy to show how each of these thinkers renews the rhythm of Hegel’s speculative logic in their own appropriations of it. The article concludes by extending the scope of speculation, taking it from the proposition to non-propositional forms of expression, and then finally to the sensible world. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT With the aim of showing what it takes to see the world and others as they are, this article provides a phenomenological account of what Iris Murdoch has memorably called “the work of attention.” I first show that Aron Gurwitsch’s analyses of attention provide a basis on which to reject a voluntaristic account of attention according to which seeing things as they are is as simple as directing one’s attention to something. Then, in order to elucidate the work that (...) is involved in paying attention, I draw on Edmund Husserl’s descriptions of the activity characteristic of attentive consciousness. I then show how a Husserlian account of the work of attention can help make sense of Murdoch’s pessimistic claim that our consciousness is not “a transparent glass through which it views the world” while also indicating how we, by paying attention, can do better. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT This article examines East Asian as well as Western perspectives on the major metaphilosophical question: Is philosophy Western? Along with European philosophy, in the late nineteenth century the Japanese imported what can be called “philosophical Euromonopolism,” namely, the idea that philosophy is found exclusively in the Western tradition. However, some modern Japanese philosophers, and the majority of modern Chinese and Korean philosophers, have referred to some of their traditional Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist discourses as “philosophy.” This article discusses debates (...) in East Asia as well as in the United States and Europe over the discipline-defining question of whether the academic field of philosophy should include Asian and other non-Western traditions of profound and rigorous—even if methodologically as well as conceptually unfamiliar—thinking about fundamental matters. It argues that, henceforth, the field of philosophy should be conceived as dialogically cross-cultural rather than as exclusively Western. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT In this article I extend Gilles Deleuze’s understanding of sense, as developed in Logic of Sense, by developing a metaphysics of problems. In doing this, we can appreciate the role Hume’s philosophy plays in Deleuze’s thought, and most importantly how we can understand sense in the context of making sense of life. With this perspective in place, we compare Deleuze’s project with Pierre Bourdieu’s and, finally, apply the notion of making sense to the history of the emergence of capitalism. (...) With this discussion of the history of capitalism, we see how Deleuze draws from both Hume and Marx, or, in short, we sketch a Deleuzo-Humean political theory. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT In this article I challenge a common reading of Benedict de Spinoza’s political philosophy, which holds that since his metaphysics is entirely positive or affirmative, his politics must be affirmative as well. In the first part, I show how this interpretation is found in the works of Gilles Deleuze and Antonio Negri. In the second part, I show that the negative has no ontological reality in Spinoza’s metaphysics. In the third, building on the work of Alexandre Matheron, I show (...) that there is nevertheless real and unavoidable negativity in Spinozist politics, and that according to Spinoza, sad passions and repression must lie at the heart of any political society. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT Between the first two Critiques, Kant wrote what he called a “conjectural history” of the development of human freedom through a reading of Genesis. In the essay, reason itself is conceived of in terms of its “genesis,” and Kant primarily reads “Genesis” as an account of reason’s ascension or becoming. Just as humankind becomes itself through the Fall, so too does reason simultaneously come into its own. Adam indeed acts as a template for the conception of moral agency that (...) Kant will go on to develop in much more detail in the second critique. More significantly, however, as I argue below, the “genesis” and ascension of reason is only made possible through Eve’s covering up of herself. I argue that the act naturalizes both shame and clothing onto a feminine body conceived as un-reasonable. It is against this foil of unreason that reason is able to reach its own heights. I argue that Kant’s reading of Genesis in the “Conjectures” naturalizes women and clothing as superfluous: to humankind and to the ascent of reason alike. However, their function as the condition of possibility for Kant’s own system will show that they are anything but superfluous. Rather, they are essential. