Martin Shuster
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Philosophy, Faculty Member
- Theodor W. Adorno, German Idealism, Jewish Thought, Modern Jewish Philosophy, Stanley Cavell, Connections between analytic and continental philosophy, and 12 morePhilosophy of Agency, Wittgenstein, Hegel, Kant, Salomon Maimon, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, Émmanuel Lévinas, Gershom Scholem, Television Studies, and Philosophy of Filmedit
- I am Professor of Philosophy and the Isaac Swift Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North... moreI am Professor of Philosophy and the Isaac Swift Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I work in ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics, and philosophy of religion, drawing on a range of philosophical traditions, and also on fields germane to my interests (genocide studies, film theory, television studies, critical theory, anti-colonial theory, psychoanalysis).
In 2023, I also founded the Philosophy and Critical Theory Lab (PaCT Lab) at Charlotte.edit
Critical Theory: The Basics brings clarity to a topic that is confusingly bandied about with various meanings today in popular and aca‑ demic culture. First defined by Max Horkheimer in the 1930s, “critical theory” now extends far beyond... more
Critical Theory: The Basics brings clarity to a topic that is confusingly
bandied about with various meanings today in popular and aca‑
demic culture.
First defined by Max Horkheimer in the 1930s, “critical theory”
now extends far beyond its original German context around the
Frankfurt School and the emergence of Nazism. We now often speak
of critical theories of race, gender, anti‑colonialism, and so forth. This
book introduces especially the core program of the first‑generation of
the Frankfurt School (including Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno,
Erich Fromm, and Herbert Marcuse), and shows how this program
remains crucial to understanding the problems, ideologies, and sys‑
tems of the modern world, including capitalism, racism, sexism, and
the enduring problems of colonialism. It explores basic questions like:
- What is critical theory?
- What can critical theory be? What should it be?
- Why and how does critical theory remain vital to understand‑
ing the contemporary world, including notions of self, society,
politics, art, religion, culture, race, gender, and class?
With suggestions for further reading, this book is an ideal starting
point for anyone seeking an accessible but robust introduction to
the richness and complexity of this tradition and to its continuing
importance today.
bandied about with various meanings today in popular and aca‑
demic culture.
First defined by Max Horkheimer in the 1930s, “critical theory”
now extends far beyond its original German context around the
Frankfurt School and the emergence of Nazism. We now often speak
of critical theories of race, gender, anti‑colonialism, and so forth. This
book introduces especially the core program of the first‑generation of
the Frankfurt School (including Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno,
Erich Fromm, and Herbert Marcuse), and shows how this program
remains crucial to understanding the problems, ideologies, and sys‑
tems of the modern world, including capitalism, racism, sexism, and
the enduring problems of colonialism. It explores basic questions like:
- What is critical theory?
- What can critical theory be? What should it be?
- Why and how does critical theory remain vital to understand‑
ing the contemporary world, including notions of self, society,
politics, art, religion, culture, race, gender, and class?
With suggestions for further reading, this book is an ideal starting
point for anyone seeking an accessible but robust introduction to
the richness and complexity of this tradition and to its continuing
importance today.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, History, Cultural History, German Studies, Political Economy, and 15 morePhilosophy, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Social Sciences, Political Theory, Marxism, Critical Pedagogy, Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Max Horkheimer, Post-Marxism, Literary Theory, and Frankfurt School
What does it mean to wonder in awe or terror about the world? How do you philosophically understand Judaism? In How to Measure a World?: A Philosophy of Judaism, Martin Shuster provides answers to these questions and more. Emmanuel... more
What does it mean to wonder in awe or terror about the world? How do you philosophically understand Judaism? In How to Measure a World?: A Philosophy of Judaism, Martin Shuster provides answers to these questions and more.
Emmanuel Levinas suggested that Judaism is best understood as an anachronism. Shuster attempts to make sense of this claim by alternatively considering questions of the inscrutability of ultimate reality, of the pain and commonness of human suffering, and of the ways in which Judaism is entangled with the world. Drawing on phenomenology and Jewish thought, Shuster offers novel readings of some of the classic figures of Jewish philosophy while inserting other voices into the tradition, from Moses Maimonides to Theodor W. Adorno to Walter Benjamin to Stanley Cavell.
How to Measure a World? examines elements of the Jewish philosophical record to get at the full intellectual scope and range of Levinas's proposal. Shuster's view of anachronism thereby provokes an assessment of the world and our place in it. A particular understanding of Jewish philosophy emerges, not only through the traditions it encompasses, but also through an understanding of the relationship between humans and their world. In the end, Levinas's suggestion is examined theoretically as much as practically, revealing what's at stake for Judaism as much as for the world.
Emmanuel Levinas suggested that Judaism is best understood as an anachronism. Shuster attempts to make sense of this claim by alternatively considering questions of the inscrutability of ultimate reality, of the pain and commonness of human suffering, and of the ways in which Judaism is entangled with the world. Drawing on phenomenology and Jewish thought, Shuster offers novel readings of some of the classic figures of Jewish philosophy while inserting other voices into the tradition, from Moses Maimonides to Theodor W. Adorno to Walter Benjamin to Stanley Cavell.
How to Measure a World? examines elements of the Jewish philosophical record to get at the full intellectual scope and range of Levinas's proposal. Shuster's view of anachronism thereby provokes an assessment of the world and our place in it. A particular understanding of Jewish philosophy emerges, not only through the traditions it encompasses, but also through an understanding of the relationship between humans and their world. In the end, Levinas's suggestion is examined theoretically as much as practically, revealing what's at stake for Judaism as much as for the world.
Research Interests: Philosophy, Jewish Studies, Theodor Adorno, Jewish Mysticism, Phenomenology, and 15 moreJewish History, Walter Benjamin, Émmanuel Lévinas, Stanley Cavell, Jewish - Christian Relations, Jewish Thought, Jewish Philosophy, Medieval Jewish Philosophy, Medieval Jewish History, Modern Jewish Philosophy, Modern Jewish History, Jewish Cultural Studies, Maimonides, German-Jewish Studies, and Modern Jewish Thought
Even though it’s frequently asserted that we are living in a golden age of scripted television, television as a medium is still not taken seriously as an artistic art form, nor has the stigma of television as “chewing gum for the mind”... more
Even though it’s frequently asserted that we are living in a golden age of scripted television, television as a medium is still not taken seriously as an artistic art form, nor has the stigma of television as “chewing gum for the mind” really disappeared.
