Category: Philosophy

February 14, 2012

Mari Ruti on Why We Fall in Love

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we offer a post from earlier this summer: Mari Ruti, author of The Summons of Love, also writes a blog for Psychology Today called The Juicy Bits: Love, lust, and the luster of life, recently...

February 10, 2012

Santiago Zabala on Being a Communist in 2012

Communism, we have been told, has been consigned to the dustbin of history. Not so, according to Santiago Zabala, most recently the co-author with Santiago Zabala of Hermeneutic Communism: From Heidegger to Marx. In a recent article on Aljazeera, Santiago...

February 8, 2012

Michael Marder: Resist Like a Plant! On the Vegetable Life of Political Movements

In the most recent issue of Peace Studies Journal, Michael Marder, author of the forthcoming Plant Thinking: Toward a Philosophy of Vegetative Life, examines the recent Occupy movements and its possible connections to vegetal life. Arguing that the politics of...

January 19, 2012

Go Nomadic Now with Rosi Braidotti

Check out this great video for Rosi Braidotti’s Nomadic Theory: The Portable Rosi Braidotti and the new edition of Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory:

January 13, 2012

Julia Kristeva on the Legacies of the Severed Head

In the concluding chapter to The Severed Head: Capital Visions, Julia Kristeva speculates on some of the meanings and legacies of representations of sacrifice and the severed head: Because the sacred, or the nostalgia for it that remains, turns out...

January 11, 2012

Julia Kristeva: Two Severed Heads from The Severed Head

   In the following passage from The Severed Head: Capital Visions, Julia Kristeva explores the iconography and symbolism of beheadings during the French Revolution: More Roman, Marat takes great pleasure in what he believes to be the “serene joy” of...

January 10, 2012

Julia Kristeva Free Book Giveaway

This week we will be featuringThe Severed Head: Capital Visions by Julia Kristeva and in conjunction with this, we are also giving away other titles by Kristeva. To enter the giveaway please submit by email your name and mailing address...

January 9, 2012

Julia Kristeva on The Severed Head

“That is how the guillotine of history falls, sparing neither men nor works.”—Julia Kristeva This week we will be featuring The Severed Head: Capital Visions by Julia Kristeva. In her newest book, Kristeva explores artistic representations of severed heads from...

December 29, 2011

Michael Dummett, 1925-2011

We were sad to hear of the recent death of notable philosopher Michael Dummett, author of The Nature and Future of Philosophy (2010) and other titles. Both the Guardian and the Telegraph published excellent obituaries on Michael Dummett highlighting his...

December 1, 2011

Santiago Zabala: A Philosophy for the Occupy Wall Street Movement

“Hermeneutics, then, is one of the few philosophies that reflects the pluralism of our postmodern societies because, like truly democratic procedures, it includes and allows structural changes to take place every time citizens demand them. Ignoring these demands for change...

November 11, 2011

Jacques Ranciere: "It is writing’s poverty that accounts for literature’s capacity for resistance."

Fittingly enough, we conclude on week-long feature on Jacques Ranciere’s Mute Speech with Ranciere’s concluding paragraphs: And yet, strangely, it is writing’s poverty that accounts for literature’s capacity for resistance. The weakness of the means at its disposal to measure...

November 9, 2011

Mute Speech: New Directions in Critical Theory

Mute Speech: Literature, Critical Theory, and Politics, by Jacques Ranciere, is part of the series New Directions in Critical Theory. Below is an excerpt from an interview with Amy Allen, the series editor: Q: What does New Directions in Critical...