Morwenna Ludlow
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199280766
- eISBN:
- 9780191712906
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280766.003.0016
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter presents an overview of Part IV of the book, which extends the discussion of Gregory of Nyssa's concept of epektasis which was begun in Chapter 7. From the perspective of theologians of ...
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This chapter presents an overview of Part IV of the book, which extends the discussion of Gregory of Nyssa's concept of epektasis which was begun in Chapter 7. From the perspective of theologians of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, who frequently question previous assumptions about the nature of theology and its relation to contemporary culture, the writings of Gregory are very interesting and attractive: not only did he write about the nature of God and the difficulty of knowing God, but he also wrote about the nature of language (both religious and non-religious) and its implications for the writing of theology. Furthermore, he, along with the other Cappadocian fathers, is quite clearly in his writings trying to negotiate a place for Christian theology in the late antique world: he develops various genres of theological writing, and thinks about the arenas of theological reflection and Christian action (monasteries and every day life). To him, the questions of what theology is and how it should be done are very live. The chapters in this part of the book focus on two readings of Gregory (from Scot Douglass and John Milbank) which set him alongside, or in the context of, writers such as Heidegger, Derrida, and Jean-Luc Marion.Less
This chapter presents an overview of Part IV of the book, which extends the discussion of Gregory of Nyssa's concept of epektasis which was begun in Chapter 7. From the perspective of theologians of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, who frequently question previous assumptions about the nature of theology and its relation to contemporary culture, the writings of Gregory are very interesting and attractive: not only did he write about the nature of God and the difficulty of knowing God, but he also wrote about the nature of language (both religious and non-religious) and its implications for the writing of theology. Furthermore, he, along with the other Cappadocian fathers, is quite clearly in his writings trying to negotiate a place for Christian theology in the late antique world: he develops various genres of theological writing, and thinks about the arenas of theological reflection and Christian action (monasteries and every day life). To him, the questions of what theology is and how it should be done are very live. The chapters in this part of the book focus on two readings of Gregory (from Scot Douglass and John Milbank) which set him alongside, or in the context of, writers such as Heidegger, Derrida, and Jean-Luc Marion.
Paul Crowther
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199244973
- eISBN:
- 9780191697425
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199244973.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
Critical Aesthetics and Postmodernism (Clarendon Press, 1993) argued that art and aesthetic experiences have the capacity to humanize. In this book, the author develops this theme in ...
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Critical Aesthetics and Postmodernism (Clarendon Press, 1993) argued that art and aesthetic experiences have the capacity to humanize. In this book, the author develops this theme in much greater depth, arguing that art can bridge the gap between philosophy's traditional striving for generality and completeness, and the concreteness and contingency of humanity's basic relation to the world. As the key element in his theory, he proposes an ecological definition of art. His strategy involves first mapping out and analysing the logical boundaries and ontological structures of the aesthetic domain. He then considers key concepts from this analysis in the light of a tradition in Continental philosophy (notably the work of Kant, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Hegel) which — by virtue of the philosophical significance that it assigns to art — significantly anticipates the ecological conception. On this basis the author is able to give a full formulation of his ecological definition. Art, in making sensible or imaginative material into symbolic form, harmonizes and conserves what is unique and what is general in human experience. The aesthetic domain answers basic needs intrinsic to self-consciousness itself, and art is the highest realization of such needs. In the creation and reception of art the embodied subject is fully at home with his or her environment.Less
Critical Aesthetics and Postmodernism (Clarendon Press, 1993) argued that art and aesthetic experiences have the capacity to humanize. In this book, the author develops this theme in much greater depth, arguing that art can bridge the gap between philosophy's traditional striving for generality and completeness, and the concreteness and contingency of humanity's basic relation to the world. As the key element in his theory, he proposes an ecological definition of art. His strategy involves first mapping out and analysing the logical boundaries and ontological structures of the aesthetic domain. He then considers key concepts from this analysis in the light of a tradition in Continental philosophy (notably the work of Kant, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Hegel) which — by virtue of the philosophical significance that it assigns to art — significantly anticipates the ecological conception. On this basis the author is able to give a full formulation of his ecological definition. Art, in making sensible or imaginative material into symbolic form, harmonizes and conserves what is unique and what is general in human experience. The aesthetic domain answers basic needs intrinsic to self-consciousness itself, and art is the highest realization of such needs. In the creation and reception of art the embodied subject is fully at home with his or her environment.
