Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
- Institution
- Keyword
-
- Nietzsche (7)
- Philosophy (7)
- Michel Foucault (5)
- Truth (4)
- Judaism (3)
-
- Metaphysics (3)
- Nihilism (3)
- Science (3)
- Constructivism (2)
- Continental philosophy (2)
- Ethics (2)
- Heidegger (2)
- History of philosophy (2)
- Jacques Derrida (2)
- Ontology (2)
- Pragmatism (2)
- 19th century philosophy (1)
- Acceleration (1)
- American pragmatism (1)
- Anthropocene (1)
- Asceticism (1)
- Askēsis (1)
- Assassinations (1)
- Bioethics (1)
- Biology (1)
- Catharine MacKinnon (1)
- Causality (1)
- Charles Peirce (1)
- Coherence (1)
- Correspondence (1)
Articles 1 - 25 of 25
Full-Text Articles in Continental Philosophy
Earth Art In The Great Acceleration: Times/Counter-Times, Monuments/Counter-Monuments, Gary Shapiro
Earth Art In The Great Acceleration: Times/Counter-Times, Monuments/Counter-Monuments, Gary Shapiro
Philosophy Faculty Publications
This article attempts to situate land art in the deserts of the US Southwest in terms of the works’ relation to and rupture with more traditional genres (seventeenth to twentieth centuries) of parks, gardens, and landscape architecture. It argues that the earlier works provide implicit answers to questions concerning Earth’s meaning and offer models of flourishing habitation. In contrast, the more recent works, all constructed in the era of the great acceleration (the Anthropocene), pose questions having to do with new challenges posed by climate change and the devastation of the Earth.
Nietzsche: Metaphysician, Justin Remhof
Nietzsche: Metaphysician, Justin Remhof
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Perhaps the most fundamental disagreement concerning Nietzsche’s view of metaphysics is that some commentators believe Nietzsche has a positive, systematic metaphysical project, and others deny this. Those who deny it hold that Nietzsche believes metaphysics has a special problem, that is, a distinctively problematic feature which distinguishes metaphysics from other areas of philosophy. In this paper, I investigate important features of Nietzsche’s metametaphysics in order to argue that Nietzsche does not, in fact, think metaphysics has a special problem. The result is that, against a longstanding view held in the literature, we should be reading Nietzsche as a metaphysician.
Symposium On Justin Remhof's Nietzsche's Constructivism: A Metaphysics Of Material Objects (Routledge, 2018), Justin Remhof
Symposium On Justin Remhof's Nietzsche's Constructivism: A Metaphysics Of Material Objects (Routledge, 2018), Justin Remhof
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Like Kant, the German Idealists, and many neo-Kantian philosophers before him, Nietzsche was persistently concerned with metaphysical questions about the nature of objects. His texts often address questions concerning the existence and non-existence of objects, the relation of objects to human minds, and how different views of objects impact commitments in many areas of philosophy―not just metaphysics, but also language, epistemology, science, logic and mathematics, and even ethics. In this book, Remhof presents a systematic and comprehensive analysis of Nietzsche’s material object metaphysics. He argues that Nietzsche embraces the controversial constructivist view that all concrete objects are socially constructed. Reading …
Nietzsche And James On The Value Of Constructing Objects, Justin Remhof
Nietzsche And James On The Value Of Constructing Objects, Justin Remhof
Philosophy Faculty Publications
In this paper, I first suggest that Nietzsche and James, two otherwise very different thinkers, both endorse the controversial constructivist view that human representational practices bring all material objects into existence. I then explore their views concerning why and how constructivism can play a vital role in helping us find reality and our lives valuable.
