At present, 'naturalism' is arguably the dominant trend in both Anglo-American and European philosophy. Owing to the influence of the works of W.V.O. Quine, Wilfred Sellars, and Hillary Putnam, among others, naturalism both as a methodological and ontological position has become one of the mainstays of contemporary analytic approaches to knowledge, mind and ethics. From the early 1990s onward, European philosophy in the English-speaking world has been witnessing a turn from the philosophies of the subjects of phenomenology, hermeneutics and existentialism and a revival of a certain kind of vitalism, whether Bergsonian or Nietzschean, and also of a certain kind of materialism that is close in spirit to Spinoza's Ethics and to the naturalism and monism of the early Ionian thinkers. This book comprises essays written by experts in both the European and the Anglo-American traditions such as John Sallis, David Papineau, David Cerbone, Dan Zahavi, Paul Patton, Bernhard Weiss, Jack Reynolds and Benedict Smith, who explore the limit of naturalism and the debate between naturalism and phenomenology. This book also considers the relation between Deleuze's philosophy and naturalism as well as the critique of phenomenology by speculative realism. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Philosophical Studies.

This collection reflects recent discussions on the relation between identity and difference in metaphysics, and in moral and political theory in both the analytic and continental traditions. The contributions to the volume tackle such issues as the role and place of the concept of identity in Hegel’s Science of Logic; the question of personal identity in Parfit, Riceour and Schechtman; the problem of inclusion and exclusion in Heidegger’s reading of the history of philosophy; Heidegger’s conception of the relation between philosophy and politics, the question of alterity in Levinas; and Foucault’s conception of the relation between sexual instinct, economic interest, and desire. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Identity and Difference Rafael Winkler and Abraham Olivier

1. Hegelian Identity Ioannis Trisokkas

2. Technological Fictions and Personal Identity: On Ricoeur, Schechtman and Analytic Thought Experiments Simon Beck

3. Heidegger’s Jews: Inclusion/Exclusion and Heidegger’s Anti-Semitism Babette Babich

4. Heidegger, the Pólis, the Political and Gelassenheit Tracy B. Strong

5. Levinas and the Possibility of Dialogue with "Strangers" Benda Hofmeyr

6. The Government of Desire: A Genealogical Perspective Miguel de Beistegui

This book provides a persuasive account of how identity and difference factor in the debate on the self in the humanities. It explores this topic by applying the question to fields such as philosophy, cultural studies, politics and race studies. Key themes discussed in this collection include authenticity in Michel de Montaigne's essays, the limits of the narrative constitution of the self, the use and abuse of the notion of human nature in political theory and in the current political context of multiculturalism, and the feminist notion of the erotic and of sexual violence. This book will appeal to readers with an interest in new perspectives on the self within the humanities.

This collection reflects recent discussions on the relation between identity and difference in metaphysics, and in moral and political theory in both the analytic and continental traditions. The contributions to the volume tackle such issues as the role and place of the concept of identity in Hegel's Science of Logic; the question of personal identity in Parfit, Riceour and Schechtman; the problem of inclusion and exclusion in Heidegger's reading of the history of philosophy; Heidegger's conception of the relation between philosophy and politics, the question of alterity in Levinas; and Foucault's conception of the relation between sexual instinct, economic interest, and desire. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology.

Examining the legacies of Heidegger, along with Derrida, Levinas and Nietzsche, Rafael Winkler argues that it is not the search for truth or even contradictions that stimulates philosophical thought. Instead, it is our exposure to the unthinkable or the impossible - to thought's own limits. An experience of the unthinkable is possible in our encounter with the uniqueness of death, the singularity of being, and of the self and the other. This 'thinking of finitude' also has political implications, as it provides us with a way to talk about, and evaluate, absolute strangeness and, by implication, the absolute stranger or foreigner. Illuminating Heidegger's writings on the question of ontology, ethics and history, Winkler proves that this encounter with thought's limits is one of the mainstays of the philosophies of difference of Heidegger, Levinas, and Nietzsche.

At present, 'naturalism' is arguably the dominant trend in both Anglo-American and European philosophy. Owing to the influence of the works of W.V.O. Quine, Wilfred Sellars, and Hillary Putnam, among others, naturalism both as a methodological and ontological position has become one of the mainstays of contemporary analytic approaches to knowledge, mind and ethics. From the early 1990s onward, European philosophy in the English-speaking world has been witnessing a turn from the philosophies of the subjects of phenomenology, hermeneutics and existentialism and a revival of a certain kind of vitalism, whether Bergsonian or Nietzschean, and also of a certain kind of materialism that is close in spirit to Spinoza's Ethics and to the naturalism and monism of the early Ionian thinkers. This book comprises essays written by experts in both the European and the Anglo-American traditions such as John Sallis, David Papineau, David Cerbone, Dan Zahavi, Paul Patton, Bernhard Weiss, Jack Reynolds and Benedict Smith, who explore the limit of naturalism and the debate between naturalism and phenomenology. This book also considers the relation between Deleuze's philosophy and naturalism as well as the critique of phenomenology by speculative realism. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Philosophical Studies.

This book provides a persuasive account of how identity and difference factor in the debate on the self in the humanities. It explores this topic by applying the question to fields such as philosophy, cultural studies, politics and race studies. Key themes discussed in this collection include authenticity in Michel de Montaigne's essays, the limits of the narrative constitution of the self, the use and abuse of the notion of human nature in political theory and in the current political context of multiculturalism, and the feminist notion of the erotic and of sexual violence. This book will appeal to readers with an interest in new perspectives on the self within the humanities.

Examining the legacies of Heidegger, along with Derrida, Levinas and Nietzsche, Rafael Winkler argues that it is not the search for truth or even contradictions that stimulates philosophical thought. Instead, it is our exposure to the unthinkable or the impossible - to thought's own limits. An experience of the unthinkable is possible in our encounter with the uniqueness of death, the singularity of being, and of the self and the other. This 'thinking of finitude' also has political implications, as it provides us with a way to talk about, and evaluate, absolute strangeness and, by implication, the absolute stranger or foreigner. Illuminating Heidegger's writings on the question of ontology, ethics and history, Winkler proves that this encounter with thought's limits is one of the mainstays of the philosophies of difference of Heidegger, Levinas, and Nietzsche.