In this Book

buy this book Buy This Book in Print
summary
How does the body politic reflect the nature of human embodiment? To pursue this question in a new and productive way, James Mensch employs a methodology consistent with the fact of our embodiment; he uses Merleau-Ponty’s concept of "intertwining"—the presence of one’s self in the world and of the world in one’s self—to understand the ideas that define political life.

Mensch begins his inquiry by developing a philosophical anthropology based on this concept. He then applies the results of his investigation to the relations of power, authority, freedom, and sovereignty in public life. This involves confronting a line of interpretation, stretching from Hobbes to Agamben, which sees violence as both initiating and preserving the social contract. To contest this interpretation, Mensch argues against its presupposition, which is to equate freedom with sovereignty over others. He does so by understanding political freedom in terms of embodiment—in particular, in terms of the finitude and interdependence that our embodiment entails. Freedom, conceived in these terms, is understood as the gift of others. As a function of our dependence on others, it cannot exist apart from them. To show how public space and civil society presuppose this interdependence is the singular accomplishment of Embodiments. It accomplishes a phenomenological grounding for a new type of political philosophy.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Front Matter
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. p. ix
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Acknowledgments
  2. p. xi
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Introduction
  2. pp. 3-16
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 1. The Intertwining: The Recursion of the Seer and the Seen
  2. pp. 17-23
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 2. Artificial Intelligence and the Phenomenology of Flesh
  2. pp. 24-31
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 3. Aesthetic Education and the Project of Being Human
  2. pp. 32-42
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 4.The Intertwining of Incommensurables: Yann Martel’s Life of Pi
  2. pp. 43-56
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 5. Flesh and the Limits of Self-Making
  2. pp. 57-71
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 6. Violence and Embodiment
  2. pp. 72-80
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 7. Excessive Presence and the Image
  2. pp. 81-88
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 8. Politics and Freedom
  2. pp. 89-98
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 9. Sovereignty and Alterity
  2. pp. 99-109
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 10. Political Violence
  2. pp. 110-128
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 11. Public Space
  2. pp. 129-140
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 12. Sustaining the Other: Tolerance as a Positive Ideal
  2. pp. 141-147
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 13. Forgiveness and Incarnation
  2. pp. 148-156
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Notes
  2. pp. 157-180
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 181-186
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 187-190
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. About the Author
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.