Nietzsche On Loneliness, Self-Transformation, And The Eternal Recurrence, Justin Remhof
Nietzsche On Loneliness, Self-Transformation, And The Eternal Recurrence, Justin Remhof
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Nietzsche's presentation of the eternal recurrence in Gay Science 341 is often viewed as a practical thought experiment meant to radically transform us. But exactly why and how we are supposed to be transformed is not clear. I contend that addressing these issues requires taking a close look at the psychological setting of the passage. The eternal recurrence is presented in our “loneliest loneliness.” I argue that facing the eternal recurrence from a state of profound loneliness both motivates self-transformation and contributes toward helping us succeed at that project.
Catharine Mackinnon, Feminism, And Continental Philosophy: Comments On Toward A Feminist Theory Of The State—Twenty-Five Years Later, Natalie Nenadic
Catharine Mackinnon, Feminism, And Continental Philosophy: Comments On Toward A Feminist Theory Of The State—Twenty-Five Years Later, Natalie Nenadic
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Catharine MacKinnon’s feminist work on sexual abuse and violence has had a major impact on law and on policy in the United States and internationally. However, her complex theoretical writings, which are a foundation of that work, have yet to be adequately appreciated by philosophy, especially continental philosophy, that tradition with which she identifies her project. I explain her project in continental terms, especially Heidegger’s thought, so that we may better grasp the philosophical nature and significance of her work. In doing so, I also open paths by which those within the continental tradition may make it more relevant to …
Beasts, Sovereigns, Pirates: Melville's "Enchanted Isles" Beyond The Picturesque, Gary Shapiro
Beasts, Sovereigns, Pirates: Melville's "Enchanted Isles" Beyond The Picturesque, Gary Shapiro
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Herman Melville's "The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles," included in his signature set of shorter narratives The Piazza Tales, remains relatively unvisited by readers and critics. So too was the archipelago generally known as the Galapagos, before becoming a chic destination for natural history excursions and eco-tourism. These ten "sketches" relate a narrator's experiences on the Pacific islands, adding a number of travelers' stories, some extrapolated (more or less accurately) from known records, some creatively transformed. One informative, comprehensive handbook suggests that Melville's description of this volcanic archipelago as Encantadas or "enchanted" in the sense of bewitched-uncanny, weird, their very …
Farmville, Eternal Recurrence, And The Will-To-Power-Ups, D. E. Wittkower
Farmville, Eternal Recurrence, And The Will-To-Power-Ups, D. E. Wittkower
Philosophy Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Scientific Fictionalism And The Problem Of Inconsistency In Nietzsche, Justin Remhof
Scientific Fictionalism And The Problem Of Inconsistency In Nietzsche, Justin Remhof
Philosophy Faculty Publications
In this article, I begin to develop Nietzsche’s scientific fictionalism in order to make headway toward resolving a central interpretive issue in his epistemology. For Nietzsche knowledge claims are falsifications. Presumably, this is a result of his puzzling view that truths are somehow false. I argue that Nietzsche thinks knowledge claims are falsifications because he embraces a scientific fictionalist view according to which inexact representations, which are false, can also be accurate, or true, and that this position is not inconsistent.
Why Ontologize?, Melvin Woody
Naturalism, Causality, And Nietzsche's Conception Of Science, Justin Remhof
Naturalism, Causality, And Nietzsche's Conception Of Science, Justin Remhof
Philosophy Faculty Publications
There is a disagreement over how to understand Nietzsche’s view of science. According to what I call the Negative View, Nietzsche thinks science should be reconceived or superseded by another discourse, such as art, because it is nihilistic. By contrast, what I call the Positive View holds that Nietzsche does not think science is nihilistic, so he denies that it should be reinterpreted or overcome. Interestingly, defenders of each position can appeal to Nietzsche’s understanding of naturalism to support their interpretation. I argue that Nietzsche embraces a social constructivist conception of causality that renders his naturalism incompatible with the views …
Nietzsche's Conception Of Truth: Correspondence, Coherence Or Pragmatist?, Justin Remhof
Nietzsche's Conception Of Truth: Correspondence, Coherence Or Pragmatist?, Justin Remhof
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Nearly every common theory of truth has been attributed to Nietzsche, while some commentators have argued that he simply has no theory of truth. This essay argues that Nietzsche’s remarks on truth are better situated within either the coherence or pragmatist theories of truth than the correspondence theory. Nietzsche’s thoughts conflict with the correspondence framework because he believes that the truth conditions of propositions are constitutively dependent on our actions.
