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"Spinoza Contra Phenomenology" fundamentally recasts the history of
postwar French thought, which is typically presumed by detractors
and celebrants alike to have been driven by a critique of reason
indebted above all to Nietzsche and Heidegger. Although the
reception of German phenomenology gave rise to many of the most
innovative developments in French philosophy, from existentialism
to deconstruction, not everyone in France was pleased with this
German import. The book recounts how a series of French
philosophers used Spinoza's rationalism to erect a bulwark against
the nominally irrationalist tendencies of Husserl's and Heidegger's
thought in France. From its beginnings in the interwar years in
philosophy of science and the history of philosophy, this Spinozist
rationalism would prove foundational for Louis Althusser's
rethinking of Marxism and Gilles Deleuze's ambitious metaphysics.
There has been a renewed enthusiasm for Spinozism in various
quarters of late by those who would see it as a kind of
neo-vitalism or philosophy of life and affect. Peden bucks the
trend by tracking a decisive and neglected aspect of Spinoza's
philosophy--his rationalism--in a body of thought too often
presumed to have rejected reason. In the process, he demonstrates
that the critical resources of Spinoza's rationalism have yet to be
exhausted today.
French culture is unique in that philosophy has played a
significant role from the early-modern period onwards, intimately
associated with political, religious, and literary debates, as well
as with epistemological and scientific ones. While Latin was the
language of learning there was a universal philosophical
literature, but with the rise of vernacular literatures things
changed and a distinctive national form of philosophy arose in
France. This Very Short Introduction covers French philosophy from
its origins in the sixteenth century up to the present, analysing
it within its social, political, and cultural context. Beginning
with psychology and epistemology, Stephen Gaukroger and Knox Peden
then move onto the emergence of radical philosophy in the
eighteenth century, before considering post-revolutionary
philosophy in the nineteenth century, philosophy in the world wars,
the radical thought of the 1960s, and finally French philosophy
today. Throughout, they explore the dilemma sustained by the
markedly national conception of French philosophy, and its history
of speaking out on matters of universal concern. ABOUT THE SERIES:
The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press
contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These
pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new
subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis,
perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and
challenging topics highly readable.
"Spinoza Contra Phenomenology" fundamentally recasts the history of
postwar French thought, which is typically presumed by detractors
and celebrants alike to have been driven by a critique of reason
indebted above all to Nietzsche and Heidegger. Although the
reception of German phenomenology gave rise to many of the most
innovative developments in French philosophy, from existentialism
to deconstruction, not everyone in France was pleased with this
German import. The book recounts how a series of French
philosophers used Spinoza's rationalism to erect a bulwark against
the nominally irrationalist tendencies of Husserl's and Heidegger's
thought in France. From its beginnings in the interwar years in
philosophy of science and the history of philosophy, this Spinozist
rationalism would prove foundational for Louis Althusser's
rethinking of Marxism and Gilles Deleuze's ambitious metaphysics.
There has been a renewed enthusiasm for Spinozism in various
quarters of late by those who would see it as a kind of
neo-vitalism or philosophy of life and affect. Peden bucks the
trend by tracking a decisive and neglected aspect of Spinoza's
philosophy--his rationalism--in a body of thought too often
presumed to have rejected reason. In the process, he demonstrates
that the critical resources of Spinoza's rationalism have yet to be
exhausted today.
Concept and Form is a two-volume monument to the work of the
philosophy journal the Cahiers pour l'Analyse (1966-69), the most
ambitious and radical collective project to emerge from French
structuralism. Inspired by their teachers Louis Althusser and
Jacques Lacan, the editors of the Cahiers sought to sever
philosophy from the interpretation of given meanings or
experiences, focusing instead on the mechanisms that structure
specific configurations of discourse, from the psychological and
ideological to the literary, scientific, and political. Adequate
analysis of the operations at work in these configurations, they
argue, helps prepare the way for their revolutionary
transformation. This first volume comprises English translations of
some of the most important theoretical texts published in the
journal, written by thinkers who would soon be counted among the
most inventive and influential of their generation: Alain Badiou,
Yves Duroux, Alain Grosrichard, Serge Leclaire, Jacques-Alain
Miller, Jean-Claude Milner, and Francois Regnault. The book is
complemented by a second volume, consisting of essays and
interviews that assess the significance and legacy of the journal,
and by an online edition of the full set of original Cahiers texts,
produced by the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy
at Kingston University, London and accessible at
cahiers.kingston.ac.uk.
Concept and Form is a two-volume monument to the work of the
philosophy journal the Cahiers pour l'Analyse (1966-69), the most
ambitious and radical collective project to emerge from French
structuralism. Inspired by their teachers Louis Althusser and
Jacques Lacan, the editors of the Cahiers sought to sever
philosophy from the interpretation of given meanings or
experiences, focusing instead on the mechanisms that structure
specific configurations of discourse, from the psychological and
ideological to the literary, scientific, and political. Adequate
analysis of the operations at work in these configurations, they
argue, helps prepare the way for their revolutionary
transformation. Volume One of Concept and Form translates some of
the most important theoretical texts from the Cahiers pour
l'Analyse; this second volume collects newly commissioned essays on
the journal, together with recent interviews with people who were
either members of its editorial board or associated with its
broader theoretical project. It aims to help reconstruct the
intellectual context of the Cahiers, and to assess its contemporary
theoretical legacy. Prefaced by an overview of the project's
rigorous investment in science and conceptual analysis, the volume
considers in particular the Cahiers' distinctive effort to link the
apparently incommensurable categories of 'structure' and 'subject',
so as to prepare for a new synthesis of Marxism and psychoanalysis.
Contributors include Alain Badiou, Etienne Balibar, Edward Baring,
Jacques Bouveresse, Yves Duroux, Alain Grosrichard, Peter Hallward,
Adrian Johnston, Patrice Maniglier, Tracy McNulty, Jean-Claude
Milner, Knox Peden, Jacques Ranciere, Francois Regnault, and Slavoj
Zizek.
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