Synopses & Reviews
Disinterest has been a major concept in Western philosophy since Descartes. Its desirability and importance have been disputed, and its definition reworked by such pivotal figures as Nietzsche, Shaftesbury, Locke and Kant. In this groundbreaking book, Sean Gaston looks at the treatment of disinterest in the work of two major modern Continental philosophers: Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel Levinas. He identifies both as part of a tradition, obscured since the eighteenth-century, that takes disinterest to be the opposite of self-interest, rather than the absence of all interest. Such a tradition locates disinterest at the centre of thinking about ethics. The book argues that disinterest plays a significant role in the philosophy of both thinkers and in the dialogue between their work. In so doing it sheds new light on their respective contributions to moral and political philosophy. Moreover, it traces the history of disinterest in Western philosophy from Descartes to Derrida, taking in the contributions of major philosophers in both the analytic, Anglo-American and Continental traditions: Locke; Shaftesbury; Hume; Smith; Nietzsche; Kant; Hegel; Heidegger. Derrida and Disinterest offers a new reading of Derrida, a stimulating account of the role and importance of disinterest in the history of Western philosophy and a provocative and original contribution to Continental ethics.
Synopsis
Disinterest has been a major concept in Western philosophy since Descartes. Its desirability and importance have been disputed, and its definition reworked by such pivotal figures as Nietzsche, Shaftesbury, Locke and Kant. In this groundbreaking book, Sean Gaston looks at the treatment of disinterest in the work of two major modern Continental philosophers: Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel Levinas. He identifies both as part of a tradition, obscured since the eighteenth-century, that takes disinterest to be the opposite of self-interest, rather than the absence of all interest. Such a tradition locates disinterest at the centre of thinking about ethics. The book argues that disinterest plays a significant role in the philosophy of both thinkers and in the dialogue between their work. In so doing it sheds new light on their respective contributions to moral and political philosophy. Moreover, it traces the history of disinterest in Western philosophy from Descartes to Derrida, taking in the contributions of major philosophers in both the analytic, Anglo-American and Continental traditions: Locke; Shaftesbury; Hume; Smith; Nietzsche; Kant; Hegel; Heidegger. Derrida and Disinterest offers a new reading of Derrida, a stimulating account of the role and importance of disinterest in the history of Western philosophy and a provocative and original contribution to Continental ethics.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: A Disinterest for Today Chapter 2: Derrida and the Ruins of Disinterest Chapter 3: A Harsh Transcendence: Levinas, Disinterest and Enthusiasm Chapter 4: Ideas of Disinterest 1600-1800 Chapter 5: The Spectres of Disinterest 1790-1845 Chapter 6: Kant, Derrida and the Interests of Reason Chapter 7: A Matter of Love Chapter 8: Re-mettre en question: Levinas, Derrida and Heidegger's Question Chapter 9: Derrida and the Resistance of Anticipation Chapter 10: Derrida and une acceleration affolante Chapter 11: Derrida and Life Death, Death Life