The Responsibility Of Thinking In Dark Times: Hannah Arendt Versus Hans Jonas, Lawrence A. Vogel
The Responsibility Of Thinking In Dark Times: Hannah Arendt Versus Hans Jonas, Lawrence A. Vogel
Philosophy Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Emmanuel Levinas And The Judaism Of The Good Samaritan, Lawrence A. Vogel
Emmanuel Levinas And The Judaism Of The Good Samaritan, Lawrence A. Vogel
Philosophy Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Assassins And Crusaders: Nietzsche After 9/11, Gary Shapiro
Assassins And Crusaders: Nietzsche After 9/11, Gary Shapiro
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Nietzsche describes his four Unzeitgemiisse Betrachtungen as Attentate, assassination attempts. The first of these, his self-described "duel" with David Friedrich Strauss, published in 1873, begins with the question of war and time. It is untimely or out of season insofar as it challenges the smugness of the cultural philistines who take Germany's victory in the Franco-Prussian War to be a testament to the superiority of German culture. As those in the United States might have learned after the end of the Cold War and after the first Gulf War, "a great victory is a great danger," and we might …
Natural-Law Judaism?: The Genesis Of Bioethics In Hans Jonas, Leo Strauss And Leon Kass, Lawrence A. Vogel
Natural-Law Judaism?: The Genesis Of Bioethics In Hans Jonas, Leo Strauss And Leon Kass, Lawrence A. Vogel
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Leon Kass is much misunderstood. He is not simply a Republican ideologue who tailored his ideas to break out of the ivory tower and into the halls of power. Nor does he look simply to use human nature as a moral guide. When the full range of his writings is considered and set in the tradition of his teachers, Hans Jonas and Leo Strauss, what emerges is a natural law position colored by religious revelation.
Subjecting Dasein, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Subjecting Dasein, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Philosophy Faculty Publications
"Das 'Subjekt' ist eine Fiktion," Nietzsche declares in aphorism 370 of Der Wille zur Macht. There is no such thing as an ego, a unitary center of personhood that can be appraised and approved for its virtue and wisdom or blamed for its premeditated transgressions and irresponsible beliefs. Subjectivity does not exist. Despite Nietzsche's pervasive influence, however, the question of subjectivity - the ontological nature, the ethical status, and the epistemological significance of the human subject - has been a preeminent theme in Continental philosophy for the entirety of the twentieth century. Virtually all Continental philosophers have found it …
Jewish Philosophies After Heidegger: Imagining A Dialogue Between Jonas And Levinas, Lawrence A. Vogel
Jewish Philosophies After Heidegger: Imagining A Dialogue Between Jonas And Levinas, Lawrence A. Vogel
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Emmanuel Levinas and Hans Jonas draw on their roots in phenomenology and Judaism to answer the ethical nihilism of Heidegger's thought. Though both Levinas and Jonas aim to ground an imperative of responsibility in a Good-in-itself ultimately sourced in God, their disagreements are basic and revolve around three fundamental questions: (1) Can Jews "after Auschwitz" have a theology without lapsing into theodicy?; (2) Is the Good-in-itself within Being or "otherwise than Being"?; and (3) Is ethics the completion of nature or against nature? I explore possibilities for integrating the apparently incompatible ideas of Levinas and Jonas.