J. J. Valberg
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198242918
- eISBN:
- 9780191680625
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198242918.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics/Epistemology
If we reason in a certain way about our experience, we are driven to the conclusion that what is present to us — the object of our experience — is something that exists only in so far as it is ...
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If we reason in a certain way about our experience, we are driven to the conclusion that what is present to us — the object of our experience — is something that exists only in so far as it is present, hence that it is not part of the world. If, on the other hand, we simply open up to our experience, all we find is the world. This book sets out both to explain why we are entangled in this puzzle and to consider ways of solving it. In examining the puzzle, and possible solutions to it, this book discusses relevant views of Hume, Kant, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, and Strawson, as well as ideas from the recent philosophy of perception. Finally, it describes and analyses a manifestation of the puzzle outside philosophy, in everyday experience.Less
If we reason in a certain way about our experience, we are driven to the conclusion that what is present to us — the object of our experience — is something that exists only in so far as it is present, hence that it is not part of the world. If, on the other hand, we simply open up to our experience, all we find is the world. This book sets out both to explain why we are entangled in this puzzle and to consider ways of solving it. In examining the puzzle, and possible solutions to it, this book discusses relevant views of Hume, Kant, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, and Strawson, as well as ideas from the recent philosophy of perception. Finally, it describes and analyses a manifestation of the puzzle outside philosophy, in everyday experience.
John Richardson
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198239222
- eISBN:
- 9780191598319
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019823922X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
I develop a Heideggerian response to the central traditional problem in epistemology—whether we can have (objective) knowledge of the external world. I introduce the main philosophical terms and ...
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I develop a Heideggerian response to the central traditional problem in epistemology—whether we can have (objective) knowledge of the external world. I introduce the main philosophical terms and claims of Being and Time, and try to use this system to amplify the book's brief and elusive treatments of that problem. Because Heidegger's early system is crucially ‘existential’, it gives a critique of epistemology from an existential stance—or an existential epistemology. This critique claims to ‘dissolve’ or ‘undermine’ that traditional problem, by showing how it is misguided or misformed. Heidegger's ultimate argument is that the problem rests on a mistake about time, or about the temporal character of reality, and of humans—Dasein—in particular. Heidegger thinks this mistake infects not just epistemology, but our whole theoretical stance, how we try to go beyond our ‘everyday’, pre‐theoretical understanding. But his point is not to return us to that ‘everydayness’, but to improve our thinking by turning it into a ‘phenomenology’, which—by Heidegger's existential twist—amounts to the same thing as authenticity. My three chapters focus respectively on these three basic stances—everydayness, epistemology, and phenomenology.Less
I develop a Heideggerian response to the central traditional problem in epistemology—whether we can have (objective) knowledge of the external world. I introduce the main philosophical terms and claims of Being and Time, and try to use this system to amplify the book's brief and elusive treatments of that problem. Because Heidegger's early system is crucially ‘existential’, it gives a critique of epistemology from an existential stance—or an existential epistemology. This critique claims to ‘dissolve’ or ‘undermine’ that traditional problem, by showing how it is misguided or misformed. Heidegger's ultimate argument is that the problem rests on a mistake about time, or about the temporal character of reality, and of humans—Dasein—in particular. Heidegger thinks this mistake infects not just epistemology, but our whole theoretical stance, how we try to go beyond our ‘everyday’, pre‐theoretical understanding. But his point is not to return us to that ‘everydayness’, but to improve our thinking by turning it into a ‘phenomenology’, which—by Heidegger's existential twist—amounts to the same thing as authenticity. My three chapters focus respectively on these three basic stances—everydayness, epistemology, and phenomenology.
Denis McManus
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199694877
- eISBN:
- 9780191745706
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199694877.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Heidegger's early ‘fundamental ontology’ offers a vision of our subjectivity and of the world we inhabit that can appear to be simply truer to life. It allows us to understand the creature that ...