Philosopher Martin Shuster argues that television is the modern art form, full of promise and urgency, and in New Television, he offers a strong philosophical justification for its importance. Through careful analysis of shows including The Wire, Justified, and Weeds, among others; and European and Anglophone philosophers, such as Stanley Cavell, Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger, and John Rawls; Shuster reveals how various contemporary television series engage deeply with aesthetic and philosophical issues in modernism and modernity. What unifies the aesthetic and philosophical ambitions of new television is a commitment to portraying and exploring the family as the last site of political possibility in a world otherwise bereft of any other sources of traditional authority; consequently, at the heart of new television are profound political stakes.
Philosopher Martin Shuster argues that television is the modern art form, full of promise and urgency, and in New Television, he offers a strong philosophical justification for its importance. Through careful analysis of shows including The Wire, Justified, and Weeds, among others; and European and Anglophone philosophers, such as Stanley Cavell, Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger, and John Rawls; Shuster reveals how various contemporary television series engage deeply with aesthetic and philosophical issues in modernism and modernity. What unifies the aesthetic and philosophical ambitions of new television is a commitment to portraying and exploring the family as the last site of political possibility in a world otherwise bereft of any other sources of traditional authority; consequently, at the heart of new television are profound political stakes.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, American Studies, Philosophy, Aesthetics, and 100 morePolitical Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of Agency, Legitimacy and Authority, Moral Psychology, Art History, Media Studies, New Media, Media and Cultural Studies, Art, Modernism (Literature), Art Theory, Film Studies, Film Theory, Television Studies, Political Theory, Material Culture Studies, Popular Culture, Digital Media, Contemporary Art, Queer Theory, Visual Culture, Film Analysis, Virtue Ethics, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Theodor Adorno, Literary Criticism, Textual Criticism, Cultural Theory, Political Science, Modern Art, Phenomenology, Identity (Culture), Philosophy of Film, Philosophy of Art, Film Genre, Politics, Continental Philosophy, American modernism, Digital Culture, Culture, Everyday Aesthetics, Literary Theory, Walter Benjamin, Culture Studies, Martin Heidegger, Modernist Literature (Literary Modernism), Social Media, Television genres, Modernism (Political Science), Television And Social Change, Modernity, Stanley Cavell, U.S. Television Studies, Film History, Normativity, History of Art, Wittgenstein, Philosophy of Culture, Modernism (Art History), Later Wittgenstein, Aesthetics and Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics, Hermeneutic Phenomenology, Fascism and Modernism, Art Criticism, Cult television, Modernism, Moral Philosophy, John Rawls, Aesthetics of (new) media, Series TV, Television History, Film Aesthetics, Visual Arts, Hannah Arendt, Television Drama, Television, Film, Ordinary Language Philosophy, Aesthetics and Theory of Arts, Film and Media Studies, Mass media, The Wire, Post-modernism, Television series, TV studies, Television Aesthetics, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, American serial television, Philosophy of Language (esp. Wittgenstein, Rule-following, and the Normativity of Meaning), Art Theory and Criticism, Social TV, Film and Television, TV Series, Film and television studies, Cinema and Television, Politics of Aesthetics, Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics, and Modernism and Posmodernism in Post World War Two North America
Since the book does not include a bibliography at the end of the book, and since a few have asked, here is the complete bibliography for New Television.
Research Interests: Aesthetics, Television Studies, Philosophy of Art, Television genres, Television And Social Change, and 13 moreStanley Cavell, U.S. Television Studies, Art Criticism, Cult television, Television History, Hannah Arendt, Television Drama, Television, Television series, American serial television, Film and Television, Film and television studies, and Cinema and Television
Ever since Kant and Hegel, the notion of autonomy—the idea that we are beholden to no law except one we impose upon ourselves—has been considered the truest philosophical expression of human freedom. But could our commitment to autonomy,... more
Ever since Kant and Hegel, the notion of autonomy—the idea that we are beholden to no law except one we impose upon ourselves—has been considered the truest philosophical expression of human freedom. But could our commitment to autonomy, as Theodor Adorno asked, be related to the extreme evils that we have witnessed in modernity? In Autonomy after Auschwitz, Martin Shuster explores this difficult question with astonishing theoretical acumen, examining the precise ways autonomy can lead us down a path of evil and how it might be prevented from doing so.
Shuster uncovers dangers in the notion of autonomy as it was originally conceived by Kant. Putting Adorno into dialogue with a range of European philosophers, notably Kant, Hegel, Horkheimer, and Habermas—as well as with a variety of contemporary Anglo-American thinkers such as Richard Rorty, Stanley Cavell, John McDowell, and Robert Pippin—he illuminates Adorno’s important revisions to this fraught concept and how his different understanding of autonomous agency, fully articulated, might open up new and positive social and political possibilities. Altogether, Autonomy after Auschwitz is a meditation on modern evil and human agency, one that demonstrates the tremendous ethical stakes at the heart of philosophy.
Shuster uncovers dangers in the notion of autonomy as it was originally conceived by Kant. Putting Adorno into dialogue with a range of European philosophers, notably Kant, Hegel, Horkheimer, and Habermas—as well as with a variety of contemporary Anglo-American thinkers such as Richard Rorty, Stanley Cavell, John McDowell, and Robert Pippin—he illuminates Adorno’s important revisions to this fraught concept and how his different understanding of autonomous agency, fully articulated, might open up new and positive social and political possibilities. Altogether, Autonomy after Auschwitz is a meditation on modern evil and human agency, one that demonstrates the tremendous ethical stakes at the heart of philosophy.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of Action, and 53 moreKant, Jewish Studies, Political Theory, Frankfurt School (Philosophy), Virtue Ethics, Theodor Adorno, Genocide Studies, Critical Social Theory, Continental Philosophy, Continental Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy), German Idealism, Hegel, Kant's Practical Philosophy, German-Jewish literature, Philosophy of History, Personal and Moral Autonomy, Modernity, Stanley Cavell, Holocaust Studies, Philosophy of Culture, Autonomy, Immanuel Kant, Modernism, Jewish Thought, G.W.F. Hegel, Moral Philosophy, Jewish Philosophy, Adorno, The Frankfurt School, Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, Frankfurt School, Critical and Cultural Theory, Kant's Political Philosophy, Continental (vs.) Analytical Philosophy, Adorno, Benjamin and Bloch, Theodor W. Adorno, Holocaust Literature, Kantian ethics, Nazi Germany, Holocaust, Post-Kantian Philosophy, 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, German-Jewish Studies, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, German romanticism and idealism, The Holocaust, Holocaust Shoah, Philosophy after Auschwitz, History of Philosophy, Critical Theory/Frankfurt School, Adorno/Horkheimer, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
This book presents critical engagements with the work of Hent de Vries, widely regarded as one of the most important living philosophers of religion. Contributions by a distinguished group of scholars discuss the role played by religion... more
This book presents critical engagements with the work of Hent de Vries, widely regarded as one of the most important living philosophers of religion. Contributions by a distinguished group of scholars discuss the role played by religion in philosophy; the emergence and possibilities of the category of religion; and the relation between religion and violence, secularism, and sovereignty. Together, they provide a synoptic view of how de Vries’s work has prompted a reconceptualization of how religion should be studied, especially in relation to theology, politics, and new media. The volume will be of particular interest to scholars of religious studies, theology, and philosophy.
