Being singular plural

Bibliographic Information

Being singular plural

Jean-Luc Nancy ; translated by Robert D. Richardson and Anne E. O'Byrne

(Meridian : crossing aesthetics / Werner Hamacher & David E. Wellbery, editors, . Crossing Aesthetics)

Stanford University Press, 2000

  • : hbk
  • : pbk

Other Title

Être singular pluriel

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [191]-207)

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: hbk ISBN 9780804739740

Description

This book, by one of the most innovative and challenging contemporary thinkers, consists of an extensive essay from which the book takes its title and five shorter essays that are internally related to "Being Singular Plural." One of the strongest strands in Nancy's philosophy is his attempt to rethink community and the very idea of the social in a way that does not ground these ideas in some individual subject or subjectivity. The fundamental argument of the book is that being is always "being with," that "I" is not prior to "we," that existence is essentially co-existence. Nancy thinks of this "being-with" not as a comfortable enclosure in a pre-existing group, but as a mutual abandonment and exposure to each other, one that would preserve the "I" and its freedom in a mode of imagining community as neither a "society of spectacle" nor via some form of authenticity. The five shorter essays impressively translate the philosophical insight of "Being Singular Plural" into sophisticated discussions of national sovereignty, war and technology, identity politics, the Gulf War, and the tragic plight of Sarajevo. The essay "Eulogy for the Melee," in particular, is a brilliant discussion of identity and hybridism that resonates with many contemporary social concerns. As Nancy moves through the exposition of his central concern, being-with, he engages a number of other important issues, including current notions of the "other" and "self" that are relevant to psychoanalytic, political, and multicultural concepts. He also offers astonishingly original reinterpretations of major philosophical positions, such as Nietzsche's doctrine of "eternal recurrence," Descartes's "cogito," and the nature of language and meaning.

Table of Contents

  • Preface 1. Of being singular plural 2. War, right, sovereignty - Techne 3. Eulogy for the Mele
  • e 4. The surprice of the event 5. Human excess 6. Cosmos Baselius Notes.
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780804739757

Description

This book, by one of the most innovative and challenging contemporary thinkers, consists of an extensive essay from which the book takes its title and five shorter essays that are internally related to "Being Singular Plural." One of the strongest strands in Nancy's philosophy is his attempt to rethink community and the very idea of the social in a way that does not ground these ideas in some individual subject or subjectivity. The fundamental argument of the book is that being is always "being with," that "I" is not prior to "we," that existence is essentially co-existence. Nancy thinks of this "being-with" not as a comfortable enclosure in a pre-existing group, but as a mutual abandonment and exposure to each other, one that would preserve the "I" and its freedom in a mode of imagining community as neither a "society of spectacle" nor via some form of authenticity. The five shorter essays impressively translate the philosophical insight of "Being Singular Plural" into sophisticated discussions of national sovereignty, war and technology, identity politics, the Gulf War, and the tragic plight of Sarajevo. The essay "Eulogy for the Melee," in particular, is a brilliant discussion of identity and hybridism that resonates with many contemporary social concerns. As Nancy moves through the exposition of his central concern, being-with, he engages a number of other important issues, including current notions of the "other" and "self" that are relevant to psychoanalytic, political, and multicultural concepts. He also offers astonishingly original reinterpretations of major philosophical positions, such as Nietzsche's doctrine of "eternal recurrence," Descartes's "cogito," and the nature of language and meaning.

Table of Contents

  • Preface 1. Of being singular plural 2. War, right, sovereignty - Techne 3. Eulogy for the Mele
  • e 4. The surprice of the event 5. Human excess 6. Cosmos Baselius Notes.

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Details

  • NCID
    BA51279871
  • ISBN
    • 0804739749
    • 0804739757
  • LCCN
    00057326
  • Country Code
    us
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Original Language Code
    fre
  • Place of Publication
    Stanford, Calif.
  • Pages/Volumes
    xvi, 207 p.
  • Size
    22 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
  • Parent Bibliography ID
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