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Heidegger's early ‘fundamental ontology’ offers a vision of our subjectivity and of the world we inhabit that can appear to be simply truer to life. It allows us to understand the creature that thinks as also one which acts, moves, even touches the world around it — a creature at home in the same ordinary world in which we too live our lives when outside of the philosophical closet. It also promises to free us from seemingly intractable philosophical problems, such as scepticism about the external world. But many of the concepts central to that vision are elusive; and some of the most widely accepted interpretations of Heidegger's vision harbour within themselves deep and important unclarities, while others foist upon us hopeless species of idealism. This book offers a new way of understanding that vision. Drawing on an examination of Heidegger's work throughout the 1920s, it takes as central to that vision the proposals that propositional thought presupposes a mastery of what might be called a ‘measure’, and that mastery of such a ‘measure’ requires a recognizably ‘worldly’ subject. These insights provide the basis for a novel reading of key elements of Heidegger's ‘fundamental ontology’, including his concept of ‘Being-in-the-world’, his critique of scepticism, his claim to disavow both realism and idealism, and his difficult reflections on the nature of truth, science, authenticity, and philosophy itself. According to this interpretation, Heidegger's central ideas identify genuine demands that we must meet if we are to achieve the feat of thinking determinate thoughts about the world around us.Less
Heidegger's early ‘fundamental ontology’ offers a vision of our subjectivity and of the world we inhabit that can appear to be simply truer to life. It allows us to understand the creature that thinks as also one which acts, moves, even touches the world around it — a creature at home in the same ordinary world in which we too live our lives when outside of the philosophical closet. It also promises to free us from seemingly intractable philosophical problems, such as scepticism about the external world. But many of the concepts central to that vision are elusive; and some of the most widely accepted interpretations of Heidegger's vision harbour within themselves deep and important unclarities, while others foist upon us hopeless species of idealism. This book offers a new way of understanding that vision. Drawing on an examination of Heidegger's work throughout the 1920s, it takes as central to that vision the proposals that propositional thought presupposes a mastery of what might be called a ‘measure’, and that mastery of such a ‘measure’ requires a recognizably ‘worldly’ subject. These insights provide the basis for a novel reading of key elements of Heidegger's ‘fundamental ontology’, including his concept of ‘Being-in-the-world’, his critique of scepticism, his claim to disavow both realism and idealism, and his difficult reflections on the nature of truth, science, authenticity, and philosophy itself. According to this interpretation, Heidegger's central ideas identify genuine demands that we must meet if we are to achieve the feat of thinking determinate thoughts about the world around us.
Claudio Ciborra
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199275267
- eISBN:
- 9780191714399
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199275267.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Information Technology
Since the second half of the 1990s, IBM has led the way in formulating and deploying an extensive new fabric of processes and tools which allows them to operate efficiently as a truly global company. ...
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Since the second half of the 1990s, IBM has led the way in formulating and deploying an extensive new fabric of processes and tools which allows them to operate efficiently as a truly global company. One such global business process has been Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which consists of an array of processes that streamline all the activities between IBM and its customers across markets, product lines, and locations. This chapter identifies some key limitations of the conventional management approaches. Heidegger's ideas on modern technology — denoted by the German word Gestell — are then used to shed new light on the essence of infrastructure.Less
Since the second half of the 1990s, IBM has led the way in formulating and deploying an extensive new fabric of processes and tools which allows them to operate efficiently as a truly global company. One such global business process has been Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which consists of an array of processes that streamline all the activities between IBM and its customers across markets, product lines, and locations. This chapter identifies some key limitations of the conventional management approaches. Heidegger's ideas on modern technology — denoted by the German word Gestell — are then used to shed new light on the essence of infrastructure.
Carl A. Raschke
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231173841
- eISBN:
- 9780231539623
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231173841.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The difference between “value of origin” and “origin of value”—is what philosophy as genealogy seeks to discern and in the process opens up an interval at a site of experience that is neither ...
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The difference between “value of origin” and “origin of value”—is what philosophy as genealogy seeks to discern and in the process opens up an interval at a site of experience that is neither conceptual nor purely “aesthetic.” We may call this interval the space of the experience of art, which allows us to intuit both the force that gives rise to the experience and the event of its formation that illumines in its plasticity. But in recognizing this moment of valuation, genealogy goes even one step further. It arrives at the threshold of establishing how force sets in motion the kind of complex value structures and value assemblages that inform the collective life of humanity. In short, it seeks to ascertain the force that constitutes the political.Less
The difference between “value of origin” and “origin of value”—is what philosophy as genealogy seeks to discern and in the process opens up an interval at a site of experience that is neither conceptual nor purely “aesthetic.” We may call this interval the space of the experience of art, which allows us to intuit both the force that gives rise to the experience and the event of its formation that illumines in its plasticity. But in recognizing this moment of valuation, genealogy goes even one step further. It arrives at the threshold of establishing how force sets in motion the kind of complex value structures and value assemblages that inform the collective life of humanity. In short, it seeks to ascertain the force that constitutes the political.