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT This article offers an account of cis sense in order to draw attention to the relation between meaning-making and cisnormativity. By drawing on Merleau-Ponty’s notion of institution and phenomenological considerations of habit, it is argued that cis sense is a mode of perception that institutes and sediments an individual and social habit of the third-person conferral of gender that occludes gender variance and creates the social conditions necessary for transphobia. This consideration of cis sense challenges the mainstream conception of (...) cis as an identity category, highlighting instead that it is a habitual disposition, and gestures to the significance of trans sense as an alternative institution of gendered meaning. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT The Marquis de Sade’s Juliette—well-known as an outrageously murderous, hedonistic anti-heroine—captured the attention of some of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. Most of these engagements with Sade have received some critical attention. However, Foucault’s distinctive remarks on Juliette in The Order of Things have gone overlooked. I situate Foucault’s interpretation of Juliette alongside and against Adorno’s and Lacan’s: exploring his positioning of her as a liminal figure, situated in the Classical age on the cusp of modernity, (...) and his allusion to the way in which her “solitary—and endless” “prosperities” exceed our grasp. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT Drawing upon Edmund Husserl’s concept of the natural attitude, our taken-for-granted understandings of what is normal, natural, and what should be the case, I argue that when one’s everyday routines are radically disrupted in a sustained way, as has happened with the COVID-19 global pandemic, adjustments are also needed in our natural attitudes so that the latter accurately reflect our actual situation. And yet, the tendency to resist altering one’s natural attitude in response to major changes in one’s life (...) is very strong, as we see with Gregor Samsa in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Vashti in E. M. Forster’s story, “The Machine Stops.” Both characters, I suggest, offer important cautionary tales as we assess the impact of the “new normal” that has come to characterize daily existence during a global pandemic as well as nostalgic appeals to return, as quickly as possible, to the “old normal” of our pre-pandemic lives. This critical analysis is an especially urgent task given the fact that this pre-pandemic normal was clearly not as positive an experience for some people as for others. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT In this article I read Freud’s theory of dream condensation alongside Blanchot and Derrida’s analysis of the literary fragment. Both these thinkers describe how an imperturbable secret provides an excess that calls out for a response. I thus analyze the structure of dream interpretation as one where the latent dream thoughts respond to a call imbedded in the condensed dream-content. Through a deconstructive reading of Freud and a quote by Nietzsche, I argue that the structure of this call is (...) the condensation of the secret, which is both a mark and occurrence of forgetting. (shrink)
German Idealism  Johann Gottlieb Fichte  G. W. F. Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Friedrich Schelling  Arthur Schopenhauer  German Idealism, Misc
Critical Theory  Theodor W. Adorno  Jürgen Habermas  Max Horkheimer  Walter Benjamin  Critical Theory, Misc
Continental Philosophy: Topics  Continental Ethics  Continental Aesthetics  Continental Philosophy of Mind  Continental Epistemology  Continental Metaphysics  Continental Philosophy of Language  Continental Philosophy of Religion  Continental Philosophy of Science  Continental Political Philosophy  Continental Philosophy: Topics, Misc
ABSTRACT In Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Stanley Cavell says, the film camera, a “somatogram,” reads fits and fidgets as a post-Cartesian cogito of embodied thinking. Giorgio Agamben sees the cameras of motion studies at Salpêtrière in the 1880s as dehumanizing normalizers of gesture, but Georges Didi-Huberman claims that what they recorded as hysteria was solicited by them and sometimes refused. Which is it? Does the camera humanize, normalize, or solicit gesture? I consider the question with Anna Rose (...) Holmer’s The Fits. Like Mr. Deeds, The Fits foregrounds non-sovereign body movements, but its protagonist, Toni, agonistically engages the camera’s gaze, extracting from it the respect she deserves. I argue that Toni may be seen as responding to Salpêtrière, and also to Thomas Eakins, in whose attic, in the 1880s, a young Black girl was photographed naked, on a couch. Is her stare a refusal of the white gaze or a coerced pose? Toni’s own stare suggests she avenges such historic wrongs in acts of cinematic agonism. In The Fits, the camera that might have been Toni’s reader/partner, betrayer, or groomer becomes a mystical mechanism of remediation and Toni, the ghost in its machine. (shrink)