Category: Philosophy
-
Hegel, Marx and the Contemporary World
Hegel, Marx, and the Contemporary World, edited by Kaveh Boiveiri and Emmanuel Chaput, is a significant scholarly contribution to the ongoing discourse surrounding the philosophical legacies of Hegel and Marx, particularly in relation to the pressing crises of the twenty-first century. Originating from a three-day conference held at the University of Montreal in April 2014,…
-
Hegel on Tragedy
Hegel on Tragedy, an anthology edited by Anne and Henry Paolucci, is a compilation of some of the most challenging thoughts ever penned by one of the most formidable philosophers in the Western canon—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. This 1962 collection is not merely an assembly of Hegel’s musings on tragedy, it’s an entrance to the…
-
‘Truth and Method: Hegel’s Reading of Spinoza’ by Diogo Ferrer
The international philosophical conference Between Substance & Subject: The Presence of Spinoza in Hegel, held in Ljubljana from October 26 to 28, 2023, at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT), was a collaborative initiative between the University of Padua and the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Arts and AGRFT. This conference was…
-
‘Hegel’s Critique of Spinoza’ by Stephen Houlgate
The international philosophical conference Between Substance & Subject: The Presence of Spinoza in Hegel, held from 26 to 28 October 2023 at the University of Ljubljana’s Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film, and Television (AGRFT), served as a pivotal platform for scholarly discourse on the interrelations between the philosophies of Baruch Spinoza and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich…
-
Ideal Embodiment: Kant’s Theory of Sensibility
Ideal Embodiment: Kant’s Theory of Sensibility by Angelica Nuzzo provides a novel reinterpretation of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy, particularly his concept of sensibility, which has often been eclipsed by his more renowned ideas on pure reason and the transcendental subject. Nuzzo’s work challenges the conventional understanding of Kant as privileging reason over sensibility, a view that…
-
Aesthetic Dimensions of Modern Philosophy
Aesthetic Dimensions of Modern Philosophy by Andrew Bowie goes through the interplay between aesthetics and the fundamental domains of modern philosophy, challenging the prevailing marginalization of art within the analytical tradition. Bowie posits that the aesthetic, often relegated to the periphery of philosophical inquiry, holds crucial implications for epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of…
-
Lenin and the Logic of Hegemony: Political Practice and Theory in the Class Struggle
Alan Shandro’s Lenin and the Logic of Hegemony is a work of great philosophical and historical significance, boldly reinterpreting Lenin’s contributions to Marxist thought through the lens of Gramsci’s concept of hegemony. In this ambitious study, Shandro confronts the entrenched caricatures of Lenin as a mere political tactician or authoritarian figurehead, proposing instead a reading…
-
Baumgarten’s Philosophical Ethics: A Critical Translation
Baumgarten’s Philosophical Ethics: A Critical Translation by John Hymers is an essential contribution to the understanding of the intellectual genesis and development of German moral philosophy in the eighteenth century. It’s is a presentation of the influence that Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten’s Ethica Philosophica had on his contemporaries and, most significantly, on Immanuel Kant. Hymers’ work…
-
Thinking and the I: Hegel and the Critique of Kant
Thinking and the I: Hegel and the Critique of Kant by Alfredo Ferrarin is an ambitious analysis of the relationship between thought and the subjectivity of the thinker, a question that has reverberated through the history of Western philosophy. At the heart of this problem lies a fundamental challenge to the prevailing assumptions of modern…
-
‘The Rational Kernel of the Hegelian Dialectic’ by Alain Badiou
Alain Badiou’s The Rational Kernel of the Hegelian Dialectic is a text of deep historical and philosophical significance, a dense work situated within the turbulent intellectual landscape of the late 1970s. As the concluding piece of a trilogy that includes Theory of Contradiction and On Ideology, this work captures the essence of Badiou’s engagement with…
-
The Young Spinoza: A Metaphysician in the Making
The Young Spinoza: A Metaphysician in the Making, edited by Yitzhak Y. Melamed, stands as a seminal contribution to the field of Spinoza studies, offering an unprecedented exploration of the early intellectual development of one of philosophy’s most enigmatic and influential figures. The volume arrives at a moment of renewed interest in Spinoza within Anglo-American…
-
Spinoza: Complete Works
The collection of Spinoza: Complete Works is an unparalleled achievement in the landscape of Western philosophy, presenting the full corpus of Baruch Spinoza’s writings in a single translated volume. This book is an intellectual edifice, one that demands a profound engagement with the foundational ideas of metaphysics, ethics, politics, and religion. Edited by Michael L.…
