Philip Beitchman – författare

The Poverty of Philosophy: Readings in Non and Other Philosophies and Arts of Imminence kicks off with an 8,000 word overture, “Poverty of Philosophy” introducing non-philosophy and its progenitor, François Laruelle, his inspirations by, rapports and connections with other ‘philosophers of immanence’ (Nietzsche, Henry, Deleuze, Derrida...) as well as exploring, and also drawing some conclusions as to the possibilities of its present, and/or feasible impact on culture, politics and the arts, there follows the Anthology of NON, and other Philosophies and Arts of Immanence, comprised of some 300 excerpts from some 140 published sources, many signed by Laruelle, and many of the others by French, Anglophone, as well as Eastern European writers, artists, philosophers, scholars, critics and thinkers who extend his insights in the various domains of human endeavor. Very often translated from the French, and frequently commented, these excerpts are arranged alphabetically under 88 topics, from Actor to World, the complete list of them following my introduction, in a table of contents keyed to page #’s for each of them. Following are close readings in Beitchman’s five review essays, two of works of Laruelle, and of three by scholars here very much in his wake: “The Machinery of Control (Sophie Lesueur, “Pensée machine et ordre politique”)”; “Universe, World, Philo-Fiction and Non-Action in Non-philosophy (François Laruelle, Tétralogos:)”; “Ecology, Sacred and Profane (François Laruelle, En dernière humanité: la nouvelle science écologique)”; “The Philo-Fictions of Katerina Kolozova (Cut of the Real and 5 other works)”; “A Leap through Language: Non-Philosophy, Science and the Arts (Sergueï Khoruzhiy, “La non-philosophie de François Laruelle entre le Charybde de la transraison et le Scylla du scientisme”).” These essays provide a synoptic overview of non-philosophy from its inception to its latest non-standard philosophy avatar. Generally Beitchman’s focus is on language and vocabulary, and their associated arts, principally literary and performing—and on the way terms like World, Universe, Superposition and Philo-fiction are deployed, defined, re-defined or refused definition; also how modern science, once fractals, now more Quantum and Wave theory, in concert with these imponderables, expands the horizon of the thinkable, conceivable and above all the feasible.

The Poverty of Philosophy: Readings in Non and Other Philosophies and Arts of Imminence kicks off with an 8,000 word overture, “Poverty of Philosophy” introducing non-philosophy and its progenitor, François Laruelle, his inspirations by, rapports and connections with other ‘philosophers of immanence’ (Nietzsche, Henry, Deleuze, Derrida...) as well as exploring, and also drawing some conclusions as to the possibilities of its present, and/or feasible impact on culture, politics and the arts, there follows the Anthology of NON, and other Philosophies and Arts of Immanence, comprised of some 300 excerpts from some 140 published sources, many signed by Laruelle, and many of the others by French, Anglophone, as well as Eastern European writers, artists, philosophers, scholars, critics and thinkers who extend his insights in the various domains of human endeavor. Very often translated from the French, and frequently commented, these excerpts are arranged alphabetically under 88 topics, from Actor to World, the complete list of them following my introduction, in a table of contents keyed to page #’s for each of them. Following are close readings in Beitchman’s five review essays, two of works of Laruelle, and of three by scholars here very much in his wake: “The Machinery of Control (Sophie Lesueur, “Pensée machine et ordre politique”)”; “Universe, World, Philo-Fiction and Non-Action in Non-philosophy (François Laruelle, Tétralogos:)”; “Ecology, Sacred and Profane (François Laruelle, En dernière humanité: la nouvelle science écologique)”; “The Philo-Fictions of Katerina Kolozova (Cut of the Real and 5 other works)”; “A Leap through Language: Non-Philosophy, Science and the Arts (Sergueï Khoruzhiy, “La non-philosophie de François Laruelle entre le Charybde de la transraison et le Scylla du scientisme”).” These essays provide a synoptic overview of non-philosophy from its inception to its latest non-standard philosophy avatar. Generally Beitchman’s focus is on language and vocabulary, and their associated arts, principally literary and performing—and on the way terms like World, Universe, Superposition and Philo-fiction are deployed, defined, re-defined or refused definition; also how modern science, once fractals, now more Quantum and Wave theory, in concert with these imponderables, expands the horizon of the thinkable, conceivable and above all the feasible.

Explores the literary, philosophical, and cultural implications of Cabala during the Renaissance.Alchemy of the Word is a study of the literary, philosophical, and cultural ramifications of Cabala during the Renaissance. Important intellectual figures from 1490 to 1690 are considered, including Agrippa, Dee, Spenser, Shakespeare, Browne, and Milton; Cabala's more recent impact is also discussed. Cabala, a hermeneutic style of Biblical commentary of Jewish origin, is based on the notion that, along with an inscribed Decalogue, Moses received a secret, oral supplement that provides a symbolic, allegorical, and moral qualification of the literal law of religion.Building on the work of Gershom Scholem, Joseph Blau, Harold Bloom, François Secret, Michel de Certeau, and Arthur Waite, Beitchman takes a fresh look at the "mystical" text through the lens of postmodernist theory. In a model developed from Deleuze-Guattari's "nomadology" to explore issues related to the Zohar, he shows that Cabala was a deconstruction of Renaissance authority. Like deconstruction, Cabala presents familiar material from novel and sometimes provocative perspectives. It allows space for modifiability, tolerance and humanity, by widening the margins between the letter of the law and the demands of an existence whose rules were so rapidly changing.An exercise in the literary analysis of "sacred texts" and an examination of the mystical element in literary works, Alchemy of the Word is also an experiment in new historicism. It shows how the reincarnation theories of F. M. Van Helmont, which impacted heavily on the seventeenth century English cabalistic circle of Henry More and Ann Conway, demonstrate at once the originality and boldness of Cabala, but also its desperation, constituting a theoretical parallel to the continental "acting out" of the Sabbatian heresy. Because of the debacle of the Sabbatian apostasy (conversion to Islam), Cabala subsequently declined in importance as a religious devotion, becoming either a matter of cults and heterodoxies or being sublimated into literary theory and practice.