Levinas's idea of ethics as a relation of responsibility to the other person has become a highly influential and recognizable position across a wide range of academic and non-academic fields. Simon Critchley's aim in this book is to provide a less familiar, more troubling, and (hopefully) truer account of Levinas's work. A new dramatic method for reading Levinas is proposed, where the fundamental problem of his work is seen as the attempt to escape from the tragedy of Heidegger's philosophy and the way in which that philosophy shaped political events in the last century. Extensive and careful attention is paid to Levinas' fascinating but often overlooked work from the 1930s, where the proximity to Heidegger becomes clearer. Levinas's problem is very simple: how to escape from the tragic fatality of being as described by Heidegger. Levinas's later work is a series of attempts to answer that problem through claims about ethical selfhood and a series of phenomenological experiences, especially erotic relations and the relation to the child. These claims are analyzed in the book through close textual readings. Critchley reveals the problem with Levinas's answer to his own philosophical question and suggests a number of criticisms, particular concerning the question of gender. In the final, speculative part of the book, another answer to Levinas's problem is explored through a reading of the Song of Songs and the lens of mystical love.

The 'death of man', the 'end of history' and even philosophy are strong and troubling currents running through contemporary debates. Yet since Nietzsche's heralding of the 'death of god', philosophy has been unable to explain the question of finitude.<br>Very Little...Almost Nothing goes to the heart of this problem through an exploration of Blanchot's theory of literature, Stanley Cavell's interpretations of romanticism and the importance of death in the work of Samuel Beckett. Simon Critchley links these themes to the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas to present a powerful new picture of how we must approach the importance of death in philosophy.<br>A compelling reading of the convergence of literature and philosophy, Very Little...Almost Nothing opens up new ways of understanding finitude, modernity and the nature of the imagination.

Suicide is everywhere. It haunts history and current events. It haunts our own networks of friends and family. The spectre of suicide looms large, but the topic is taboo because any meaningful discussion must at the very least consider that the answer to the question - 'is life worth living?' - might not be an emphatic yes; it might even be a stern no. Through a sweeping historical overview of suicide, a moving literary survey of famous suicide notes, and a psychological analysis of himself, Simon Critchley offers us an insight into what it means to possess the all too human gift and curse of being of being able to choose life or death.

Beskrivelse mangler. Se gjerne forlagets (Profile Books Ltd) hjemmeside, der det kan finnes mer informasjon.

Splitter ny/urørt.

What made Bowie special? What made him the cultural icon he is today? And what made millions of people around the world tune into his peculiar wavelength and find exactly what they'd been looking for all along?These are the questions asked by Simon Critchley in this keen-eyed, moving and textured tribute to Bowie. Each of the two dozen deceptively short chapters looks at Bowie from a new angle, slowly unfolding the enigma that was his artistic life into a celebration of what made him unique. From the author's earliest childhood exposure to the bizarre musical and sexual contours of Ziggy Stardust right through to the supernova glow of Blackstar, and covering everything in between, Critchley traces the development of Bowie's music and lyrics to tell the story of how he tapped into zeitgeist - and into our hearts.Growing up in working-class suburban England, the young Critchley was instantly drawn to this creature from another planet, 'so sexual, so knowing, so strange'. Now a celebrated philosopher who Jonathan Lethem has called 'a figure of quite startling brilliance', Critchley draws on a plethora of cultural and philosophical touchpoints, as well as his own intensely personal response to the music, to paint an essential portrait of Bowie as songwriter, poet, performer and icon.

Does humour make us human, or do the cats and dogs laugh along with us? On Humour is a fascinating, beautifully written and funny book on what humour can tell us about being human. Simon Critchley skilfully probes some of the most perennial but least understood aspects of humour, such as our tendency to laugh at animals and our bodies, why we mock death with comedy and why we think it's funny when people act like machines. He also looks at the darker side of humour, as rife in sexism and racism and argues that it is important for reminding us of people we would rather not be.

Hva tenker vi på når vi tenker på fotball? Fotball er så mange ting: minner, steder, historie, sosial klasse, kjønn (særlig maskulinitet, men i økende grad femininitet også), familieidentitet, stammetilhørighet, nasjonal identitet, gruppedynamikk. I sin essens et samarbeidsprosjekt, nesten sosialistisk av natur, men som likevel befinner seg i en myr av grådighet, korrupsjon, kapitalisme og autokrati. Filosofen Simon Critchley prøver å forstå det hele, og å etablere en fotballens estetikk- til og med dens poetikk - for å vise hva som er så vakkert i dette vakreste av spill. Han utforsker også hvordan det å se fotball tar oss til en annen tidsdimensjon, hvordan fotballen nekter å la oss glemme, hvordan identitetsdramaet spiller seg ut, hvordan vi - tilskuerne - formelig deltar i spillet med et engasjement som kan gå på livet løs. Og naturligvis, som fotballsupporter selv, skriver han om fotballens helter og skurker: om Zidane og Cruyff, Clough og Messi, Shankly og Klopp. Simon Critchley har en sjelden formidlingsevne, og har skrevet romaner, bestselgende bøker om filosofi og en bok om David Bowie, samtidig som han jevnlig skriver for et bredt publikum i The New York Times. Selv om han er bosatt i New York, vil han alltid komme fra Liverpool.