Scientific Discipline And The Origins Of Race: A Foucaultian Reading Of The History Of Biology, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Scientific Discipline And The Origins Of Race: A Foucaultian Reading Of The History Of Biology, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Foucault's "power-knowledge" is a controversial concept. Brought into English-speaking theoretical circles less than two decades ago, its meaning and range of applicability are still in dispute. While no one denies that some fields of social scientific knowledge (such as criminology) intersect institutionally with mechanisms of power, these intersections do not seem, to many, to constitute any essential relation of "mutual reinforcement" between knowledge and power. If, in rare cases, politics and scientific research are admitted to be mutually constitutive, the results of their mingling are typically dismissed as propaganda or pseudo-science. A few thinkers are willing to allow the entirety …
Self-Overcoming In Foucault's Discipline And Punish, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Self-Overcoming In Foucault's Discipline And Punish, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Prisons are veritable universities of crime. Within them young offenders learn both the values and the techniques of hardened criminals. In addition to these lessons in professional ethics and theory, aspiring criminals also get hands-on experience within prison walls, for prisons are also centers of criminal activity: drug and arms trafficking, rape, gang warfare, and murder. And, like all good universities, prisons help their proteges make the contacts they need to further their budding careers.
Asceticism/Askēsis: Foucault's Thinking Historical Subjectivity, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Asceticism/Askēsis: Foucault's Thinking Historical Subjectivity, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Philosophy Faculty Publications
In the Introduction to The Use of Pleasure Foucault calls his work an askēsis, "an exercise of oneself in the activity of thought." The "living substance of philosophy," Foucault writes, is the essay, "which should be understood as the assay or test by which, in the game of truth, one undergoes changes, and not as the simplistic appropriation of others for the purpose of communication." Foucault's work, then, does not simply report to us his conclusions or theories. Foucault is not primarily interested in imparting information. What he offers instead is a kind of exercise book.
Foucault's Move Beyond The Theoretical, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Foucault's Move Beyond The Theoretical, Ladelle Mcwhorter
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Theory plays an important role in virtually every academic discipline currently vital. The specific functions of theory may differ from discipline to discipline, but it is difficult to think of any serious discipline that is able to dispense with it entirely; for theory, we usually assume, is quite simply the name of all instances of systematic speculation, all attempts at rational explication. Ordered mentation, most of us unwaveringly believe, is and must be theoretical. All that is not theoretical is either confused thinking – or, more positively, perhaps it is poetic – or it is not thinking at all, but …
Peirce And Derrida On First And Last Things, Gary Shapiro
Peirce And Derrida On First And Last Things, Gary Shapiro
Philosophy Faculty Publications
The movement of philosophical ideas across national and linguistic borders, especially in these days of international conferences, is notoriously slower than the physical movements of philosophers themselves. When rumblings of new names or new ideas come from afar, there is a rather predictable but unphilosophical tendency to claim that the putative new thoughts are either old hat, trivial or absurd; this trichotomy is not much of an improvement on the older positivistic dichotomy of tautologically trivial or merely empirical. Jacques Derrida is a philosopher of some eminence in France who has generally been subjected to such treatment by English-speaking philosophers, …
Styling Nietzsche: A Review Essay Of Jacques Derrida Spurs: Nietzsche's Styles, Gary Shapiro
Styling Nietzsche: A Review Essay Of Jacques Derrida Spurs: Nietzsche's Styles, Gary Shapiro
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Any examination of a text by Derrida challenges us to begin with an inquiry into its style. ''The Question of Style" was in fact the originally announced title of this essay which Derrida has since changed to Spurs: Nietzsche's Styles (Èperons: Les Styles de Nietzsche). Style is often regarded as a somewhat extraneous aspect of the philosophical enterprise; it is thought to be a variable form or container which may obstruct our comprehension of the matter or spirit of philosophical communication. Now it is well known that Derrida's whole enterprise involves a challenge to the "logocentric" tradition of philosophy according …
Tom Robbins' Chink: A Posthumous Zarathustra, Charles Taylor
Tom Robbins' Chink: A Posthumous Zarathustra, Charles Taylor
Philosophy Faculty Publications
This essay examines the ideas of one of the central characters in Tom Robbins’ 1977 novel, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues/ in relation to the thinking of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. It makes no argument for any influence of Nietzsche upon Robbins but rather considers similarities in thought as such.