John T. Hamilton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157528
- eISBN:
- 9781400846474
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157528.003.0014
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter begins by discussing Heidegger's thoughts on security. For Heidegger notions of security should be treated with utmost caution. If human being is a manifestation of Being—Being as Time, ...
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This chapter begins by discussing Heidegger's thoughts on security. For Heidegger notions of security should be treated with utmost caution. If human being is a manifestation of Being—Being as Time, self-disclosing and self-concealing—then any project designed to contain Being or evade its destabilizing call would be a failure in thinking. The chapter then turns to Carl Schmitt and the ambivalence of security that underlies his political theorizations. On the surface, Schmitt's much discussed notions of sovereignty, the exception, and decisionism reflect a committed belief in the primacy of state safety classically expressed in the Ciceronian formula salus populi suprema lex—“The safety of the people is the highest law.” However, Schmitt at times challenges this prioritization of security, whose privative force, in his view, tends to become manifest in the way the private sphere dangerously impinges upon state policy.Less
This chapter begins by discussing Heidegger's thoughts on security. For Heidegger notions of security should be treated with utmost caution. If human being is a manifestation of Being—Being as Time, self-disclosing and self-concealing—then any project designed to contain Being or evade its destabilizing call would be a failure in thinking. The chapter then turns to Carl Schmitt and the ambivalence of security that underlies his political theorizations. On the surface, Schmitt's much discussed notions of sovereignty, the exception, and decisionism reflect a committed belief in the primacy of state safety classically expressed in the Ciceronian formula salus populi suprema lex—“The safety of the people is the highest law.” However, Schmitt at times challenges this prioritization of security, whose privative force, in his view, tends to become manifest in the way the private sphere dangerously impinges upon state policy.
George Pattison
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199588688
- eISBN:
- 9780191723339
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588688.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Western theology has long regarded ‘Being’ as a category pre-eminently applicable to God, the supreme Being who is also the source of all existence. This idea was challenged in the later philosophy ...
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Western theology has long regarded ‘Being’ as a category pre-eminently applicable to God, the supreme Being who is also the source of all existence. This idea was challenged in the later philosophy of Martin Heidegger and identified with the position he called ‘onto-theology’. Heidegger's critique was repeated and radicalized in so-called postmodern thought, to the point that many theologians and philosophers of religion now want to talk instead of God as ‘beyond Being’ or ‘without Being’. Against this background, ‘God and Being’ attempts to look again at why the ideas of God and Being got associated in the first place and to investigate whether the critique of ontotheology really does require us to abandon this link. After exploring how this apparently abstract idea has informed Christian views of salvation and of the relationship between God and world, the book examines how such categories as time, space, language, human relationships and embodiment affect our understanding of God and Being. The conclusion is that whilst Heidegger's critique has considerable force, it remains legitimate to speak of God as Being under certain restricted conditions. The most important of these is that God is better conceived in terms of purely possible Being rather than (as in classic Christian theology) ‘actual’ Being. This leaves open possibilities of dialogue with, e.g., non-theistic religious traditions and with science that are foreclosed by traditional conceptions. Ultimately, however, all basic religious ideas must issue from and be seen to serve the requirements of embodied love.Less
Western theology has long regarded ‘Being’ as a category pre-eminently applicable to God, the supreme Being who is also the source of all existence. This idea was challenged in the later philosophy of Martin Heidegger and identified with the position he called ‘onto-theology’. Heidegger's critique was repeated and radicalized in so-called postmodern thought, to the point that many theologians and philosophers of religion now want to talk instead of God as ‘beyond Being’ or ‘without Being’. Against this background, ‘God and Being’ attempts to look again at why the ideas of God and Being got associated in the first place and to investigate whether the critique of ontotheology really does require us to abandon this link. After exploring how this apparently abstract idea has informed Christian views of salvation and of the relationship between God and world, the book examines how such categories as time, space, language, human relationships and embodiment affect our understanding of God and Being. The conclusion is that whilst Heidegger's critique has considerable force, it remains legitimate to speak of God as Being under certain restricted conditions. The most important of these is that God is better conceived in terms of purely possible Being rather than (as in classic Christian theology) ‘actual’ Being. This leaves open possibilities of dialogue with, e.g., non-theistic religious traditions and with science that are foreclosed by traditional conceptions. Ultimately, however, all basic religious ideas must issue from and be seen to serve the requirements of embodied love.