-
J. G. Herder on Social and Political Culture
In this work, originally published in 1969, F. M. Barnard curated a compelling collection of Johann Gottfried Herder’s most significant and intellectually provocative writings, which illuminate Herder’s ideas on politics, history, and language—an amalgamation that remains remarkably relevant in today’s socio-political discourse. The volume is notable for making accessible a plethora of Herder’s writings, thereby…
-
After Herder: Philosophy of Language in the German Tradition
After Herder by Michael N. Forster emerges as a formidable scholarly work that reorients our understanding of the philosophy of language, not merely by revisiting the legacy of Johann Gottfried Herder but by situating him at the very epicentre of a philosophical revolution that rippled through German intellectual history. Forster’s book does not merely trace…
-
Against Pure Reason: Writings on Religion, Language, and History
Against Pure Reason by Johann Gottfried Herder, translated and curated by Marcia Bunge, emerges as a vital rediscovery of an underappreciated thinker whose intellectual breadth and depth resonate profoundly with the concerns of contemporary thought. Herder, a towering figure in the twilight of the Enlightenment and the dawn of Romanticism, occupies a crucial yet often…
-
‘Shakespeare’ by Johann Gottfried Herder
Herder’s Shakespeare is not merely a treatise on the great Elizabethan playwright; it is a monumental turning point in the history of literary criticism and aesthetic philosophy, a work that helped to realign the intellectual landscape of Europe at a crucial juncture. Published in 1773 as part of the pamphlet Von deutscher Art und Kunst,…
-
Sculpture: Some Observations on Shape and Form from Pygmalion’s Creative Dream
Sculpture by Johann Gottfried Herder, translated by Jason Gaiger, is an extraordinary contribution to the annals of aesthetics, particularly in the context of 18th-century thought. In this dense and highly intricate work, Herder navigates the turbulent intellectual waters between the rationalist impulses of the Enlightenment and the burgeoning sentiments of Romanticism, offering a meditation on…
-
Johann Gottfried Herder: Another Philosophy of History and Selected Political Writings
Herder’s Another Philosophy of History and Selected Political Writings, masterfully translated and introduced by Ioannis D. Evrigenis and Daniel Pellerin, offers readers a presentation of the intellectual landscape of a thinker whose influence reverberates through the corridors of modern nationalism, historicism, and cultural philosophy. Herder, often hailed as the father of these interconnected ideas, is…
-
Johann Gottfried Herder: Selected Writings on Aesthetics
Selected Writings on Aesthetics, edited and translated by Gregory Martin Moore, offers an essential gateway into the intellectual world of one of the most pivotal and, yet in many ways, underappreciated figures in the history of Western thought. Herder, a contemporary of the Enlightenment’s most illustrious philosophers, uniquely bridges the domains of aesthetics, anthropology, history,…
-
Three Critics of the Enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder
In his compelling work Three Critics of the Enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder, Isaiah Berlin analyses the intellectual landscape that shaped the Counter-Enlightenment, offering a nuanced presentation of three pivotal figures who critiqued the principles underlying Enlightenment thought. Through the essays that comprise this volume, Berlin does not merely recount the ideas of Giambattista Vico, Johann…
-
Song Loves the Masses: Herder on Music and Nationalism
Song Loves the Masses: Herder on Music and Nationalism by Philip V. Bohlman is an intellectual and philosophical work on Johann Gottfried Herder’s musings on music, nationalism, religion, and aesthetics. Not merely a collection of translations, it is an exploration of how Herder’s scattered writings on music could coalesce into a singular, monumental work, a…
-
Herder: Philosophical Writings
Herder: Philosophical Writings, edited and translated by Michael N. Forster, is an indispensable volume that offers a comprehensive insight into the philosophical landscape of Johann Gottfried von Herder, one of the most pivotal figures in eighteenth-century German thought. The book provides an expertly curated selection of Herder’s most significant philosophical works, many of which have…
-
Herder and Enlightenment Politics
Herder and Enlightenment Politics by Eva Piirimäe presents a detailed examination of Johann Gottfried Herder’s political thought, challenging prevailing interpretations and offering a radically new understanding of his contributions to Enlightenment debates on modern patriotism, commerce, and peace. Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) stands as a pivotal figure in the genesis of philosophical anthropology and cultural…
-
Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind
Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind by Johann Gottfried Herder is a vast and ambitious work that stands as one of the most significant contributions to Enlightenment thought. Published in four volumes between 1784 and 1791, Herder’s magnum opus sought nothing less than a comprehensive understanding of the human experience, tracing its…
