The Not-Two

The Not-Two PDF Author: Lorenzo Chiesa
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262335042
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 277

Get Book Here

Book Description
A philosophical examination of the treatment of logic and God in Lacan's later psychoanalytic theory. In The Not-Two, Lorenzo Chiesa examines the treatment of logic and God in Lacan's later work. Chiesa draws for the most part from Lacan's Seminars of the early 1970s, as they revolve around the axiom “There is no sexual relationship.” Chiesa provides both a close reading of Lacan's effort to formalize sexual difference as incompleteness and an assessment of its broader implications for philosophical realism and materialism. Chiesa argues that “There is no sexual relationship” is for Lacan empirically and historically circumscribed by psychoanalysis, yet self-evident in our everyday lives. Lacan believed that we have sex because we love, and that love is a desire to be One in face of the absence of the sexual relationship. Love presupposes a real “not-two.” The not-two condenses the idea that our love and sex lives are dictated by the impossibility of fusing man's contradictory being with the heteros of woman as a fundamentally uncountable Other. Sexual liaisons are sustained by a transcendental logic, the so-called phallic function that attempts to overcome this impossibility. Chiesa also focuses on Lacan's critical dialogue with modern science and formal logic, as well as his dismantling of sexuality as considered by mainstream biological discourse. Developing a new logic of sexuation based on incompleteness requires the relinquishing of any alleged logos of life and any teleological evolution. For Lacan, the truth of incompleteness as approached psychoanalytically through sexuality would allow us to go further in debunking traditional onto-theology and replace it with a “para-ontology” yet to be developed. Given the truth of incompleteness, Chiesa asks, can we think such a truth in itself without turning incompleteness into another truth about truth, that is, into yet another figure of God as absolute being?

The Not-Two

The Not-Two PDF Author: Lorenzo Chiesa
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262335042
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 277

Get Book Here

Book Description
A philosophical examination of the treatment of logic and God in Lacan's later psychoanalytic theory. In The Not-Two, Lorenzo Chiesa examines the treatment of logic and God in Lacan's later work. Chiesa draws for the most part from Lacan's Seminars of the early 1970s, as they revolve around the axiom “There is no sexual relationship.” Chiesa provides both a close reading of Lacan's effort to formalize sexual difference as incompleteness and an assessment of its broader implications for philosophical realism and materialism. Chiesa argues that “There is no sexual relationship” is for Lacan empirically and historically circumscribed by psychoanalysis, yet self-evident in our everyday lives. Lacan believed that we have sex because we love, and that love is a desire to be One in face of the absence of the sexual relationship. Love presupposes a real “not-two.” The not-two condenses the idea that our love and sex lives are dictated by the impossibility of fusing man's contradictory being with the heteros of woman as a fundamentally uncountable Other. Sexual liaisons are sustained by a transcendental logic, the so-called phallic function that attempts to overcome this impossibility. Chiesa also focuses on Lacan's critical dialogue with modern science and formal logic, as well as his dismantling of sexuality as considered by mainstream biological discourse. Developing a new logic of sexuation based on incompleteness requires the relinquishing of any alleged logos of life and any teleological evolution. For Lacan, the truth of incompleteness as approached psychoanalytically through sexuality would allow us to go further in debunking traditional onto-theology and replace it with a “para-ontology” yet to be developed. Given the truth of incompleteness, Chiesa asks, can we think such a truth in itself without turning incompleteness into another truth about truth, that is, into yet another figure of God as absolute being?

The Italian Difference

The Italian Difference PDF Author: Lorenzo Chiesa
Publisher: re.press
ISBN: 0980666546
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 181

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume brings together essays by different generations of Italian thinkers which address, whether in affirmative, problematizing or genealogical registers, the entanglement of philosophical speculation and political proposition within recent Italian thought. Nihilism and biopolitics, two concepts that have played a very prominent role in theoretical discussions in Italy, serve as the thematic foci around which the collection orbits, as it seeks to define the historical and geographical particularity of these notions as well their continuing impact on an international debate. The volume also covers the debate around OCyweak thoughtOCO (pensiero debole), the feminist thinking of sexual difference, the re-emergence of political anthropology and the question of communism. The contributors provide contrasting narratives of the development of post-war Italian thought and trace paths out of the theoretical and political impasses of the presentOCoagainst what Negri, in the text from which the volume takes its name, calls OCythe Italian desertOCO."

