Soren Kierkegaard is often cast as the forefather of existentialism and an anti-Hegelian proponent of the single individual. Yet this book calls these traditional characterizations into question by arguing that Kierkegaard offers not only a systematic critique of idealist philosophy, but more surprisingly, a political ontology that is paradoxically at home in the context of twenty-first-century philosophical and political thought. Through a close consideration of his authorship in the context of nineteenth-century German idealism, Michael O'Neill Burns argues that Kierkegaard develops an...

The Risk of Freedom presents an in-depth analysis of the philosophy of Jan Patočka, one of the most influential Central European thinkers of the twentieth century, examining both the phenomenological and ethical-political aspects of his work. In particular, Francesco Tava takes an original approach to the problem of freedom, which represents a recurring theme in Patočka's work, both in his early and later writings. Freedom is conceived of as a difficult and dangerous experience. In his deep analysis of this particular problem, Tava identifies the authentic ethical content of...

The Risk of Freedom presents an in-depth analysis of the philosophy of Jan Patočka, one of the most influential Central European thinkers of the twentieth century, examining both the phenomenological and ethical-political aspects of his work. In particular, Francesco Tava takes an original approach to the problem of freedom, which represents a recurring theme in Patočka's work, both in his early and later writings. Freedom is conceived of as a difficult and dangerous experience. In his deep analysis of this particular problem, Tava identifies the authentic ethical content of...

This book describes the reception of the Nietzschean Death of God within the Italian philosophical debate, an ambit traditionally concerned with emphasising the practical-political meaning of philosophical thinking. Nietzsche's abyssal announcement of the Death of God - "mein Wort fur Ideale" - highlights the necessity to rethink the connection between theory and praxis. This is particularly evident in the works of Italian thinkers such as Vattimo, Cacciari, Colli, Masini e Severino, who in large part have read Nietzsche's philosophy through the philosophical filter of Marxian culture, trying...

This book describes the reception of the Nietzschean Death of God within the Italian philosophical debate, an ambit traditionally concerned with emphasising the practical-political meaning of philosophical thinking. Nietzsche's abyssal announcement of the Death of God - "mein Wort fur Ideale" - highlights the necessity to rethink the connection between theory and praxis. This is particularly evident in the works of Italian thinkers such as Vattimo, Cacciari, Colli, Masini e Severino, who in large part have read Nietzsche's philosophy through the philosophical filter of Marxian culture, trying...

Yuri Lotman (1922-1993) was a prominent Russian intellectual and theorist. This book presents a new reading of his semiotic and philosophical legacy. The authors analyse Lotman's semiotics in a series of temporal contexts, starting with the rigidity of Soviet-era ideologies, through to the post-Soviet de-politicization that - paradoxically enough - ended with the reproduction of Soviet-style hegemonic discourse in the Kremlin and ultimately reignited politically divisive conflicts between Russia and Europe. The book demonstrates how Lotman's ideas cross disciplinary boundaries and their...

Axel Honneth is one of the most influential social and political philosophers in contemporary German political thought and one of the central figures of the third generation of the Frankfurt School. Honneth's philosophical project presents at once a solution to a problem that has beset Frankfurt School Critical Theory from the first generation onwards, and offers a re-conceptualisation of social philosophy and its methodology in general. Honneth's work presents a viable alternative to mainstream (especially Rawlsian) political philosophy by taking on challenges mainstream theories tend to...

Derrida and Foucault offers a major contribution to the interpretation of these two highly influentialthinkers. By tracing the moments where Derrida and Foucault's arguments converge but also where theydeviate, this book fundamentally recasts our understanding not only of these two philosophers, but of the political more broadly.

This book offers a critical assessment of Axel Honneth's complex and growing opus in social and political philosophy. It examines this in the context of the history and future of the Frankfurt School and in its relation to contemporary analytic approaches to social and political philosophy as well as postmodernist critics.

This book aims to inscribe the prominent Soviet semiologist Yurii Lotman into the analysis of political forms and components of power as seen from the context of various Russian-European encounters.