Despite what its title might suggest, Death and Desire is a meditation on life. Using the texts of Hegel, Heidegger, and Deleuze, the author argues that philosophy has been dominated by a form of thought that focuses exclusively on death. The importance of Death and Desire lies in its refusal of the morbidity of much contemporary philosophy. Its uniqueness lies in placing Hegel, Heidegger, and Deleuze in conversation. Its usefulness lies in the clarity with which it articulates and compares these very diverse thinkers.

Cultural Writing. SHIFTING BORDERS, NEGOTIATING PLACES is a compilation of papers presented at the international conference on cultural studies held at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" in 2000 and indicate some of the many directions scholars working in cultural studies have taken. Presented in both English and Italian (without translation), these papers present investigations sparked by European political and economic unification, globalization, and the place of cultural studies in apprehending and theorizing transnational change. Cultural studies may have taken hold in Italy later than...

True Freedom: Spinoza's Practical Philosophy focuses on the practicality of Spinoza's thought. This is revealed through the subsidiary themes of ethics as an experimentalism, Spinoza's conception of freedom, and the social themes of politics, religion, and the environment. While the book focuses primarily on Spinoza's major work, the Ethics. It also draws on the Theological-Political Treatise, the Political Treatise, and Spinoza's correspondence.

The sheer volume and complexity of Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus can be daunting. What is an assemblage? What is a rhizome? What is a war machine? What is a body without organs? What is becoming-animal? Brent Adkins demonstrates that all the questions raised by A Thousand Plateaus are in service to Deleuze and Guattari's radical reconstruction of the methods and aims of philosophy itself.
To achieve this he argues that the crucial term for understanding A Thousand Plateaus is 'assemblage.' An assemblage is Deleuze and Guattari's answer to the perennial philosophical question,...