A French philosopher dies during a savage summer heat wave. Boxes carrying his unpublished miscellany mysteriously appear in Simon Critchley's office. Rooting through piles of papers, Critchley discovers a brilliant text on the ancient art of memory and a cache of astrological charts predicting the deaths of various philosophers. Among them is a chart for Critchley himself, laying out in great detail the course of his life and eventual demise. Becoming obsessed with the details of his fate, Critchley receives the missing, final box, which contains a maquette of Giulio Camillo's sixteenth-century Venetian memory theatre, a space supposed to contain the sum of all knowledge. That's when the hallucinations begin -

What do we think about when we think about football? Football is about so many things: memory, history, place, social class, gender (especially masculinity, but increasingly femininity too), family identity, tribal identity, national identity, the nature of groups. It is essentially collaborative, even socialist, yet it exists in a sump of greed, corruption, capitalism and autocracy.Philosopher Simon Critchley attempts to make sense of it all, and to establish a system of aesthetics - even poetics - to show what is beautiful in the beautiful game. He explores, too, how the experience of watching football opens a particular dimension in time; how its magic wards off oblivion; how its dramas play out national identity and non-identity; how we spectators, watching football with tragic pensiveness, participate in the play. And of course, as a football fan, he writes about his heroes and villains: about Zidane and Cruyff, Clough and Revie, Shankly and Klopp.

This is an expanded edition of the first book to argue for the ethical turn in Derrida's work. Simon Critchley's first book, The Ethics of Deconstruction, was originally published to great acclaim in 1992. It was the first book to argue for the ethical turn in Derrida's work and to show as powerfully as possible how deconstruction has persuasive ethical consequences that are vital to our thinking through of questions of politics and democracy. This new edition contains three new appendices and a new preface where Critchley reflects upon the origins, motivation and reception of The Ethics of Deconstruction.

Routledge, 2. utg. 2005 [1997]

<p>In this collection of brief lives (and deaths) of nearly two hundred of the world's greatest thinkers, noted philosopher Simon Critchley creates a register of mortality that is tragic, amusing, absurd, and exemplary. From the self-mocking haikus of Zen masters on their deathbeds to the last words of Christian saints and modern-day sages, this irresistible book contains much to inspire both amusement and reflection.</p><p>Informed by Critchley's acute insight, scholarly intelligence, and sprightly wit, each entry tells its own tale, but collected together they add up to a profound and moving investigation of meaning and the possibility of happiness for us all. <p> </p>

How does one write an experimental ABC, an impossible theory that would deal with a series of phenomena, concepts, places, sensations, persons, and moods? A para-philosophy? Returning to a once-abandoned project of fragmented thoughts where the author\u2019s voice moves from the serious to the pathetic, to the absurd, to the cynical, Simon Critchley\u2019s ABC of Impossibility finds new life in the form of this small encyclopedic and aphoristic text where the reader bears witness to the slow emergence of an attempt at a poetic ontology. ABC of Impossibility is a unique undertaking that reexamines the poetic site of the fragment as thought. Following a heritage of fragmented, aphoristic thinkers including Pascal, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Pessoa, Critchley revitalizes a para-philosophical thinking that can only be uttered by way of another. As he declares in the opening pages, \u201cIn writing this, I promise to tell the truth, but not to be myself.\u201d

I Uendelig krevende, som opprinnelig ble gitt ut i 2007, utarbeider den britiske filosofen Simon Critchley en moralfilosofi med klare politiske føringer, fundert på tanken om den etiske nødvendigheten av å yte politisk motstand gjennom en form for ansvarlig anarkisme. Simon Critchley (f. 1960) er Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy ved The New School for Social Research i New York. Siden gjennombruddet med The Ethics of Deconstruction: Derrida and Levinas i 1992, har han publisert flere verk som, i likhet med Uendelig krevende, utforsker forskjellige skjæringspunkter mellom filosofi, politikk og teologi. Critchleys forfatterskap viser stor bredde og inkluderer i tillegg bøker om emner som humor, David Bowie, fotball og hvordan kjente filosofer avgikk ved døden for å nevne noen. Uansett om han skriver om Paulus eller Liverpool FC, kjennetegnes Critchleys forfatterskap av en gjennomgående vilje til å røske opp i etablerte sannheter. Med introduksjon av Anders Marcussen Gullestad og oversatt av Lars Holm-Hansen.

Why do we still have religion? It seems to offer nothing but violence, suppression and conflict. Discussing the relationship between religion and politics, exploring questions of faith, love, human nature and original sin, Simon Critchley asks whether we can establish a faith for the faithless and how it can manifest itself in everyday life, from the identity of love to the role of violence.

Leading philosopher Richard Kearney engages Julia Kristeva, Gianni Vattimo, James Wood, Charles Taylor, Catherine Keller, Simon Critchley, Jean-Luc Marion, and John Caputo on the place of religion in a secular world.

I denne antologien drøftes spørsmål omkring samtidskunstens kritiske funksjon, den nye internasjonalismen i samtidskunsten og på hvilken måte samtidskunsten blir påvirket av utviklingen innen digitale media. Bidragsytere: Jean-Pierre Balpe, Ina Blom, Simon Critchley, David Elliott, Ståle R. S. Finke, Marith Hope, Gavin Jantjes, Donald Kuspit, Gerardo Mosquera, Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, Sven-Olov Wallenstein og Jeremy Welsh. Har litteraturlister.