The Virtual Point of Freedom

The Virtual Point of Freedom PDF Author: Lorenzo Chiesa
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 081013375X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 227

Get Book Here

Book Description
The principal motif that runs throughout The Virtual Point of Freedom is a confrontation with the discourse of freedom, or, more specifically, the falsely transgressive ideal of a total emancipation that would know no constraints. Far from delineating a supposed “subject of freedom” that would allegedly overcome alienation once and for all, the seven chapters in Chiesa’s book seek to unfold an innovative reading of the dialectical coincidence between dis-alienation and re-alienation in politics, aesthetics, and religion, using psychoanalysis as a privileged critical tool. Topics include Pier Paolo Pasolini’s attack on the visual and biological degeneration of bodies brought about by pleasure-seeking “liberal” consumerism, Giorgio Agamben’s and Slavoj Žižek’s conflicting negotiations with the Christian tradition of “poverty” and “inappropriateness” as potential redemption, and Alain Badiou’s inability to develop a philosophical anthropology that could sustain a coherent politics of emancipation. The book concludes by sketching out the figure of the partisan, a subject who makes it possible to conceive of an intersection between provisional morality and radical politics.

On Tyranny

On Tyranny PDF Author: Leo Strauss
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022603352X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 359

Get Book Here

Book Description
On Tyranny is Leo Strauss’s classic reading of Xenophon’s dialogue Hiero, or Tyrannicus, in which the tyrant Hiero and the poet Simonides discuss the advantages and disadvantages of exercising tyranny. Included are a translation of the dialogue from its original Greek, a critique of Strauss’s commentary by the French philosopher Alexandre Kojève, and the complete correspondence between the two. This revised and expanded edition introduces important corrections throughout and expands Strauss’s restatement of his position in light of Kojève’s commentary to bring it into conformity with the text as it was originally published in France.

Lacan and Philosophy

Lacan and Philosophy PDF Author: Lorenzo Chiesa
Publisher: Re.Press
ISBN: 9780992373412
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
The primary aim of this collection is to show that the topicality of Lacan's legacy to contemporary philosophy is particularly evident with regard to current debates which, in attempting to overcome the spurious divide between continental and analytic traditions, as well as between the human, social and natural sciences, have been thoroughly rethinking the notions of realism and materialism, along with their implications for aesthetics, ethics, politics, and theology. More or less explicitly, all the essays included in the present volume tackle such a complex speculative articulation by focusing on the way in which a Lacanian approach can shed new light on traditional concepts of Western philosophy, if not rehabilitate them. The 'new' in the 'new generation' that gives the title to the present collection of articles is far from rhetorical. All the authors included are under fifty years of age, most are under forty, and some are even under thirty. Without exception, they have, however, already secured a prominent position in debates concerning the relation between philosophy and psychoanalysis, or are in the process of doing so. The other contiguous novelty of this volume that marks a major shift from previous attempts at presenting Lacan in dialogue "avec les philosophes" is its markedly international dimension. Contributors reside and work in seven different countries, which are, moreover, not always their countries of origin. As the reader will be able to confirm by taking into consideration the respectful intensity of the many cross-references present in these essays - which should be taken as a very partial sedimentation of exchanges of ideas and collaborative projects that, in some cases, have been ongoing for almost a decade - geographical distance appears to have been beneficial to the overcoming of Lacan's confinement to the supposed orthodoxy of specific - provincial - schools and their pathetic fratricidal wars, whilst in parallel enhancing intellectual rigour. These pieces rethink philosophically through Lacan, with as little jargon as possible, in this order, realism, god, history, genesis and structure, writing, logic, freedom, the master and slave dialectic, and the act.

Subjectivity and Otherness

Subjectivity and Otherness PDF Author: Lorenzo Chiesa
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262532948
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Get Book Here