Juan Manuel Garrido
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780823239351
- eISBN:
- 9780823239399
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823239351.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
The unprecedented proliferation of discourses and techniques concerning the living being has left philosophy in a stupefying situation. We no longer know what phenomenon deserves to be called “life,” ...
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The unprecedented proliferation of discourses and techniques concerning the living being has left philosophy in a stupefying situation. We no longer know what phenomenon deserves to be called “life,” and we no longer know how to ask the question “what is life?” The traditional way of understanding life as self-appropriating and self-organizing process of not ceasing to be, of taking care of one's own hunger, is challenged. This challenge entails questioning fundamental concepts of metaphysical thinking, namely, time, finality, and above all being and existing. In this study, the author proposes some basics elements for the question concerning life through readings of Aristotle, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida; through the discussion of scientific breakthroughs in thermodynamics and evolutionary and developmental biology; and through the re-examination of the notion of hunger in both its metaphysical and its political implications.Less
The unprecedented proliferation of discourses and techniques concerning the living being has left philosophy in a stupefying situation. We no longer know what phenomenon deserves to be called “life,” and we no longer know how to ask the question “what is life?” The traditional way of understanding life as self-appropriating and self-organizing process of not ceasing to be, of taking care of one's own hunger, is challenged. This challenge entails questioning fundamental concepts of metaphysical thinking, namely, time, finality, and above all being and existing. In this study, the author proposes some basics elements for the question concerning life through readings of Aristotle, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida; through the discussion of scientific breakthroughs in thermodynamics and evolutionary and developmental biology; and through the re-examination of the notion of hunger in both its metaphysical and its political implications.
George Pattison
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199588688
- eISBN:
- 9780191723339
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588688.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Starting from contemporary debates about the existence of God, the Introduction argues that these would be improved by considering more closely what it might mean for God to be. Attention is drawn to ...
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Starting from contemporary debates about the existence of God, the Introduction argues that these would be improved by considering more closely what it might mean for God to be. Attention is drawn to Heidegger's critique of ontotheology and the impact this has had on postmodern philosophy of religion and theology. However, it is argued that before simply accepting that the metaphysics of Being is of no continuing value we should reflect on why Christian tradition found the linkage of ideas of God and being so compelling. These observations are followed by reflections on the general method and approach of the enquiry.Less
Starting from contemporary debates about the existence of God, the Introduction argues that these would be improved by considering more closely what it might mean for God to be. Attention is drawn to Heidegger's critique of ontotheology and the impact this has had on postmodern philosophy of religion and theology. However, it is argued that before simply accepting that the metaphysics of Being is of no continuing value we should reflect on why Christian tradition found the linkage of ideas of God and being so compelling. These observations are followed by reflections on the general method and approach of the enquiry.
Robert Rowland Smith
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748640393
- eISBN:
- 9780748671601
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640393.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book takes Freud's work on the death-drive and compares it with other philosophies of death — those of Pascal, Heidegger and Derrida in particular. It also applies it in a new way to literature ...
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This book takes Freud's work on the death-drive and compares it with other philosophies of death — those of Pascal, Heidegger and Derrida in particular. It also applies it in a new way to literature and art — to that of Shakespeare, Rothko and Katharina Fritsch, among others. The book asks whether artworks are dead or alive; if artistic creativity isn't actually a form of destruction; and whether our ability to be seduced by fine words means we don't put ourselves at risk of death. In doing so, the book proposes a new theory of aesthetics in which artworks and literary texts have a death-drive of their own, not least by their defining ability to turn away from all that is real, and where the effects of the death-drive mean that we are constantly living in imaginary, rhetorical, or ‘artistic’ worlds. The book also provides a valuable introduction to the rich tradition of work on the death-drive since Freud.Less
This book takes Freud's work on the death-drive and compares it with other philosophies of death — those of Pascal, Heidegger and Derrida in particular. It also applies it in a new way to literature and art — to that of Shakespeare, Rothko and Katharina Fritsch, among others. The book asks whether artworks are dead or alive; if artistic creativity isn't actually a form of destruction; and whether our ability to be seduced by fine words means we don't put ourselves at risk of death. In doing so, the book proposes a new theory of aesthetics in which artworks and literary texts have a death-drive of their own, not least by their defining ability to turn away from all that is real, and where the effects of the death-drive mean that we are constantly living in imaginary, rhetorical, or ‘artistic’ worlds. The book also provides a valuable introduction to the rich tradition of work on the death-drive since Freud.