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology of Religion, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, and 15 moreTheology, Political Theory, Religion and Politics, Theodor Adorno, Political Science, Continental Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy), Émmanuel Lévinas, Politics and Religion, Political Theology, Religious Studies, Secularism, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Theology and Religious Studies, Anthropology of Religion, and History of Philosophy
This book is concerned with the connection between the formal structure of agency and the formal structure of genocide. The contributors employ philosophical approaches to explore the idea of genocidal violence as a structural element in... more
This book is concerned with the connection between the formal structure of agency and the formal structure of genocide. The contributors employ philosophical approaches to explore the idea of genocidal violence as a structural element in the world. Logics of Genocide will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in philosophy, critical theory, genocide studies, Holocaust and Jewish studies, history, and anthropology.
Research Interests: Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Political Theory, Violence, and 15 moreRace and Racism, Genocide Studies, Political Science, Political Violence and Terrorism, Continental Philosophy, Colonialism, Post-Colonialism, Political Violence, Racism, Holocaust Studies, Comparative genocide, Gender And Violence, Anti-Racism, Holocaust, and Contemporary Continental Philosophy
Our introduction to the first issue of Adorno Studies.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, European Studies, German Studies, German Literature, Philosophy, and 38 moreAesthetics, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Media Studies, Feminist Theory, Political Theory, Marxism, German History, Social Philosophy, Frankfurt School (Philosophy), Theodor Adorno, Cultural Theory, Critical Social Theory, Continental Philosophy, Continental Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy), German Language, German Idealism, Marxist theory, Holocaust Studies, Aesthetics and Politics, Moral Philosophy, Adorno, Social and Political Philosophy, Frankfurt School, Theodor W. Adorno, German, Karl Marx, Holocaust Literature, Nazi Germany, Holocaust, Germany, 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, Nazism, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, History of Philosophy, Adorno/Horkheimer, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
"Introduction to the special issue of MLN on 'Philosophy and New American TV Series.'
Edited by Paola Marrati and Martin Shuster. Issue 127:5 (2012)."
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Edited by Paola Marrati and Martin Shuster. Issue 127:5 (2012)."
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Research Interests: Cultural History, Philosophy, Aesthetics, Visual Studies, Art, and 22 moreFilm Studies, Television Studies, Photography, Contemporary Art, Digital Cinema, Philosophy of Film, Metaphysics of Time, Photography Theory, Cultural Memory, Philosophy of Time, Aesthetics and Politics, Cinema, History of photography, Series TV, Film Aesthetics, Photography (Visual Studies), Memory, TV Series, Film Style, Cinema and Television, Film Narrative, and History of Film Theory and Criticism
This chapter offers a close reading of Byron Balasco's show Kingdom (Audience Network, 2014-17), arguing that it is in fact one of the most sophisticated and self-conscious reflections on the medium of new television yet available. I... more
This chapter offers a close reading of Byron Balasco's show Kingdom (Audience Network, 2014-17), arguing that it is in fact one of the most sophisticated and self-conscious reflections on the medium of new television yet available. I argue Kingdom is an important show exactly because it both compels as a serious work of art and meditates in a remarkable way on the entire genre of new television. The chapter moves between an analysis of the show and reflections on the medium of new television.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Philosophy, Aesthetics, Art History, Peace and Conflict Studies, and 14 moreTelevision Studies, Contemporary Art, Critical Social Theory, Martial Arts, Television genres, Television And Social Change, Stanley Cavell, U.S. Television Studies, Cult television, Frankfurt School, Television History, Film Aesthetics, Television, and Cinema and Television
A Spanish translation of my Monetization of Masochism piece from the Philosophical Salon (https://thephilosophicalsalon.com/the-monetization-of-masochism/). Translated by Jordi Maiso.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Social Theory, Algorithms, Political Philosophy, Political Theory, and 15 moreFrankfurt School (Philosophy), Data Analysis, Political Science, Critical Social Theory, Max Horkheimer, Social Media, Facebook, Adorno, Social and Political Philosophy, Frankfurt School, Erich Fromm, Theodor W. Adorno, Moral and Political Philosophy, Facebook Studies, and Adorno/Horkheimer
This essay reflects on the recent use of the 1980s as a setting in so much of new television. I argue that this invocation is meant to harness and present the 1980s as a sort of mythological milieu for our present self-understanding.... more
This essay reflects on the recent use of the 1980s as a setting in so much of new television. I argue that this invocation is meant to harness and present the 1980s as a sort of mythological milieu for our present self-understanding. Understanding this point about the 1980s and mythology allows us to situate certain ontological and philosophical insights about new television. In what follows, I pursue these claims along two fronts: first, in a more general discussion of the philosophical specifics of the medium of new television, and, second, in a more specific discussion of the series Black Monday (Showtime, 2019–).
Research Interests: American Studies, Aesthetics, Art History, Media Studies, Television Studies, and 15 morePhenomenology, Philosophy of Art, Myths and Symbols as carriers of unconscious content, Walter Benjamin, Television genres, Stanley Cavell, U.S. Television Studies, Aesthetics and Politics, Film Aesthetics, Visual Arts, Television, Nostalgia, Film and Television, Film and television studies, and Cinema and Television
This is a short aphorism as part of a special dossier on the 70th anniversary of Theodor W. Adorno's _Minima Moralia_.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Media Studies, and 15 moreNew Media, Frankfurt School (Philosophy), Theodor Adorno, Continental Philosophy, German Idealism, Social Media, Adorno, Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, Frankfurt School, Critical and Cultural Theory, Theodor W. Adorno, 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Labor, and Adorno/Horkheimer
This is a short reflection on some themes around the role of philosophy as (a social) practice within the work Theodor W. Adorno and Stanley Cavell. (Published for a special issue of Conversations: The Journal of Cavellian Studies on... more
This is a short reflection on some themes around the role of philosophy as (a social) practice within the work Theodor W. Adorno and Stanley Cavell. (Published for a special issue of Conversations: The Journal of Cavellian Studies on Cavell and Dialectic).