Book Description
The evolution of the concept of subjectivity in the works of Jacques Lacan. Countering the call by some “pro-Lacanians” for an end to the exegesis of Lacan's work—and the dismissal by “anti-Lacanians” of Lacan as impossibly impenetrable—Subjectivity and Otherness argues for Lacan as a “paradoxically systematic” thinker, and for the necessity of a close analysis of his texts. Lorenzo Chiesa examines, from a philosophical perspective, the evolution of the concept of subjectivity in Lacan's work, carrying out a detailed reading of the Lacanian subject in its necessary relation to otherness according to Lacan's orders of the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real. Chiesa emphasizes the continuity underlying apparently incompatible phases of Lacan's examination of the subject, describing Lacan's theory as a consistent philosophical system—but one that is constantly revised and therefore problematic. Chiesa analyzes each “old” theory of the subject within the framework of a “new” elaboration and reassesses its fundamental tenets from the perspective of a general psychoanalytic discourse that becomes increasingly complex. From the 1960s on, writes Chiesa, the Lacanian subject amounts to an irreducible lack that must be actively confronted and assumed; this “subjectivized lack,” Chiesa argues further, offers an escape from the contemporary impasse between the “death of the subject” alleged by postmodernism and a return to a traditional “substantialist” notion of the subject. An original treatment of psychoanalytic issues, Subjectivity and Otherness fills a significant gap in the existing literature on Lacan, taking seriously the need for a philosophical investigation of Lacanian concepts.

The Work of Art

The Work of Art PDF Author: Gérard Genette
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801482724
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description
What art is--its very nature--is the subject of this book by one of the most distinguished continental theorists writing today. Informed by the aesthetics of Nelson Goodman and referring to a wide range of cultures, contexts, and media, The Work of Art seeks to discover, explain, and define how art exists and how it works. To this end, Gérard Genette explores the distinction between a work of art's immanence--its physical presence--and transcendence--the experience it induces. That experience may go far beyond the object itself.Genette situates art within the broad realm of human practices, extending from the fine arts of music, painting, sculpture, and literature to humbler but no less fertile fields such as haute couture and the culinary arts. His discussion touches on a rich array of examples and is bolstered by an extensive knowledge of the technology involved in producing and disseminating a work of art, regardless of whether that dissemination is by performance, reproduction, printing, or recording. Moving beyond examples, Genette proposes schemata for thinking about the different manifestations of a work of art. He also addresses the question of the artwork's duration and mutability.

Modernist Idealism

Modernist Idealism PDF Author: Michael J. Subialka
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487528655
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

Get Book Here

Book Description
Modernist Idealism develops a framework for understanding modernist production as the artistic realization of philosophical concepts elaborated in German idealism.

Liberal Socialism

Liberal Socialism PDF Author: Carlo Rosselli
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400887305
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Get Book Here

Book Description
First published in 1930, amidst the collapse of socialist ideals and the onset of fascism throughout parts of Europe, Liberal Socialism is a powerful and timely document on the ethics of political action. During his confinement for his anti-fascist beliefs, the Italian political philosopher Carlo Rosselli (1899-1937) wrote this work not only as a critique of fascism, but also as an investigation into the history of Marxism and the need for a liberal reformulation of socialism. In this first English- language edition, Nadia Urbinati highlights both the historical and theoretical importance of Liberal Socialism, which continued to inspire the anti-fascist movement "Giustizia e Liberta." long after Rosselli's assassination by Mussolini's agents, and which outlines a possible rebirth of the socialist and democratic movements. Rosselli's analysis provides an illuminating interpretation of the ideological crisis of Marxism, in its positivistic version, during the late nineteenth century and exposes the intellectual weakness of revisionist efforts to delineate new versions of Marx's doctrine. He encourages readers to view socialism as an ethical ideal and to consider whether Marxist or liberal methods combine better with socialism to achieve that ideal. Rosselli opts for a liberal socialism that avoids the shortcomings of uncontrolled laissez-faire but favors state intervention to secure public services and social rights. Originally published in 1994. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The Libyan War 1911-1912

The Libyan War 1911-1912 PDF Author: Andrea Ungari
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443864927
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book Here

Book Description
The war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire for possession of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania was a crucial event both for Italian domestic and foreign policy and for the contemporary European balance of power. For Italian society the Libyan conflict was in many ways a dress rehearsal for the First World War. The propaganda campaign for the occupation of Libya, orchestrated around the myth of the “Grande Italia” and the “Grande proletaria” had an important impact on the Italian political system, even more than the military operations, testing its stability and leading to violent debate not only between the parties, but also inside the parties themselves. The essays brought together in this book illustrate the attitude of the political forces that were the main supporters of the Italian intervention in Libya, and the international context in which the war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire came about. Using new sources or re-reading the sources already known with the insight gained from the passage of a hundred years, the authors reflect on a conflict that had profound repercussions for Italian and European politics and contributed to ending the Belle Époque, raising in the minds of both the Italian and European public the specter of a new war in Europe.