Juan Manuel Garrido
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780823239351
- eISBN:
- 9780823239399
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823239351.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This introductory chapter explains the main goal of this book: to define a traditional way of thinking life and to render plausible and relevant the task of carrying out a critical enquiry concerning ...
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This introductory chapter explains the main goal of this book: to define a traditional way of thinking life and to render plausible and relevant the task of carrying out a critical enquiry concerning it. Life has been traditionally understood as the self-appropriating and self-organizing process of not ceasing to be, or, as is also said, of taking care of one's own hunger. This conceptualization entails a particular understanding of time in natural processes conerning living beings and a particular conception of the being of living beings (for instance, as the “care” of not ceasing to be). It is held that the traditional concept of life has furnished the main paradigm for the concept of being, including in Heidegger's philosophy, so that the deconstruction of the traditional understanding of life entails a deconstruction of ontology. This introductory chapter includes a description of the content of the book.Less
This introductory chapter explains the main goal of this book: to define a traditional way of thinking life and to render plausible and relevant the task of carrying out a critical enquiry concerning it. Life has been traditionally understood as the self-appropriating and self-organizing process of not ceasing to be, or, as is also said, of taking care of one's own hunger. This conceptualization entails a particular understanding of time in natural processes conerning living beings and a particular conception of the being of living beings (for instance, as the “care” of not ceasing to be). It is held that the traditional concept of life has furnished the main paradigm for the concept of being, including in Heidegger's philosophy, so that the deconstruction of the traditional understanding of life entails a deconstruction of ontology. This introductory chapter includes a description of the content of the book.
George Pattison
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199279777
- eISBN:
- 9780191603464
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199279772.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This book argues that the contemporary crisis of radical theology, from John Robinson to deconstruction, is connected with theology’s failure to take the technological nature of modern society ...
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This book argues that the contemporary crisis of radical theology, from John Robinson to deconstruction, is connected with theology’s failure to take the technological nature of modern society seriously. An overview of modern theologians who did take technology into account, such as Teilhard de Chardin and Jacques Ellul is presented, although their judgments were mostly negative. This is followed by an exposition of Heidegger’s critique of technology, with emphasis on his notion of ‘enframing’ as a central feature, and his view that technological models are in the process of colonizing traditional scholarly modes of thought. Chapters four, five, and six attempt to formulate a model of thinking about God that would be resistant to such colonization. The freedom and patience required of such thinking are emphasized, and it is argued that the language in which these are best articulated will be subjunctive and paratactic, a language of possibility and openness. However, language must have a vision. The vision that is called for is reversed vision, in which we see ourselves as if from the outside. The possibility of such a vision is kept open for believers in the action of liturgical remembrance. Chapters seven, eight, and nine look at the possible applications of this model in relation to ethical questions arising from genetic engineering, the life of the contemporary university, and the world of the arts ‘in an age of technical reproducibility’. The concluding chapter questions how far the model might relate to traditional Christian ideas of God. A postscript meditates on the experience of contemporary urbanity as a testing-ground for the approach that has been explored.Less
This book argues that the contemporary crisis of radical theology, from John Robinson to deconstruction, is connected with theology’s failure to take the technological nature of modern society seriously. An overview of modern theologians who did take technology into account, such as Teilhard de Chardin and Jacques Ellul is presented, although their judgments were mostly negative. This is followed by an exposition of Heidegger’s critique of technology, with emphasis on his notion of ‘enframing’ as a central feature, and his view that technological models are in the process of colonizing traditional scholarly modes of thought. Chapters four, five, and six attempt to formulate a model of thinking about God that would be resistant to such colonization. The freedom and patience required of such thinking are emphasized, and it is argued that the language in which these are best articulated will be subjunctive and paratactic, a language of possibility and openness. However, language must have a vision. The vision that is called for is reversed vision, in which we see ourselves as if from the outside. The possibility of such a vision is kept open for believers in the action of liturgical remembrance. Chapters seven, eight, and nine look at the possible applications of this model in relation to ethical questions arising from genetic engineering, the life of the contemporary university, and the world of the arts ‘in an age of technical reproducibility’. The concluding chapter questions how far the model might relate to traditional Christian ideas of God. A postscript meditates on the experience of contemporary urbanity as a testing-ground for the approach that has been explored.