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Religion, German Studies, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, and 15 morePhilosophy Of Religion, Theology, Frankfurt School (Philosophy), American Philosophy, Theodor Adorno, Continental Philosophy, Continental Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy), Stanley Cavell, Simone Weil, Adorno, Theodor W. Adorno, Ordinary Language Philosophy, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Dialectics, and Negative Dialectics
Those of us who are captivated by new television (the sort of serialized television that began largely in the early 1990s), often find ourselves rewatching episodes or whole series. Why? What is the philosophical significance of the... more
Those of us who are captivated by new television (the sort of serialized television that began largely in the early 1990s), often find ourselves rewatching episodes or whole series. Why? What is the philosophical significance of the phenomenon of rewatching? In what follows, I engage with the ontology of television series in order to think about these questions around rewatching. I conclude by reflecting on what the entire discussion might suggest about the medium of new television, about ourselves, and also about our world and the possibilities of art in it.
Research Interests: Aesthetics, Art History, Media Studies, New Media, Art Theory, and 15 moreFilm Studies, Television Studies, Phenomenology, Philosophy of Film, Philosophy of Art, Continental Philosophy, Stanley Cavell, U.S. Television Studies, Film and Media Studies, Cinema Studies, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Cinema Theory, Cinema and Television, Philosophy of Film and Photography, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
This chapter traces some ways that film and new television portray the past and "think" about history and historiography. Tracing elements of the ontology and phenomenology involved in these media, the chapter also explores some... more
This chapter traces some ways that film and new television portray the past and "think" about history and historiography. Tracing elements of the ontology and phenomenology involved in these media, the chapter also explores some particular instances of how the past has been portrayed in these media recently, especially in, on one hand, the recent work of Quentin Tarantino, and on the other hand, the emergence of what has been termed new television.
Research Interests: History, Intellectual History, Aesthetics, Art Theory, Film Theory, and 15 moreTelevision Studies, Contemporary Art, Historiography, Phenomenology, Philosophy of Art, Continental Philosophy, U.S. Television Studies, Film and History, Phenomenology (Research Methodology), Cinema Studies, Television Aesthetics, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Art Theory and Criticism, Cinema and Television, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
This essay explores the connection(s) between antiblackness and antisemitism by reference to four distinct traditions: Fanon and Freudian psychoanalysis, the Frankfurt School, the work of Cedric Robinson, and the social contract tradition... more
This essay explores the connection(s) between antiblackness and antisemitism by reference to four distinct traditions: Fanon and Freudian psychoanalysis, the Frankfurt School, the work of Cedric Robinson, and the social contract tradition in early modern political philosophy. The basic claim is that antiblackness and antisemitism are intimately related through the logic and the functioning—the phenomenology—of the state in the Western social contract tradition. Showing how this is the case allows us to answer questions that otherwise remain unanswered for the other traditions referenced above. In short, this essay shows how antiblackness forcefully emerges from the logic of the state in the social contract tradition, while antisemitism develops as a warped negation of this logic.
Research Interests: 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Social Contract Theory, Race and Racism, Frankfurt School (Philosophy), Theodor Adorno, and 15 moreHobbes, Critical Race Theory, Antisemitism (Prejudice), Thomas Hobbes, Racism, Antisemitism/Racisms, History Of Modern Philosophy, Adorno, Frankfurt School, Theodor W. Adorno, Frantz Fanon, Anti-Racism, Antisemitism, Franz Fanon, and Adorno/Horkheimer
This article reflects on the recent prominence of direct address--characters speaking directly to the camera--within new television. With particular reference to Phoebe Waller-Bridge's _Fleabag_ (BBC Three, 2016-19), the phenomenon of... more
This article reflects on the recent prominence of direct address--characters speaking directly to the camera--within new television. With particular reference to Phoebe Waller-Bridge's _Fleabag_ (BBC Three, 2016-19), the phenomenon of direct address is in this context situated amid the broader history of pictorial art, especially painting and the problem of theatricality first introduced by Denis Diderot in the eighteenth century and taken up in the last century by Michael Fried. The article concludes by showing how Fleabag's use of direct address both fits neatly into this art history and moves beyond it, showing especially how Fleabag's use of direct address substantially comments on modernity, on the status of art (especially new television), and even on the status of religion.
Research Interests: Aesthetics, Art History, Media Studies, New Media, Television Studies, and 15 morePhilosophy of Film, Philosophy of Art, Continental Philosophy, Stanley Cavell, U.S. Television Studies, Genre Theory, Modernism, Television, TV studies, Television Aesthetics, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, American serial television, TV Series, Cinema and Television, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
This is a response to Seyla Benhabib’s _Exile, Statelessness, and Migration_. I focus on Benhabib’s engagement with Arendt and her assessment of stateless persons in addition to what such a discus- sion suggests for the scope of our... more
This is a response to Seyla Benhabib’s _Exile, Statelessness, and Migration_. I focus on Benhabib’s engagement with Arendt and her assessment of stateless persons in addition to what such a discus- sion suggests for the scope of our historical inquiry.
Research Interests: German Studies, International Relations, Political Philosophy, Political Theory, Political Science, and 13 morePolitical Violence and Terrorism, Politics, Continental Philosophy, Emotions And Political Theory, Political Theory (Political Science), Jewish Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy, Modern Jewish Philosophy, International Political Theory, Statelessness, 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, and Seyla Benhabib
Research Interests:
This article explores the psychoanalytic points of commonality between stand-up comedy shows and fascist rallies, arguing that both are concerned with the creation of a "mass" audience. The article explores the political significance of... more
This article explores the psychoanalytic points of commonality between stand-up comedy shows and fascist rallies, arguing that both are concerned with the creation of a "mass" audience. The article explores the political significance of this analogy by arguing that while stand-up shows are not as regressive as fascist rallies, their "mass" character does run counter to any political aspirations they may have toward the end of critical consciousness raising.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Psychoanalysis, Aesthetics, Ethics, Applied Ethics, and 15 moreMoral Psychology, Performing Arts, Art Theory, Comedy, Contemporary Art, Theodor Adorno, Philosophy of Art, Fascism, Sigmund Freud, Moral Philosophy, Adorno, Philosophy of Humor, Theodor W. Adorno, Psychoanalysis and art, and Anti-Fascism
This chapter traces some thoughts about the state of education in the contemporary world, with particular references to traditions of critical theory and ordinary language philosophy, especially Theodor W. Adorno, Stanley Cavell, and... more
This chapter traces some thoughts about the state of education in the contemporary world, with particular references to traditions of critical theory and ordinary language philosophy, especially Theodor W. Adorno, Stanley Cavell, and Hannah Arendt.
