E-SUPPLEMENT TO THE JOURNAL FOR CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS THEORY
At the outset of Genesis, we are presented with two different pictures of God. The first depicts God as the creator of the world and, thus, as transcendent to it. This implies that we cannot understand his creative action in worldly terms. If, for example, we say that “in the beginning” God caused the world […]
This the second part of a two-part series. The first part can be found here. Merleau-Ponty wants to avoid the division of latent and manifest content, instead pointing to the inability to speak as a simple, unified condition. Both the shock of the earthquake and the maternal prohibition caused a refusal of coexistence on the part of […]
This is the first section in a two-part series. The three predominant theories of humor within the Western canon — relief, incongruity, and superiority— reveal something about why we laugh when we do. There is a central insight to each of the three theories, regarding the psychological, conceptual, and social forces at play in our experience of […]
The following is the second part in a two-part installment. The first part can be found here. This article was originally published online in the blog of the American Philosophical Association, November 2017. II: Psychiatry of the Event What will philosophy say to us? It will say: “We must think the event.” We must think […]
The following is the first part in a two-part installment. This article was originally published online in the blog of the American Philosophical Association, November 2017. I: Trauma and Event Philosophy is either reckless or it is nothing. —Alain Badiou, Second Manifesto for Philosophy [1] Instead of being reckless, as Badiou demands of philosophy, by which […]
Ciccariello-Maher, George. Decolonizing Dialectics. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2017. 256 pages. ISBN-10: 0822362430. Hardcover, paperback, e-book. “Truly to escape Hegel,” Michele Foucault warns, “involves an exact appreciation of the price we have to pay to detach ourselves from him.” Considering that price, George Ciccariello-Maher has decided that Hegel’s methodological legacy –– the dynamic movement of conflictive […]
The following is the fifth lecture in an eight-lecture series. The most recent one can be found here. The existentialist approach you heard about last week emphasized the individual aspect of human interaction with God: the reality of God is impressed upon the individual person when they reflect upon their lives and their boundaries. Yet […]
The following is the second part in a two-part installment. You can find the first part here. III. Beyond Literalism and Metaphor As a point of contrast with suggestions outlined in the previous section, we might note that those who have been eager that animism not be thought of in terms of poetry include Tylor. […]
The following is the first part in a two-part installment. The phrase “a language in which to think of the world” derives from a discussion by the philosopher D. Z. Phillips of the notion of animism or, more specifically, of certain forms of animistic expression exemplified by particular Native Americans.[1] Commenting on an earlier essay […]
Inventing Afterlives: The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Life After Death. Janes, Regina M. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2018. 384 pages. ISBN: 9780231185714. Why do we form beliefs about the afterlife? What cultural work do these beliefs perform? In her beautifully written, learned book, Inventing Afterlives, Regina Janes proposes answers to these questions. […]