Stuart Elden
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748619818
- eISBN:
- 9780748652518
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748619818.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Numbers and politics are inter-related at almost every level – be it the abstract geometry of understandings of territory, the explosion of population statistics and measures of economic standards, ...
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Numbers and politics are inter-related at almost every level – be it the abstract geometry of understandings of territory, the explosion of population statistics and measures of economic standards, the popularity of utilitarianism, Rawlsian notions of justice, the notion of value or simply the very idea of political science. Time and space are reduced to co-ordinates, illustrating a very real take on the political: a way of measuring and controlling it. This book engages with the relation between politics and number through a reading, exegesis and critique of the work of Martin Heidegger. The importance of mathematics and the role played by the understandings of calculation is a recurrent concern in his writing, and is regularly contrasted with understandings of speech and language. This book provides a detailed analysis of the relation between language, politics and mathematics in Heidegger's work. It insists that questions of language and calculation in Heidegger are inherently political, and that a far broader range of his work is concerned with politics than is usually admitted.Less
Numbers and politics are inter-related at almost every level – be it the abstract geometry of understandings of territory, the explosion of population statistics and measures of economic standards, the popularity of utilitarianism, Rawlsian notions of justice, the notion of value or simply the very idea of political science. Time and space are reduced to co-ordinates, illustrating a very real take on the political: a way of measuring and controlling it. This book engages with the relation between politics and number through a reading, exegesis and critique of the work of Martin Heidegger. The importance of mathematics and the role played by the understandings of calculation is a recurrent concern in his writing, and is regularly contrasted with understandings of speech and language. This book provides a detailed analysis of the relation between language, politics and mathematics in Heidegger's work. It insists that questions of language and calculation in Heidegger are inherently political, and that a far broader range of his work is concerned with politics than is usually admitted.
George Pattison
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199279777
- eISBN:
- 9780191603464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199279772.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter explores the philosophy of Heidegger, for whom the question of technology was central, and whose views typify a wide range of critical views. Heidegger sees technology as the ultimate ...
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This chapter explores the philosophy of Heidegger, for whom the question of technology was central, and whose views typify a wide range of critical views. Heidegger sees technology as the ultimate outworking of Greek metaphysics, with Nietzsche as its ultimate ideologue. In technology, the world is subject to enframing by the goals of the technological project as the condition of its experienceability. This approach permeates the contemporary university, including the humanities. The poetry of Hölderlin, however, provides Heidegger with another perspective, one in which, in dialogue with the Pre-Socratics, we are invited to thinking as a radical counter-movement to technology.Less
This chapter explores the philosophy of Heidegger, for whom the question of technology was central, and whose views typify a wide range of critical views. Heidegger sees technology as the ultimate outworking of Greek metaphysics, with Nietzsche as its ultimate ideologue. In technology, the world is subject to enframing by the goals of the technological project as the condition of its experienceability. This approach permeates the contemporary university, including the humanities. The poetry of Hölderlin, however, provides Heidegger with another perspective, one in which, in dialogue with the Pre-Socratics, we are invited to thinking as a radical counter-movement to technology.
George Pattison
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199279777
- eISBN:
- 9780191603464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199279772.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Thinking about God involves more than the wordless longing of the heart. Thinking must also be put into language, even if the role of silence is admitted. Apophatic and mystical traditions have ...
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Thinking about God involves more than the wordless longing of the heart. Thinking must also be put into language, even if the role of silence is admitted. Apophatic and mystical traditions have always acknowledged the limitations of language. An approach is developed that looks to kinds of language other than the propositions that have been the stuff of traditional philosophical theology. These might include a shift to the subjunctive mood and the acceptance of parataxis, as in Heidegger’s exposition of Parmenides. Examples are taken from George Herbert and Pascal; John Milbank’s account of pleonasm as the modality of religious language, and of the need to construe language as dialogical are discussed.Less
Thinking about God involves more than the wordless longing of the heart. Thinking must also be put into language, even if the role of silence is admitted. Apophatic and mystical traditions have always acknowledged the limitations of language. An approach is developed that looks to kinds of language other than the propositions that have been the stuff of traditional philosophical theology. These might include a shift to the subjunctive mood and the acceptance of parataxis, as in Heidegger’s exposition of Parmenides. Examples are taken from George Herbert and Pascal; John Milbank’s account of pleonasm as the modality of religious language, and of the need to construe language as dialogical are discussed.
