The Science, Politics, and Ontology of Life-Philosophy

by Campbell, Scott M.; Bruno, Paul W.

• ISBN13: 9781472591586
• ISBN10: 1472591585
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-11-20
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Life-philosophy, central to 19th-century philosophical thought, is concerned with the meaning, value and purpose of life. This much-needed study returns to the central philosophical questions of Lebensphilosophie and reveals the ascendency of 'life' in contemporary philosophical thinking.

Scholars from the disciplines of political theory, aesthetics, bioethics and ontology examine how the notion of life has made its way into contemporary philosophical discussions. They explore three main themes: the shift toward biological and technological views of life; the political implications of our conceptions of life; and the re-emergence of the idea of life in recent philosophical discussions about, for example, care of the self, scepticism, tragedy, desire, the emotions, and history.

Anticipating new directions of philosophical thinking, this study restores a vital school of thought to crucial considerations about the dangers of contemporary politics and the threat of new technologies.

Author Biography

Scott M. Campbell is Professor of Philosophy at Nazareth College, Rochester, New York, USA.

Paul W. Bruno is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Framingham State University, Massachusetts, USA.

Table of Contents

Notes of Contributors \ Acknowledgements \ Editors’ Introduction Scott M. Campbell and Paul W. Bruno \ Part I: Life-Contexts in Dilthey, Nietzsche, and Bergson \ 1. Dilthey as a Philosopher of Life Rudolf A. Makkreel \ 2. Biological and Historical Life: Heidegger between Levinas and Dilthey Eric Nelson \ 3. Your Money or Your Life: Using Nietzsche's Critique of Mechanism and Platonism to Defend the Biosphere Ronnie Hawkins \ 4. The Comprehensive Meaning of Life in Bergson Florence Caeymaex \ Part II: Converging Technologies \ 5. Information, Self-Reference, and the Magical Realism of "Life" H. Peter Steeves \ 6. The Artificialization of Life: Designing Self-Organization Jean-Pierre Dupuy \ 7. eLife: From Biology to Technology and Back Again Jos de Mul \ 8. Philosophy of Life in the Age of Information: Seinsgeschichte and the Task of "An Ontology of Ourselves" Charles Bonner \ Part III: Life, Power, Politics \ 9. “Without Inside or Outside”: Nietzsche, Pluralism and the Problem of the Unity of Experience Michael J. O’Neill \ 10. Anachronism and Powerlessness: An Essay on Postmodernism Leonard Lawlor \ 11. Taking Hold of Life: Liberal Eugenics, Autonomy, and Biopower Serena Parekh \ Part IV: Philosophies of Life \ 12. The Care of the Self and The Gift of Death: Foucault and Derrida on Learning How to Live Edward McGushin \ 13. The Tragic Sense of Life in Heidegger's Readings of Antigone Scott M. Campbell \ 14. Living the Pyrrhonian Way Stephen Clark \ 15. Intuition as the Business of Philosophy: Wittgenstein and Philosophy’s Turn to Life Neil Turnbull \ 16. On Life and Desire: Kant, Lewontin, and Girard Paul Bruno \ 17. The Wisdom of Emotions Jason Howard \ 18. History in the Service of Life: Nietzsche’s Genealogy Allison Merrick \ Index