Time and Philosophy: A History of Continental Thought

425 Pages·2011·3.76 MB·English

by  John McCumber

TIME AND PHILOSOPHY

TIME AND PHILOSOPHY
A History of Continental Thought
John McCumber
Acumen
© John McCumber, 2011
Th is book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2011 by Acumen
Acumen Publishing Limited
4 Saddler Street
Durham
DH1 3NP
www.acumenpublishing.co.uk
isbn: 978-1-84465-275-4 (hardcover)
isbn: 978-1-84465-276-1 (paperback)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Typeset in Minion Pro.
Printed and bound in the UK by MPG Books Group.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Abbreviations and note on texts ix
Introduction 1
I. Germany, 1790–1890
1. Th e collapse of Kant 15
2. Hegel discovers the past 31
3. Marx, capitalism and the future 57
4. Kierkegaard’s dreadful future 77
5. Nietzsche and the boundless future 97
II. Germany and America, 1900–1968
6. Th e return of traditional philosophy: Edmund Husserl 127
7. Th e fi nite future: Martin Heidegger 159
8. Activity and mortality: Hannah Arendt 201
9. Th e twilight of Enlightenment: Th eodor W. Adorno
and Max Horkheimer 225
III. France, 1945–2004
10. Th e future and freedom: Jean- Paul Sartre 253
11. Th e future and the disclosure of being: Simone de Beauvoir 287
12. Th e future as rupture: Michel Foucault 313
13. Th e future and hope: Jacques Derrida 331
v
CONTENTS
IV. Onwards, 2011–
14. Badiou, Rancière, and the time of equality 351
15. Life and gender in Agamben and Butler 373
Further reading 394
Bibliography 399
Index 404
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Charlton Payne compiled the suggestions for further reading. I am indebted
to my department chairs, Hans Wagener and James Schultz, and to my Dean,
Timothy Stowell, for arranging my teaching as to both time and topic so that
it could contribute to this volume. Brenda Wirkus and Dianna Taylor aff orded
me the privilege of a term at John Carroll University, during which this project
had its genesis. Tristan Palmer performed near- miraculous feats as my editor,
rounding up four excellent readers from whose reports I learned much.
Jeff rey Rice and my colleagues in the UCLA German Department have
provided ongoing inspiration and encouragement, as has Françoise Lionnet.
My greatest debt is to my students at John Carroll University, Northwestern
University and UCLA. Th ey have taught me far more than I have taught them,
and I aspire to be their worthy disciple.
vii

ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTE ON TEXTS
AA Kant, Akademie Ausgabe
BE Badiou, Being and Event
BT Heidegger, Being and Time
BW Sartre, Basic Writings
CD Kierkegaard, Th e Concept of Anxiety
CJ Kant, Critique of Judgment
CM Husserl, Cartesian Meditations
DE Horkheimer & Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment
EA Beauvoir, Th e Ethics of Ambiguity
EPM Marx, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 and the
Communist Manifesto
ES Rancière, Th e Emancipated Spectator
FR Foucault, Th e Foucault Reader
GM Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality
GT Butler, Gender Trouble
HC Arendt, Th e Human Condition
HS Agamben, Homo Sacer
KPV Kant, Critique of Practical Reason
KRV Kant, Critique of Pure Reason
OWA Heidegger, “Th e Origin of the Work of Art”
PA Rancière, Th e Politics of Aesthetics
PF Derrida, Th e Politics of Friendship
PhS Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit
QT Heidegger, “Th e Question Concerning Technology”
RH Hegel, Reason in History
SAT Agamben, Th e Signature of All Th ings
SE Agamben, State of Exception
ix