Michael Staudigl – författare

The essays in this volume explore some of the disconcerting realities of fanaticism, by analyzing its unique dynamics, and considering how it can be productively confronted. The book features both analytic and continental philosophical approaches to fanaticism.

Working at the intersections of epistemology, philosophy of emotions, political philosophy, and philosophy of religion, the contributors address a range of questions related to this increasingly relevant, yet widely neglected topic. What are the distinctive features of fanaticism? What are its causes, motivations, and reasons? In what ways, if at all, is fanaticism epistemically, ethically, and politically problematic? And how can fanaticism be combatted or curtailed?

The Philosophy of Fanaticism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in epistemology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of emotions, moral psychology, and political philosophy.

The essays in this volume explore some of the disconcerting realities of fanaticism, by analyzing its unique dynamics, and considering how it can be productively confronted. The book features both analytic and continental philosophical approaches to fanaticism.

Working at the intersections of epistemology, philosophy of emotions, political philosophy, and philosophy of religion, the contributors address a range of questions related to this increasingly relevant, yet widely neglected topic. What are the distinctive features of fanaticism? What are its causes, motivations, and reasons? In what ways, if at all, is fanaticism epistemically, ethically, and politically problematic? And how can fanaticism be combatted or curtailed?

The Philosophy of Fanaticism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in epistemology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of emotions, moral psychology, and political philosophy.

Are we living in a ‘post-secular age’, and can phenomenology help us better understand the discontents of secularism? From Habermas’ claim that the secular hypothesis has failed for democratic reasons to the fact that religion, far from its predicted dwindling, is as strong as ever (or even stronger than before), some have concluded that secularism as we know it is over. Others have questioned whether we have ever truly been secular, if the concept applies only to European societies, or whether the very notion of religiosity is merely a weapon of pacification in the hands of Western universalism. The post-secular notion thus lingers between sociological fact and philosophical theory, and it is the latter that we need to investigate if we want to confront the challenges that any ‘return of religion’ entails.

Although phenomenology has furnished manifold devices to rethink religious experience in a post-metaphysical way, its investigations often remain individualistic and beholden to unproductive dichotomies. This volume assembles investigations into secularism’s discontents by addressing religion’s role in forming the fabric of contemporary societies and unveiling new constellations of faith and reason beyond many beloved modernist dichotomies (e.g. theism/atheism, myth/Enlightenment, fundamentalism/tolerance) that often go under-investigated.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Philosophical Studies.

Are we living in a ‘post-secular age’, and can phenomenology help us better understand the discontents of secularism? From Habermas’ claim that the secular hypothesis has failed for democratic reasons to the fact that religion, far from its predicted dwindling, is as strong as ever (or even stronger than before), some have concluded that secularism as we know it is over. Others have questioned whether we have ever truly been secular, if the concept applies only to European societies, or whether the very notion of religiosity is merely a weapon of pacification in the hands of Western universalism. The post-secular notion thus lingers between sociological fact and philosophical theory, and it is the latter that we need to investigate if we want to confront the challenges that any ‘return of religion’ entails.

Although phenomenology has furnished manifold devices to rethink religious experience in a post-metaphysical way, its investigations often remain individualistic and beholden to unproductive dichotomies. This volume assembles investigations into secularism’s discontents by addressing religion’s role in forming the fabric of contemporary societies and unveiling new constellations of faith and reason beyond many beloved modernist dichotomies (e.g. theism/atheism, myth/Enlightenment, fundamentalism/tolerance) that often go under-investigated.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Philosophical Studies.

This anthology offers a comprehensive introduction to the contemporary phenomenologist James R. Mensch, exploring his oeuvre and thought. Mensch''s extensive body of work spans several decades, often concretely engaging with three intersecting conditions of dialogue: Alterity, Intersubjectivity, and Embodiment. By intertwining these concepts, Mensch exposes the ever-threatening soliloquy of modern reason, calling upon us to deconstruct the conflation of human freedom with sovereignty that figures at the core of Western political thought and practice. The contributors to this book pick up these themes and explore the fragility and potentiality of our conceptions of discourse, dialogue, and the political. Moreover, and in applying Mensch''s idea of a post-foundational phenomenology, this anthology honors Mensch''s expansive work, which spans key thinkers such as Husserl, Levinas, Merleau-Ponty, and Patočka, and delves into subjects ranging from perception and time to ethics and ecology. The volume is meant for students and researchers and explores these three interwoven conditions in various ways.

Das vorliegende Buch präsentiert eine phänomenologische Analyse der verschiedenen Formen zwischenmenschlicher Gewalt  und ihrer oft unterbelichteten Beziehungen. Auf der Grundlage einer Transformation der Phänomenologie und im Rekurs auf den aktuellen Diskurs der Gewaltforschung entwickelt es einen methodologischen Rahmen für eine nicht-reduktive Analyse von Gewalt, der in angewandten phänomenologischen Fallstudien erprobt wird.

Gewalt war bislang vorwiegend in den Human‑ und den Sozialwissenschaften ein zentrales Thema, wurde aber nur allzu selten zum Gegenstand genuin philosophischer Reflexion. Um dieses Desiderat aufzugreifen und die Bedeutung philosophischer Reflexion für den Diskurs über Gewalt zu demonstrieren, entwickelt das vorliegende Buch einen phänomenologischen Ansatz zur Analyse zwischenmenschlicher Gewalt. Seine Intention besteht darin, ein Korrektiv zu den konventionellen, allzu einseitig verfahrenden instrumentalistischen, essentialistischen oder funktionalistischen Erklärungen von Gewalt vorzulegen.

Im Anschluss an eine kritische Reflexion auf zentrale Aporien des Gewaltdiskurses, denen es sich zu stellen gilt, integriert der Autor relevante Theoreme klassischer Phänomenologie mit neueren Ansätzen in einen umfassenden Analyserahmen. In drei „Fallstudien“ wird dieser Rahmen in konkreten Phänomenanalysen angewandt und der ihm zugrunde liegende weite Gewaltbegriff auf die Probe gestellt. Das Buch schließt mit einem Entwurf einer „relationalen Phänomenologie“, die es erlaubt, die vielfach unterbelichteten bzw. ausgeblendeten Beziehungen zwischen den verschiedenen Formen von Gewalt ins Auge zu fassen.

Der vorliegende Band bietet einen Überblick über das gegenwärtig an Kontur gewinnende Forschungsfeld einer Phänomenologie des Politischen. Der Diskussion zentraler Methodenfragen wird dabei ebenso Raum gewidmet, wie der Präsentation aktueller Debatten und interdisziplinärer Themenstellungen, die sich im Zeichen einer v.a. gendertheoretisch und postkolonial motivierten Politisierung der Phänomenologie herauskristallisiert haben, in Kontexten globaler "Polykrise", "Rückkehr der Religion" und "Postfaktizität" aktuell noch an Relevanz gewinnen. Methodisch leitend ist angesichts solcher Grenzprobleme eine Annäherung an das Politische in Form eines Zwischenphänomens, das sich binären Deutungen radikal entzieht und so dazu anhält, die genannten Problemlagen konstruktiv ins Auge zu fassen. In Form von Schwerpunkten fokussiert der Band entsprechend Konstellationen des Politischen, wie sie sich exemplarisch zwischen Verfahrensordnungen und ereignishafter Performanz, affektivem Anstoß und emotiver Resonanz, Innen und Außen, Immanenz des Diskurses und transzendierender Sinngebung entfalten.