-
Confronting Reification: Revitalizing Georg Lukács’s Thought in Late Capitalism
In Confronting Reification:, Gregory R. Smulewicz-Zucker and a diverse group of fourteen international scholars present a nuanced analysis of Georg Lukács’s philosophical contributions, particularly his theory of reification, which emerged as one of the most significant critiques of capitalist society in the early twentieth century. Lukács (1885-1971), a pivotal figure in Marxist thought, melded literary…
-
Georg Lukács and Critical Theory: Aesthetics, History, Utopia
In Georg Lukács and Critical Theory, Tyrus Miller offers a comprehensive examination of the interplay between Georg Lukács’s philosophy and the broader context of critical theory, particularly as it relates to the early Frankfurt School. This exploration is situated within contemporary discussions surrounding authoritarianism, the crises of modernity, and the enduring quest for democratization. Miller…
-
Recovering the Later Georg Lukács: A Study on the Unity of His Thought
Recovering the Later Georg Lukács by Matthew J. Smetona is an expansive and rigorous exploration of the later writings of Georg Lukács, a figure whose philosophical and literary contributions have long been a subject of both reverence and contention within the canon of Western Marxism. Smetona’s work is nothing less than a scholarly excavation of…
-
‘Georg Lukács’ by G.H.R. Parkinson
The philosophical biography of Georg Lukács by G.H.R. Parkinson, first published in 1977, offers a detailed exposition of the intellectual evolution and cultural contexts of one of the most significant Marxist philosophers of the 20th century. The book serves as both an intellectual biography and a comprehensive guide to Lukács’s extensive body of work, tracing…
-
Goethe and His Age: A Major Critical Revaluation of Germany’s Great Poet
Georg Lukács’ Goethe and His Age stands as a towering achievement in the realm of literary criticism, offering an original Marxist reinterpretation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and his impact on the cultural and intellectual landscape of his time. Lukács, known for his dialectical approach to literature and society, crafts a text that is as…
-
A Defence of History and Class Consciousness: Tailism and the Dialectic
A Defence of History and Class Consciousness: Tailism and the Dialectic by Georg Lukács is an extraordinary text that serves as a profound continuation and defense of his seminal work, History and Class Consciousness (1923). This lost manuscript, rediscovered after decades of obscurity, offers readers a rare and invaluable insight into Lukács’ intellectual tenacity and…
-
History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics
History and Class Consciousness by Georg Lukács represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of Marxist thought, capturing the profound dialectical tensions of the early 20th century within the framework of revolutionary praxis. Published in Germany in 1923, this collection of essays serves as a landmark in the development of Marxist theory. The book is…
-
Badiou, Infinity, and Subjectivity: Reading Hegel and Lacan after Badiou
In Badiou, Infinity, and Subjectivity, Mohammad Reza Naderi analyses Alain Badiou’s philosophical development and traces the trajectory of Badiou’s thought by foregrounding the centrality of axiomatic thought and the concept of mathematical infinity as the bedrock of Badiou’s philosophical architecture. The book’s central thesis posits that axiomatic thought, particularly in its engagement with infinity, is…
-
Dilemmas of Truth in Alain Badiou’s Philosophy
Dilemmas of Truth in Alain Badiou’s Philosophy by Giosuè Ghisalberti presents a rigorous exploration of the complexities in the philosophical system of Alain Badiou, a thinker who has reoriented the trajectory of contemporary philosophy. Ghisalberti undertakes the ambitious task of examining how Badiou’s replacement of traditional critical theory and its hallmark of negation with an…
-
Alain Badiou and the Book of Revelation
Alain Badiou and the Book of Revelation: The Emergence of a Truth by Bruce Worthington represents a striking intersection of philosophy and biblical studies, serving as an intellectual crucible in which the radical concepts of Alain Badiou are applied to the enigmatic text of the Book of Revelation. This work explores the notion of the…
-
Religion, Rationality And Community: Sacred And Secular In The Thought Of Hegel And His Critics
Religion, Rationality and Community: Sacred and Secular in the Thought of Hegel and His Critics by Robert Gascoigne presents an exploration of the relationship between religious belief, human rationality, and communal life as conceived in the philosophy of Hegel and scrutinized by his critics. This study analyses the philosophical attempts of Hegel to reconcile the…
-
‘The Time That Remains: A Commentary on the Letter to the Romans’ by Giorgio Agamben
