I. Introduction Some time ago, one of APP’s readers asked how real philosophy as we define and practice it (two activities that are inextricably connected) is supposed to be different from other types of philosophy, and whether all philosophy that is not real philosophy should be regarded as “fake” or “inauthentic” philosophy.[i] To a certain … [continue reading]
Ivory Bunker Mentality, Par Excellence: L’Affaire Tuvel.
Today is the final round of the French Presidential run-offs, between Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, and Marine Le Pen, an alt-right, neo-fascist, neoliberal female counterpart of US President Donald Trump. As of this moment, the outcome of the Macron-Le Pen run-off is unknown. But Kant willing, the French voting public won’t make the same tragicomic … [continue reading]
Professional Philosophy and the Normalized Intellectual.
For more than 35 years, I’ve been amazed, amused, bemused, and appalled by professional academic philosophy–my varying mental states cascading over one another, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, both in alternation and in combination. A question that has always intrigued and worried me, right from the time I … [continue reading]
This Be The Worse: An Anarcho-Poem.
The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? (H.D. Thoreau, Walden I, “Economy”) With Apologies to Philip Larkin, and Malice toward Some. … [continue reading]
An Introduction to Metamodernism.
APP Editors’ Note: Philip Damico is a metamodernist. Metamodernism is an emerging movement that hopes to synthesize both postmodernism (a movement and era in philosophy and art that’s loosely characterized by moral relativism and abstract art that began in the mid 20th century and continues to this day) and modernism (a movement and era in … [continue reading]
Professional Philosophy and the Moral Ambiguity of The March for Science.
Natural science, as we all know, is the systematic pursuit of truth about the material or physical world in space and time, a systematic pursuit that is grounded on empirical evidence, guided by the formal sciences of mathematics and logic, and driven by general theories. But natural science, aka science, must be sharply distinguished from … [continue reading]
Radical Enlightenment 2: Dialectical Enlightenment. Toward a Positive Research Program
Our recent article, “Aliens, Antisemitism, and Academia,” in Jacobin Magazine, has elicited a flurry of responses, running the gamut from enthusiastic to excoriating. However, most of the critical replies have remained at the level of exegetics. That is, they have questioned whether our championing of the “Radical Enlightenment” tradition accurately reflects the whole body of … [continue reading]
Radical Enlightenment 1: Aliens, Antisemitism, and Academia.
APP Editors’ Note: Landon Frim and Harrison Fluss are alumni of SUNY-Stony Brook’s doctoral program in Philosophy. Landon is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at St. Joseph’s College-New York. Harrison is a lecturer in philosophy at St. John’s University and Manhattan College. (Jacobin, 11 March 2017) A scandal is brewing in academia. The photo accompanying a … [continue reading]
The CIA Reads French Theory. On the Intellectual Labor of Dismantling the Cultural Left
APP Editors’ Note: Gabriel Rockhill is a philosopher, cultural critic and political theorist. He teaches at Villanova University and Graterford Prison, and he directs the Critical Theory Workshop at the Sorbonne. His recent books include Counter-History of the Present (2017), Interventions in Contemporary Thought (2016) and Radical History & the Politics of Art (2014). Follow … [continue reading]
The Elective Affinity Between Analytic Philosophy and the Political Status Quo. Some Apocalyptic Follow-Up Thoughts on “On the Emergence of American Analytic Philosophy"
In a very cool recent article in British Journal for the History of Philosophy, “On the Emergence of American Analytic Philosophy,” Joel Katzav and Krist Vaesen argue, compellingly, that the mid-20th century emergence of Analytic philosophy in the USA consisted in an institutional take-over of leading philosophy departments and leading journals by Analytic philosophers, in … [continue reading]