Sartwell presents an extreme and provocative philosophy of life. He explores what happens if we love this world precisely as it is, with all of its pain, with all of its evil, with all of its bizarre and arbitrary and monstrous thereness. In a highly personal and brutally direct style, Sartwell explores the themes of transgressive sexuality, political anarchism, addiction, death, and embodiment. The author engages contemporary and historical debates in cultural criticism, metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy, and expresses deep suspicions about them. He asserts that scientific philosophical conceptualization is a movement toward death, a rejection of reality The author engages contemporary and historical debates in cultural criticism, metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy, and expresses deep suspicions about them. He asserts that scientific philosophical conceptualization is a movement toward death, a rejection of reality Moral and political values—the ethical rejection of the particular precisely from within the particular—are, Sartwell claims, an assault on human authenticity. Thus, transgression—which is described as the affirmation of embodiment through obscenity—is something we radically require.

Irreverent and incisive critique of liberal theories of the state.

The Routledge Hispanic Studies Companion to Nineteenth-Century Latin America provides a unique, comprehensive, and critical overview of Latin American studies in the nineteenth century, including the major regions and subfields. The essays in this collection offer a complex, yet accessible transdisciplinary overview of the heterogeneous and asynchronous historical, political, and cultural processes that account for the becoming of Latin America in the nineteenth century—from Mexico and the Caribbean Basin to the Southern Cone. The thematic division of the book into six parts allows for a better understanding of the ways in which different themes are interrelated and affords readers the opportunity to draw their own connections among subfields. The volume assembles a robust sample of recent and innovative scholarship on the subject, reformulating from fresh perspectives commonly held views on the issues that characterized the era. Additionally, it provides an overarching analysis of the field and introduces cutting-edge concepts all within one expansive volume, opening the dialogue about topics that share common denominators and modeling how those topics can be approached from a variety of perspectives. The innovative volume will be of interest to students and scholars of Latin American studies and Spanish studies. Readers unfamiliar with the period will acquire a comprehensive view of its complexities, while specialists will discover new interpretations and archives.

"Anarchism and the Crisis of Representation is intended to provide readers of literary criticism, art history, political philosophy, and the social sciences with a fresh perspective from which to revisit dead-end theoretical debates over concepts such as "agency," "essentialism," and "realism" - and, at the same time, to offer a new take on anarchism itself, challenging conventional readings of the tradition. The anarchism that emerges from this reinterpretation is neither a musty rationalism nor a millenarian irrationalism, but a living body of thought that points beyond the sterile antinomies of post-modern and Marxist theory."--BOOK JACKET.

Presents strikingly original and contemporary answers to the most traditional philosophical problems in epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and political theory. A work of maximally ambitious scope with a foundation in humility, Entanglements sets out a philosophical system of the sort rarely seen over the past century. In a discipline marked by greater and greater specialization and the narrowing of increasingly insular traditions and approaches, Crispin Sartwell has spent his career engaging widely across philosophical topics and texts. Here he brings together his philosophical positions in a unified system that is coherent across the issues and subdisciplines in the field. In addition to presenting his own theories of truth, knowledge, free will, beauty, and the political state, Sartwell’s criticisms of other figures and movements provide an overview of the history of philosophy. The project of presenting an overarching philosophical system is a resolutely old-fashioned one, and in undertaking it, Sartwell is not only encapsulating an extraordinarily unique and productive career but also nudging philosophy back to its broader aims of explaining the world and our place in it. “One of the greatest strengths of this book is its breadth, not just in topics but in the range of ideas drawn on—it’s unusual to find a scholar who can move effortlessly from J. L. Austin to Heidegger to Emerson. Original, engaging, and accessible, there’s nothing else like it.” — Roderick T. Long, Auburn University

2005 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Emma Goldman called Voltairine de Cleyre "the most gifted and brilliant anarchist woman America ever produced." Yet her writings and speeches on anarchism and feminism—as radical, passionate, and popular at the time as Goldman's—are virtually unknown today. This important book brings de Cleyre's eloquent and incisive work out of undeserved obscurity. Twenty-one essays are reprinted here, including her classic works: "Anarchism and the American Tradition," "The Dominant Idea," and "Sex Slavery." Three biographical essays are also included: two new ones by Sharon Presley and Crispin Sartwell, and a rarely reprinted one from Emma Goldman. At a time when the mainstream women's movement asked only for the right to vote and rarely challenged the status quo, de Cleyre demanded an end to sex roles, called for economic independence for women, autonomy within and without marriage, and offered a radical critique of the role of the Church and State in oppressing women. In today's world of anti-globalization actions, de Cleyre's anarchist ideals of local self-rule, individual conscience, and decentralization of power still remain fresh and relevant.

Drawing on the work of popular American writers, American philosophers, and Continental thinkers, this book provides a new interpretation of pragmatism and American philosophy.

American Philosophy offers the first historically framed introduction to the tradition of American philosophy and its contemporary engagement with the world. Born out of the social and political turmoil of the Civil War, American philosophy was a means of dealing with conflict and change. In the turbulence of the 21st century, this remains as relevant as ever. Placing the work of present-day American philosophers in the context of a history of resistance, through a philosophical tradition marked by a commitment to pluralism, fallibilism and liberation, this book tells the story of a philosophy shaped by major events that call for reflection and illustrates the ways in which philosophy is relevant to lived experience. This book presents a survey of the historical development of American philosophy, as well as coverage of key contemporary issues in America including race theory, feminism, indigenous peoples, and environmentalism and is the ideal introduction to the work of the major American thinkers, past and present, and the sheer breadth of their ideas and influence.

Over the course of nearly a decade, Phillip McReynolds conducted a series of interviews with prominent American philosophers including, among others, Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam, Joseph Margolis, Richard Bernstein, Bruce Wilshire, John Lachs, Richard Shusterman, and Crispin Sartwell. The American Philosopher: Dialogues on the Meaning of Life and Truth brings these interviews together, bridginga wide variety of topics both personal and professional, and ultimately addressing what it means to be an American philosopher. With interviews that are both philosophical and biographical in nature, this book will be of interest to those who specialize in pragmatism and the history of American philosophy, academics in fields such as comparative literature, history, political science, sociology, and American studies, and to anyone with an interest in “America” as an idea

A work of maximally ambitious scope with a foundation in humility, Entanglements sets out a philosophical system of the sort rarely seen over the past century. In a discipline marked by greater and greater specialization and the narrowing of increasingly insular traditions and approaches, Crispin Sartwell has spent his career engaging widely across philosophical topics and texts. Here he brings together his philosophical positions in a unified system that is coherent across the issues and subdisciplines in the field. In addition to presenting his own theories of truth, knowledge, free will, beauty, and the political state, Sartwell's criticisms of other figures and movements provide an overview of the history of philosophy. The project of presenting an overarching philosophical system is a resolutely old-fashioned one, and in undertaking it, Sartwell is not only encapsulating an extraordinarily unique and productive career but also nudging philosophy back to its broader aims of explaining the world and our place in it.