Philosophy and Its Others

William Desmond is Chairman and Professor of Philosophy in the Philosophy Department at Loyola College. He is author of Art and the Absolute: A Study of Hegel's Aesthetics, published by SUNY Press, and Desire, Dialectic and Otherness.

"I am impressed by this book's originality, its power of thought and imagination, its wisdom, its perceptiveness about matters large and small, its judiciousness. Desmond's comments concerning various figures and schools in the history of philosophy and culture, including the fashionable post-modernists and deconstructionists like Derrida, are marked by profound understanding, penetration, and critical acumen."— George L. Kline, Bryn Mawr College"The author is tackling one of the most important problems of contemporary thought. Philosophy, as taken up and developed by a professional elite, is in danger of losing touch with the concrete dimensions of experience that should serve as its target and its ground. In Philosophy and Its Others, William Desmond opens himself to a richer understanding of being human by drawing the reader's attention to the irreducible complexity of the aesthetic, religious, and ethical ways of being that blend with and support the reflective awareness that is philosophy's special province. Desmond brings a full-bodied sense of the varied texture of experience to his work, and sustains a high level of philosophical energy throughout." — Brian J. Martine, The University of Alabama in Huntsville"What I like most about this manuscript are a) the fact that it addresses what are probably the two central themes of contemporary philosophical discussion, the nature of philosophy and the meaning of otherness, b) that it does so in such a creatively different way, and c) that it brings prodigious scholarship to bear on this issue, yet wears that scholarship so lightly that it plays but a supporting role." — Merold Westphal, Fordham University

• Preface Introduction Unity and Plurality: The Wittgensteinian and Hegelian OptionUnity and Plurality: The Metaxological ViewWays of Being and MindStructure of the Work 1. Philosophy and Its Others: On Ways of Being Philosophical Philosophy's Felo de SePhilosophy as Middle MindfulnessPhilosophy and the ScholarPhilosophy and the ScientistPhilosophy and the PoetPhilosophy and the PriestPhilosophy and the RevolutionaryPhilosophy and the HeroPhilosophy and the SagePhilosophy as Metaxological 2. Being Aesthetic I. The Immediacy of the Aesthetic Dualism, the Body and Being's IntimacyPurposeless Preening and the Celebrating Body II. Aesthetic Self-mediation Beauty and the Adorning SelfBeauty and Dignity III. Art and the Aesthetic Middle Imagination as MetaxologicalBeing Imitative, Being Creative IV. Loss of the Aesthetic Middle Excessive Subjectivity: Creativity as NegativityThe Cult of Novelty V. Art and Metaxological Otherness Art and the Community of OthersAesthetic Mindfulness: Art's Tolerance of Otherness 3. Being Religious I. The Immediacy of the Sacred The Double ImageAncestor Worship and the Sacred King II. The Mediation of the Religious Middle The Open Dialectic of Trust and DistrustThe Double Piety: Sacred Terror and Gratitude III. Metaxological Openness to Sacred Otherness Naming and Not Naming: The Problem of AnthropomorphismThe Middle Way and Mystery IV. Religious Inwardness and the Metaxological Mediation of Otherness The Mystic and Religious InwardnessThe Prophet and Social Otherness V. The Problematic Religious Middle Miracles and SectsWarring ReligionsSacramental Earth? 4. Being Ethical I. The Immediacy of the Ethical Middle The Dualism of Being and the Good: On Mind and GiantsShame and the Other: On Feeding and Dining II. The Self-mediation of the Ethical Middle Free Desire: What is to be Done?Practical Wisdom and the IntermediateWork, Ethical Self-mediation and Dignity III. Ethical Inwardness and the Middle Persons and Intrinsic Value IV. The Ethical Intermediation of Otherness Ethical Will and Otherness: Two LovesEthical Civility and OthernessOn Justice and Power V. Ethical Community and Recalcitrant Otherness Malign(ed) Others: Criminals, WolfmenThe Gyre of Energy 5. Being Mindful: Thought Thinking Its Other I. First Meditation: Being Mindful and Logic Logic, Mindfulness and Unruly OthernessLogic, Being, and MindLogic, Otherness and Power II. Second Meditation: Being Mindful and Solitude Solitude and Inward ThisnessNegative Otherness and the DesertCountry and City Solitude III. Third Meditation: Being Mindful and Failure Philosophy and FailureRadical Failure: Modern Success and Stoic StrategyArt and Failure 6. Being Mindful: Thought Singing Its Other I. Song of Golden Being II. Sings of the Elemental The Elemental and OthernessDefiant SimplicityLoss of the Elemental: Denatured Being III. Songs of Death and Time Sleep, Death, The ElementalAge: Elemental Time as FleshedReversed Time IV. Song of Breakthrough V. Song of Festive Being VI. Songs of Idiot Wisdom Folly and Mind's OtherThe Reticence of PowerIdiot Wisdom Notes Bibliography Index