George Pattison
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199279777
- eISBN:
- 9780191603464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199279772.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Heidegger’s account of the impact of technologization on university life is borne out by recent developments. The background to Heidegger’s views in German debates about the nature of the university ...
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Heidegger’s account of the impact of technologization on university life is borne out by recent developments. The background to Heidegger’s views in German debates about the nature of the university are explored, with reference to Schleiermacher’s contribution to the vision for Berlin University and Heidegger’s own involvement in the ‘co-ordination’ of Freiburg University with the Nazi state. The latter resembles the features of the contemporary management models being applied to universities, whilst the impact of inappropriate models of ‘science’ and research being imposed on the humanities, especially Religious Studies and Theology, is considered. Schleiermacher and Newman are used to sketch an alternative approach, emphasizing the complex space of university life with its multiple para-academic activities.Less
Heidegger’s account of the impact of technologization on university life is borne out by recent developments. The background to Heidegger’s views in German debates about the nature of the university are explored, with reference to Schleiermacher’s contribution to the vision for Berlin University and Heidegger’s own involvement in the ‘co-ordination’ of Freiburg University with the Nazi state. The latter resembles the features of the contemporary management models being applied to universities, whilst the impact of inappropriate models of ‘science’ and research being imposed on the humanities, especially Religious Studies and Theology, is considered. Schleiermacher and Newman are used to sketch an alternative approach, emphasizing the complex space of university life with its multiple para-academic activities.
George Pattison
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199279777
- eISBN:
- 9780191603464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199279772.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Since early modern times, art has paralleled religion in its response to technology as illustrated by Ruskin’s thoughts on the colour purple. Heidegger also turned to art, especially the poetry of ...
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Since early modern times, art has paralleled religion in its response to technology as illustrated by Ruskin’s thoughts on the colour purple. Heidegger also turned to art, especially the poetry of Hölderlin, as an alternative to technology. Against the background of Benjamin’s essay on ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Technical Reproducibility’, the question is asked whether the thoroughly technicized art of film can become a focus for such creative counter-technological thinking. A positive answer is developed with reference to Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Nostalgia.Less
Since early modern times, art has paralleled religion in its response to technology as illustrated by Ruskin’s thoughts on the colour purple. Heidegger also turned to art, especially the poetry of Hölderlin, as an alternative to technology. Against the background of Benjamin’s essay on ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Technical Reproducibility’, the question is asked whether the thoroughly technicized art of film can become a focus for such creative counter-technological thinking. A positive answer is developed with reference to Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Nostalgia.
George Pattison
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199279777
- eISBN:
- 9780191603464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199279772.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The modern city is often seen as a massive instantiation of the principle of enframing, as ‘the city spectacular’ or ‘a container for spectacles’. But can there be holy places, sacred space, beyond ...
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The modern city is often seen as a massive instantiation of the principle of enframing, as ‘the city spectacular’ or ‘a container for spectacles’. But can there be holy places, sacred space, beyond the reach of enframing in such cities? Heidegger spoke of the graveyard as a place of remembrance within the flux of planetary homelessness, but even the traditional graveyard has been overtaken by contemporary practices for disposing of bodies. If one’s transience is accepted, in spatial and temporal terms, the city can still give scope for another view of ourselves and, as in Edwin Muir’s eponymous poem, become a place of transfiguration.Less
The modern city is often seen as a massive instantiation of the principle of enframing, as ‘the city spectacular’ or ‘a container for spectacles’. But can there be holy places, sacred space, beyond the reach of enframing in such cities? Heidegger spoke of the graveyard as a place of remembrance within the flux of planetary homelessness, but even the traditional graveyard has been overtaken by contemporary practices for disposing of bodies. If one’s transience is accepted, in spatial and temporal terms, the city can still give scope for another view of ourselves and, as in Edwin Muir’s eponymous poem, become a place of transfiguration.