Giorgio Agamben’s The Time That Remains: A Commentary on the Letter to the Romans is a dense and provocative work that boldly seeks to unravel the Pauline Epistles from the historical and theological entanglements of the Church, restoring them to what Agamben identifies as their original messianic context. Not merely an exegesis, the work is…
-
Essays on Schopenhauer and Nietzsche: Values and the Will of Life
Essays on Schopenhauer and Nietzsche by Christopher Janaway is a rigorous exploration into the philosophical underpinnings and existential inquiries posed by two of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century. This work is a collection of fourteen essays that go into the relationship between Schopenhauer’s pessimistic worldview and Nietzsche’s radical critique of that very…
-
Schopenhauer and the Nature of Philosophy
Schopenhauer and the Nature of Philosophy by Jonathan Head offers a detailed examination of Arthur Schopenhauer’s metaphilosophy, a dimension of his thought that has, until now, been largely overshadowed by his more well-known ideas on metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics. This book ventures into the unexplored terrain of Schopenhauer’s conception of philosophy itself, revealing a rich…
-
In Search of Wagner
Inside In Search of Wagner, Theodor Adorno undertakes an incisive exploration of Richard Wagner’s musical and ideological landscape, achieving a synthesis of musical critique and socio-political analysis that remains unparalleled in the field of Wagner studies. Written during Adorno’s exile in the late 1930s, this work dissects Wagner’s operatic corpus through the lens of Frankfurt…
-
The Phenomenology of Spirit (Translated by Terry Pinkard)
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s The Phenomenology of Spirit, first published in 1807, stands as a monumental achievement in the realm of modern philosophy, encapsulating a pivotal shift in understanding consciousness, self-awareness, and the evolution of human experience. In this seminal work, Hegel presents a profound exploration of the development of self-consciousness and its relation to…
-
The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality
The Rigor of Angels by William Egginton is an ambitious and exhilarating intellectual journey that transcends the boundaries of literature, science, and philosophy, deftly interweaving the lives and thoughts of three towering figures—Jorge Luis Borges, Werner Heisenberg, and Immanuel Kant—to explore the elusive and multifaceted nature of reality. Egginton’s work is both a profound meditation…
-
Jacques Lacan with Samuel Beckett
Susane Dow’s presentation explores the intriguing, albeit limited, intersection of Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory and the literary works of Samuel Beckett. Unlike his extensive engagement with writers like Shakespeare and Joyce, Lacan mentions Beckett sparingly, positioning him as a “silent partner” to Joyce. Despite this silence, Beckett’s divergence from Joyce’s artistic path offers a rich…
-
Freud and Philosophy: Freud against Oedipus?
Van Haute’s presentation provides a critical examination of the evolution of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, with a focus on the Oedipus complex. He begins by exploring Freud’s early work, where psychopathology was understood as emerging from psychosexual dynamics between parents and children, without the explicit reference to the Oedipus complex. He highlights Freud’s 1897 self-analysis as…
-
[a]Sexual Violence and Systemic Enjoyment
Zupančič’s presentation offers an analysis of the relationship between sex, power, and the dynamics of desire. Following Oscar Wilde she explores the notion that sex is fundamentally about power rather than mere desire. This critical perspective leads to a broader discussion on systemic enjoyment and its profound political implications. The concept of sexuality as a…
-
The Prophet and the Sign
Laurenzo Vinciguerra examines Spinoza’s critique of false or superstitious religion, focusing extensively on the interpretation of the Bible. Spinoza’s inquiry beginns with the first six chapters of his “Theological-Political Treatise.” Here, Spinoza utilizes a combination of philosophical reasoning and biblical exegesis to argue that Scripture does not constrain philosophical inquiry. This distinction is crucial for…
-
Concepts of Normativity: Kant or Hegel?
In the contemporary landscape of philosophical inquiry, the problem of normativity, as it manifests in moral and ethical theory, remains a central and contentious issue. Christian Krijnen’s Concepts of Normativity: Kant or Hegel? endeavours to illuminate this ongoing debate by juxtaposing the normative frameworks of two monumental figures in philosophy: Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm…
-
Kant’s Rational Religion and the Radical Enlightenment: From Spinoza to Contemporary Debates
Anna Tomaszewska’s Kant’s Rational Religion and the Radical Enlightenment offers a transformative examination of Immanuel Kant’s engagement with religion, situating his theological and philosophical perspectives within the broader context of Enlightenment thought. The book challenges the prevailing view of Kant as a moderate Enlightenment thinker who sought merely to reconcile faith with reason. Instead, Tomaszewska…
Simon Gros 