Atmospheres of Breathing

Lenart Škof is Professor of Philosophy and Head of the Institute for Philosophical Studies at the Science and Research Center of Koper, Slovenia, and the coeditor (with Emily A. Holmes) of Breathing with Luce Irigaray. Petri Berndtson is a doctoral candidate of philosophy at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

"With its wide-reaching overview of a number of different aspects of breathing it offers an eye-opener into the importance breathing has had throughout history for most cultures around the globe." — Paradigm Explorer"On the whole this edited volume goes some way in helping one to re-learn to see the world in a respiratory way, offering various approaches to a world in which 'everything breathes again' … Škof and Berndtson's project is indeed a worthy one, particularly when it stresses the importance of the atmosphere which is breathed in, an entity that is too often taken for granted and consumed via processes that are more often than not unconscious." — Phenomenological Reviews"Atmospheres of Breathing, the first collection of its kind, explores an emerging 'respiratory philosophy' of great consequence for philosophy and other fields. Its rich and diverse essays, many written by the pioneers of this radically new direction, show the deep historical and intercultural roots of such a philosophy, ranging from treatments of forerunners like Zhuangzi and Heraclitus to contemporary theorists of breathing such as Abram and Kleinberg-Levin. Presented here is the vision of innovative ways in which philosophy, on its own or inspired by spiritual practices, can bring breathing into the center of its concern. This is a landmark book that scintillates with brilliant and original insights. If taken as seriously as it deserves, this book has the potential to revolutionize contemporary and future thought." — Edward S. Casey, author of The World at a Glance and The World on Edge"Air, the misunderstood element, finds ways and means of advancing to places where no one reckons with its presence; and, more significantly, it makes space on its own strength for strange places where there were previously none." — Peter Sloterdijk

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionLenart Škof and Petri BerndtsonPart I. Philosophical Atmospheres of Breathing 1. Logos and Psyche: A Hermeneutics of Breathing David Michael Kleinberg-Levin2. The Possibility of a New Respiratory OntologyPetri Berndtson3. Breath as a Way of Self-Affection: On New Topologies of Transcendence and Self-TranscendenceLenart Škof4. Aesthetics of Breathing: Some ReflectionsRolf ElberfeldPart II. Philosophical Traditions of Breathing 5. The Breathing of the Air: Pre-Socratic Echoes in LevinasSilvia Benso6. Mindfulness of Breathing in Early BuddhismTamara Ditrich7. Inspiration and Expiration: Yoga Practice through Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of the BodyJames Morley8. The Concept of Qi in Chinese Philosophy: A Vital Force of Cosmic and Human BreathJana S. Rošker9. Phenomenology of the Wind and the Possibility of Preventive Medicine: A Discussion of Ki (Wind)Following Kaibara Ekiken (1630–1713)Tadashi OgawaPart III. Voices and Media of Breathing 10. "Thoughts, that Breathe"Kevin Hart11. Theater of Breath: An Artaud-Derrida Existential ConflictJones Irwin12. The Media of BreathingJohn Durham PetersPart IV. Breathful and Breathless Worlds 13. The Politics of Breathing: Knowledge on Air and RespirationMarijn Nieuwenhuis14. Breath as the Hinge of Dis-ease and HealingDrew Leder15. Invisible Suffering: The Experience of BreathlessnessHavi Carel16. Feminist Politics of BreathingMagdalena GórskaPostface 17. The Commonwealth of BreathDavid AbramContributorsIndex