Research Interests: Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Education, Teacher Education, and 15 morePhilosophy of Education, Higher Education, Educational Psychology, Educational Research, Theodor Adorno, Phenomenology, Continental Philosophy, Stanley Cavell, Adorno, Frankfurt School, Hannah Arendt, Theodor W. Adorno, 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
This chapter examines the traditional understanding of Horkheimer and Adorno's dialectic of enlightenment (exemplified by Jürgen Habermas and others), arguing that the traditional reading – with its stress on instrumental rationalization... more
This chapter examines the traditional understanding of Horkheimer and Adorno's dialectic of enlightenment (exemplified by Jürgen Habermas and others), arguing that the traditional reading – with its stress on instrumental rationalization and a regressive or self‐destructive history – misses Horkheimer and Adorno's deepest aspirations, which are to offer an argument against a particular conceptualization of human agency (as apperceptive). Stressing instead, that Kant is the central interlocutor, the chapter shows how understanding this Kantian inheritance allows us to bring into focus the radical nature of Horkheimer and Adorno's argument: that it is meant to bring into focus the problematic nature of conceiving human agency as dependent on apperception. In presenting this problem, the chapter shows how the ontogenetic origin of self‐consciousness becomes a crucial issue, and the thought of Sigmund Freud is marshaled both to make this clear and to show how Horkheimer and Adorno's account can benefit from making explicit its potential debt to Freud.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, European Studies, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Political Theory, and 15 moreFrankfurt School (Philosophy), Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Continental Philosophy, Enlightenment, German Idealism, Sigmund Freud, Immanuel Kant, Adorno, Frankfurt School, Critical and Cultural Theory, Theodor W. Adorno, Philosophy of the Enlightenment, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, and Adorno/Horkheimer
This essay argues that Rorty's reliance on love evinces a residual bit of dogmatism on his part (with some guest appearances by Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor W. Adorno).
Research Interests: Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Agency, Pragmatism, Political Theory, Political Science, and 15 moreHermeneutics, Phenomenology, Continental Philosophy, Continental Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy), Walter Benjamin, Philosophy of History, Arendt, Richard Rorty, Philosophy of Love, Pragmatism (Philosophy), Hannah Arendt, Continental (vs.) Analytical Philosophy, American Pragmatism, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, and History of Philosophy
Research Interests: German Studies, French Studies, Phenomenology, Continental Philosophy, German Idealism, and 15 moreHegel, Recognition, Politics of Recognition, Émmanuel Lévinas, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Levinas, Hermeneutic Phenomenology, G.W.F. Hegel, 19th-century German philosophy, Fichte, 20th-century German philosophy, 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, The Hegelian Recognition / The Dialectic of Master and Slave Relationship, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, and German romanticism and idealism
Using the work of French philosopher Henri Bergson, this chapter contributes towards understanding why and how states pursue homogenization, especially along economic, gendered, and racial lines (i.e., why do states oftentimes support... more
Using the work of French philosopher Henri Bergson, this chapter contributes towards understanding why and how states pursue homogenization, especially along economic, gendered, and racial lines (i.e., why do states oftentimes support white supremacy, patriarchy, and virulent forms of capitalism?) This chapter especially thinks about these issues in the context of Bergson's philosophy of language in relation to political philosophy.
Research Interests: Race and Racism, Genocide Studies, Nationalism, Continental Philosophy, Colonialism, and 15 moreContemporary French Philosophy, History of Capitalism, Henri Bergson, Capitalism, Nationalism And State Building, Modernity, Stanley Cavell, Racism, Bergson, French philosophy, 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, Patriarchy, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Nation-State, and State Violence
I present Maimonides as a phenomenologist. In order to avoid the charge of ahistoricism, I carefully show how both Maimonides’s Muslim milieu and his background in Aristotle’s thought are the source of his phenomenological orientation. On... more
I present Maimonides as a phenomenologist. In order to avoid the charge of ahistoricism, I carefully show how both Maimonides’s Muslim milieu and his background in Aristotle’s thought are the source of his phenomenological orientation. On point of the former, I stress how the Quran and the 11th century Muslim philosopher, Al-Ghazālī (who was likely the source for the title of Maimonides’s Guide for the Perplexed), themselves evince a distinct phenomenology in their understanding of what it means to possess certainty. On the point of the latter, I show, following the phenomenologist, Martin Heidegger, that Aristotle himself (also a well known source for Maimonides) can be understood to have phenomenological commitments. Maimonides’s phenomenological approach depends on revealing how a not wholly cognitive, but rather practical, embodied relationship to the world—what philosophers might call a “pre- predicative” relationship—is expressive equally of a practical orientation towards ultimate reality (God), and of a fundamentally “positive” attitude that invites us perpetually to engage in an exploration of the world. Through a phenomenological investigation of the world and its elements, we are led to the certainty—albeit a practical certainty—of the existence of God. Acknowledging this phenomenological core allows us to see Maimonides’s Guide and broader work in a new light.
Research Interests: Religion, Ontology, Medieval Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Jewish Studies, and 15 moreMedieval History, Aristotle, Medieval Studies, Phenomenology, Quranic Studies, Martin Heidegger, Jewish Thought, Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (d. 1111), Jewish Philosophy, Medieval Jewish Philosophy, Jewish-Muslim Relations, Medieval Jewish History, Maimonides, Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle Ages, and History of Philosophy
This chapter examines the philosophy of history that animates the work of Theodor W. Adorno and Walter Benjamin, two prominent figures in and for the Frankfurt School. Along the way, it compares and contrasts this philosophy of history to... more
This chapter examines the philosophy of history that animates the work of Theodor W. Adorno and Walter Benjamin, two prominent figures in and for the Frankfurt School. Along the way, it compares and contrasts this philosophy of history to earlier moments in German philosophy, especially to Hegel and Marx, arguing that it shares much with these earlier moments, but ultimately moves beyond them due to a particular ethical—and thereby political—impulse.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Cultural History, German Studies, Marxism, Frankfurt School (Philosophy), and 15 moreTheodor Adorno, Post-Marxism, Continental Philosophy, German Idealism, Hegel, Walter Benjamin, Philosophy of History, G.W.F. Hegel, Adorno, Frankfurt School, Theodor W. Adorno, 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, The Hegelian Recognition / The Dialectic of Master and Slave Relationship, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, and Kant and German idealism
This article presents Hannah Arendt's novel conception of evil, arguing that what animates and undergirds this conception is an understanding of human agency, of what it means to be a person at all. The banality of evil that Arendt... more
This article presents Hannah Arendt's novel conception of evil, arguing that what animates and undergirds this conception is an understanding of human agency, of what it means to be a person at all. The banality of evil that Arendt theorizes is exactly the failure to become a person in the first place—it is, in short, the evil of being a nobody. For Arendt, this evil becomes extreme when a mass of such nobodies becomes organized by totalitarianism. This article focuses on the connection between Arendt's understanding of personhood and her conception of evil, showing how Arendt falls into a Kantian tradition of prioritizing apperception— thinking—as central for human agency. In this way, the article shows that thinking—being a person—is central to Arendt's work, thereby prioritizing and making sense of her claim in _The Human Condition_ that one is never “more active” than when thinking.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Political Sociology, German Studies, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, and 46 moreEthics, Philosophy of Agency, Philosophy of Action, Applied Ethics, Political Theory, Political Psychology, Virtue Ethics, Genocide Studies, Critical Thinking, Political Science, Phenomenology, Political Violence and Terrorism, Continental Philosophy, German Idealism, Psychology of Evil, Personhood, Political History, Kant's Practical Philosophy, Martin Heidegger, Morality (Social Psychology), European Politics, Stanley Cavell, History of Political Thought, Holocaust Studies, Comparative genocide, Sociology of Ethics and Morality, Arendt, Immanuel Kant, Kant's Political Philosophy, Hannah Arendt, Problem of Evil, Theology of Suffering and Evil, Kantian ethics, Nazi Germany, Agency, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Morality, Morality and Rationality, Evil in literature, Law and Morality, Banality of Evil, Ethics and Morality, Sociolology of Morality, Morality and Personhood, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
As the contemporary nation state order continues to produce genocide and destruction,1 and thereby refugees, and as the national and international landscape continues to see the existence of refugees as a political problem, Jean Améry’s... more
As the contemporary nation state order continues to produce genocide and destruction,1 and thereby refugees, and as the national and international landscape continues to see the existence of refugees as a political problem, Jean Améry’s 1966 essay “How Much Home Does a Person Need?” takes on a curious urgency. I say ‘curious’ because his own conclusions about the essay’s aims and accomplishments appear uncertain and oftentimes unclear (note how Améry himself surprisingly suggests that his remarks will have “little general validity” – a statement that will need to be properly situated).2 My aim in what follows, then, is twofold. First, I intend to make clear the rich, suggestive, but perhaps underdeveloped phenomenological assumptions involved in this essay. Second, I want to show—but, unfortunately, only show—how these assumptions and Améry’s analysis points to a problem at the heart of contemporary conceptions of statehood, one which demands significantly more discussion.
Research Interests: German Studies, French Literature, German Literature, Political Philosophy, Ethics, and 34 moreJewish Studies, French History, French Studies, German History, Refugee Studies, Embodiment, Phenomenology, Continental Philosophy, Jewish History, Contemporary French Philosophy, Holocaust Studies, 20th Century German History, Phenomenology of the body, German Literature and Culture, Jewish Thought, Jewish Philosophy, Modern Jewish Philosophy, Phenomenology of the Body (Philosophy), Phenomenology of Space and Place, Judaism, Modern Jewish History, Jewish Cultural Studies, Embodiment Theory, Refugees, Holocaust Literature, Nazi Germany, Holocaust, Modern Jewish Thought, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, The Holocaust, Holocaust Shoah, Jean Améry, Refugee memory, and Jewish Responses to the Holocaust
This article elaborates Theodor W. Adorno’s understanding of ‘negation’ and ‘negative theology.’ It proceeds by introducing a typology of negation within modern philosophy roughly from Descartes onwards, showing how Adorno both fits and... more
This article elaborates Theodor W. Adorno’s understanding of ‘negation’ and ‘negative theology.’ It proceeds by introducing a typology of negation within modern philosophy roughly from Descartes onwards, showing how Adorno both fits and also stands out in this typology. Ultimately, it is argued that Adorno’s approach to negation and thereby to negative theology is throughout distinguished and infused by an ethical commitment.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Religion, Sociology of Religion, German Studies, German Literature, and 36 morePhilosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Jewish Studies, Theology, History of Religion, Systematic Theology, Philosophical Theology, Theological Ethics, Frankfurt School (Philosophy), Theodor Adorno, Jewish Mysticism, Continental Philosophy, Continental Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy), German Language, German Idealism, 20th Century German History, Analytic Philosophy of Religion, German Literature and Culture, Jewish Thought, Negative Theology, Jewish Philosophy, History Of Modern Philosophy, Adorno, Frankfurt School, 19th-century German philosophy, Modern Jewish Philosophy, Theodor W. Adorno, Religious Studies, 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, Judaic Studies, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Negation, History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Critical Theory/Frankfurt School
My aim in this article is above all to suggest that Stanley Cavell's _The World Viewed_ is best understood through its reliance on a (phenomenological) notion of 'worldhood' or 'world.'
Research Interests: Aesthetics, Art History, Media Studies, Art Theory, Film Studies, and 27 moreFilm Theory, Photography, Film Analysis, Painting, Philosophy of Film, Philosophy of Art, Martin Heidegger, Stanley Cavell, Film History, History of Art, Wittgenstein, Later Wittgenstein, Philosophy of Photography, Aesthetics and Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics, Heidegger, Film Aesthetics, Visual Arts, Photography (Visual Studies), Heidegger and Technology, Aesthetics and Theory of Arts, Heidegger's Being and Time, Manet, Andre Bazin, Erwin Panofsky, Michael Fried, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
The chief aim of this essay is to inquire whether there is a relationship between being a linguistic agent and an ethical one. A secondary aim, however, is to show the deep parallels, and in fact, frequent common intuitions, between... more
The chief aim of this essay is to inquire whether there is a relationship between being a linguistic agent and an ethical one. A secondary aim, however, is to show the deep parallels, and in fact, frequent common intuitions, between Donald Davidson, Stanley Cavell, and Emmanuel Levinas, three figures who are generally not put into conversation with each other. In addition to revealing especially the fertile ways in which Levinas and important segments of Anglo-American philosophy can be linked, such a procedure also allows us to register nuances in these traditions that otherwise might remain obscured by their more traditional contexts of inquiry (whether positivism, ordinary language philosophy, structuralism, post-structuralism, pragmatism, or otherwise). At the most fundamental level, all three thinkers present a picture of language as intimately related to the question—indeed, the most primitive experience—of the other. My argument unfolds in three moves. First, I use Davidson and Levinas to present a picture of the fundamental workings of language in order to stress how any understanding of language requires a conceptualization of community. Second, bringing Cavell into the conversation, I show that considering the notion of community in this context invariably introduces fundamental questions about our relation to the other, questions which are not solely epistemological in nature. Indeed, because the skeptical problem about other minds is parasitic on a more fundamental question about our most basic relation to the other, we can say that to use language is already to stand in an ethical relation to the other. In this way, being a language user always already implies a commitment, minimal to be sure, but nonetheless inescapable, to ethics. Third, and in conclusion, I highlight some of the most basic implications for such an understanding of ethics, especially with an eye towards how skeptical concerns play out in this ethical register. My approach throughout is constructive in order to present and analyze the relationship between language and ethics (and thereby, as my conclusion makes clear, implicitly religion).
Research Interests: Religion, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Language, Analytic Philosophy, Ethics, and 22 morePhilosophy Of Religion, Moral Psychology, History of Analytic Philosophy, Languages and Linguistics, Religion and Politics, Phenomenology, Continental Philosophy, Continental Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy), Continental Philosophy of Religion (Theology), Émmanuel Lévinas, Stanley Cavell, Wittgenstein, Levinas, Analytic Philosophy of Religion, Later Wittgenstein, Donald Davidson, Moral Philosophy, Religious Studies, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Morality, Philosophy of Religion, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
I argue that Theodor W. Adorno is best understood as a moral perfectionist thinker in the stripe of Stanley Cavell. This is significant because Adorno’s moral philosophy has not received serious interest from moral philosophers, and much... more
I argue that Theodor W. Adorno is best understood as a moral perfectionist thinker in the stripe of Stanley Cavell. This is significant because Adorno’s moral philosophy has not received serious interest from moral philosophers, and much of this has to do with difficulties in situating his thought. I argue that once Adorno is situated in this way, then, like Cavell, he offers an interesting moral perspective that will be of value to a variety of moral theorists. My argument proceeds in two broad steps: first, I show that Cavell and Adorno share a distinct epistemological orientation, one that centers around the impossibility of knowledge in certain situations, and trades on a Kantian and post-Kantian picture. Second, I show that their moral perfectionism fundamentally rests on such epistemology.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Ethics, Moral Psychology, Frankfurt School (Philosophy), Virtue Ethics, and 20 moreAmerican Philosophy, Theodor Adorno, Continental Philosophy, Kant's Practical Philosophy, Stanley Cavell, Moral Perfectionism, Sociology of Ethics and Morality, Moral Philosophy, Frankfurt School, Continental (vs.) Analytical Philosophy, Theodor W. Adorno, Moral and Political Philosophy, Anthropology of ethics and morality, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Morality, Cavell, Connections between analytic and continental philosophy, Critical Theory/Frankfurt School, Morality and Personhood, and Continental and American Philosophy
In this article, I have a modest goal: (1) to sketch how Kant can avoid the charge of “subjective idealism” advanced against him by John McDowell and (2) to do so with reference to Kant’s last work, the so-called Opus Postumum. I am... more
In this article, I have a modest goal: (1) to sketch how Kant can avoid the charge of “subjective idealism” advanced against him by John McDowell and (2) to do so with reference to Kant’s last work, the so-called Opus Postumum. I am interested in defending Kant on this point because doing so not only (a) shows how we need not—at least not because of this point about idealism—jump ship from Kant to Hegel (as McDowell and others think), but also (b) suggests that the Opus Postumum is a text that ought to be explored more by Kantians and those interested in Kant. A subsidiary, implicit point is that (c) we need not shy away from McDowell’s reading of Kant in order to oppose McDowell’s criticism of Kant. In order to defend against McDowell’s charge, I focus on the argument of the Refutation of Idealism, showing how this argument evolves in Kant’s later works, especially the Opus Postumum.
Research Interests: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Kant, Metaphilosophy, Moral Psychology, and 16 moreIdealism, Metaphysics of Consciousness, Kant-studies, German Idealism, Hegel, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Edmund Husserl, Self Consciousness, Immanuel Kant, John McDowell, Kant & neo-Kantianism, Wilfrid Sellars and post-Sellarsian philosophy, Contemporary Philosophy, Post-Kantian Philosophy, Transcendental Idealism, and Opus postumum
Although the ethics of humor is a relatively new field, it already seems to have achieved a consensus about ethics in general. In this paper, I implicitly (1) question the view of ethics that stands behind many discussions in the ethics... more
Although the ethics of humor is a relatively new field, it already seems to have achieved a consensus about ethics in general. In this paper, I implicitly (1) question the view of ethics that stands behind many discussions in the ethics of humor; I do this by explicitly (2) focusing on what has been a chief preoccupation in the ethics of humor: the evaluation of humor. Does the immoral content of a joke make it more or less humorous? Specifically, I analyze whether a sexist joke is more humorous because of its sexism. Contra recent trends in the ethics of humor, I answer this question affirmatively. To this end, the paper presents a detailed and novel reading of Bergson's philosophy of humor, which I argue connects most easily and significantly to the alternate view of ethics I have in mind.
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A close reading of FX's show, _Justified_ and its philosophical significance for conversations about the idea of America, and more generally, its philosophical significance as a representative of "new American TV series."
Research Interests: Ethics, Media Studies, New Media, Feminist Theory, Film Studies, and 40 moreFilm Theory, Television Studies, Marxism, Social Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy, Sexuality, Philosophy of Film, American Culture, Poetics, Gender, Sigmund Freud, Television genres, Television And Social Change, Stanley Cavell, U.S. Television Studies, Michel Foucault, Epistemic Justification, Normativity, Social Norms, Cult television, Series TV, Social and Political Philosophy, Television History, Film Aesthetics, Solidarity Economy, Television Drama, Television, Film and Media Studies, Structuralism, Television series, FX, Film and Television, TV Series, Theories of Socialism, Cinema and Television, Narrative Complexity, Quality TV, Antiglobalization Social Movements, Justified, and Latin American feminisms
Many have been struck by Hannah Arendt’s remarks on loneliness in the concluding pages of The Origins of Totalitarianism, but very few have attempted to deal with the remarks in any systematic way. What is especially striking about this... more
Many have been struck by Hannah Arendt’s remarks on loneliness in the concluding pages of The Origins of Totalitarianism, but very few have attempted to deal with the remarks in any systematic way. What is especially striking about this state of affairs is that the remarks are crucial to the account contained therein, as they betray a view of agency that undergirds the rest of the account. This article develops Arendt’s thinking on loneliness throughout her corpus, showing how loneliness is connected to thoughtlessness. In so doing, the article also suggests a connection between Arendt’s notion of loneliness and Stanley Cavell’s notion of skepticism. This connection, it is argued, allows us not only fully to answer a question Arendt leaves unaddressed (the cause loneliness), but also allows us to see how we, as agents and users of language, are perpetually prone to loneliness.
Research Interests:
"From the Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies.
This paper explores what philosophy has and can/cannot say about genocide, ultimately making a case for philosophy's relevance to the study of genocide."
This paper explores what philosophy has and can/cannot say about genocide, ultimately making a case for philosophy's relevance to the study of genocide."
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Political Philosophy, Political Theory, Theodor Adorno, Genocide Studies, and 13 moreMax Horkheimer, Populism, Michel Foucault, Holocaust Studies, Comparative genocide, Social and Political Philosophy, Media and Politics, History of Communism, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno/Horkheimer, Transition in Central and Eastern Europe, and European political cultures
In this article, I examine Cavell's understanding and deployment of the catego- ries of 'evil' and the 'monstrous' in The Claim of Reason. Arguing that these notions can- not be understood apart from Cavell's reliance on the notion of an... more
In this article, I examine Cavell's understanding and deployment of the catego- ries of 'evil' and the 'monstrous' in The Claim of Reason. Arguing that these notions can- not be understood apart from Cavell's reliance on the notion of an 'internal relation,' I trace this notion to its Wittgensteinian roots. Ultimately, I show that Cavell's view of evil allows us to navigate between two horns of a classic dilemma in thinking about evil: it al- lows us to see evil as neither a privation nor as a positive force with supra-human po- tency.
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This article is a philosophical re-examination of Ecclesiastes using the work of Martin Heidegger, particularly his early work in Being and Time. Heidegger's focus on death, temporality, and history provides a powerful and compelling... more
This article is a philosophical re-examination of Ecclesiastes using the work of Martin Heidegger, particularly his early work in Being and Time. Heidegger's focus on death, temporality, and history provides a powerful and compelling framework for understanding these same themes in Ecclesiastes. In elaborating these philosophical motifs and correspondences, this article proposes that לכה should be understood as an analog to Heidegger's concept of Geschichtlichkeit (historicity). If לכה is understood as such, then most of the traditionally puzzling terms in Ecclesiastes (e.g. םלעה, למע, החמש) can be made sense of using the aforementioned philosophical framework. This framework additionally shows that Ecclesiastes (like Being and Time) cannot be understood as a proto-existentialist text.
Research Interests: Theology, Hebrew Bible, Biblical Studies, Old Testament, Qoheleth, and 10 moreHeidegger, Literature and Philosophy, Biblical Interpretation, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East, Wisdom Literature, Book of Ecclesiastes, Heidegger's Being and Time, Biblical Exegesis, Ecclesiastes, and Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
This is a translation of Hegel's fragment, "C. Die Wissenschaft" published originally in German in _Gesammelte Werke_, Bank 9, 438-443.
Research Interests: Philosophy, Metaphysics, Phenomenology, German Idealism, Hegel, and 9 morePhilosophy of History, Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, 19th-century German philosophy, Young Hegelians, Phenomenology of Spirit, German Philosophy, The Hegelian Recognition / The Dialectic of Master and Slave Relationship, and History of Philosophy
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Political Economy, Political Philosophy, Political Theory, Political Science, and 24 morePolitics, Continental Philosophy, German Idealism, Contemporary French Philosophy, Hegel, Kant's Practical Philosophy, Georg Friedrich Wilhem Hegel, Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, 19th-century German philosophy, Kant's Political Philosophy, John McDowell, 20th-century German philosophy, Hegel (Philosophy) (Philosophy), Hegel's Philosophy of Right, German Philosophy, The Hegelian Recognition / The Dialectic of Master and Slave Relationship, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Robert Pippin, German romanticism and idealism, Hegelianism, Hegel's aesthetics, Neo-Hegelianism, and Hegelian Dialectic
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Psychoanalysis, European Studies, Economics, Political Economy, and 21 morePolitical Philosophy, Political Theory, Marxism, Marxist Economics, Frankfurt School (Philosophy), Theodor Adorno, Political Science, Aldous Huxley, Max Horkheimer, Continental Philosophy, Marxist theory, Adorno, Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, Frankfurt School, Continental (vs.) Analytical Philosophy, Theodor W. Adorno, Karl Marx, 19th and 20th-century European philosophy, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Adorno/Horkheimer, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
My review of Jeffrey Veidlinger's important book about the pogroms that took place—mostly in what is now Ukraine—during the years of 1918–1921.
Research Interests: Eastern European Studies, European Studies, German Studies, Jewish Studies, German History, and 15 moreGenocide Studies, Holocaust Studies, Comparative genocide, Ukraine (History), Holocaust Literature, Holocaust, Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Genocide, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Shoah, The Holocaust, Holocaust Shoah, Holocaust History and Historiography, and History of Ukraine
Research Interests: Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Jewish Studies, Political Theory, and 15 moreTalmud, Political Science, Phenomenology, Continental Philosophy, Continental Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy), Émmanuel Lévinas, Levinas, Phenomenology of the body, Jewish Thought, Jewish Philosophy, Problem of Evil, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Modern Jewish Thought, Emmanuel Levinas, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Sociology of Religion, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, and 15 moreJewish Studies, Violence, History of Religion, Religion and Politics, Sexual Violence, Jewish History, Second Temple Judaism, Religion and Violence/Nonviolence, Jewish Thought, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Religion and Violence, Religious Studies, Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Anthropology of Religion
Book Review
Research Interests:
Research Interests: German Studies, Jewish Studies, Jewish Mysticism, Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, and 11 moreContinental Philosophy, German Idealism, Martin Heidegger, Anti-Semitism, Hermeneutic Phenomenology, Heidegger, Jewish Philosophy, Modern Jewish History, Nazi Germany, Post-Kantian Philosophy, and 19th and 20th-century European philosophy
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Sex and Gender, Women's Studies, Television Studies, Gender and Sexuality, and 15 moreGender, Television genres, Television And Social Change, U.S. Television Studies, Cult television, Television History, Television Drama, Television, Women and Culture, Women and Gender Studies, Television series, American serial television, Film and Television, Film and television studies, and Cinema and Television
Research Interests: European Studies, Philosophy, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy, Ethics, and 24 morePhilosophy of Agency, Art History, Art Theory, Contemporary Art, Theodor Adorno, Philosophy of Art, Continental Philosophy, Enlightenment, Music Aesthetics, Theological Aesthetics, History of Art, Aesthetics and Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics, Adorno, Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, Film Aesthetics, Visual Arts, Theodor W. Adorno, Philosophy of the Enlightenment, Agency, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Adorno/Horkheimer, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Philosophy, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy, Modernism (Literature), and 19 moreFrankfurt School (Philosophy), Theodor Adorno, Critical Social Theory, Philosophy of Art, Modernist Literature (Literary Modernism), Robert Musil, Modernism (Political Science), Music Aesthetics, Modernism (Art History), Aesthetics and Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics, Modernism, Adorno, Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, Frankfurt School, Critical and Cultural Theory, Theodor W. Adorno, Post-modernism, and Adorno/Horkheimer
Review of Stuart Jeffries's Grand Hotel Abyss (Verso, 2016)
