Essays addressing, from various angles, the relationship between Europe and philosophy in today’s crisis-ridden contexts such as xenophobia and migration.
Description
Reimagining Europe comprises a series of contributions which address, in various ways, the relationship between Europe and continental philosophy/phenomenology. Europe is in crisis: a crisis that no longer designates a moment of decision, a critical point between a before and an after, but a state, a permanent mode of being, a constant emergency. At this juncture of Europe, the aporia of language confronts the aporia of history. We cannot speak, we must speak, we shall speak. As such, the contributions all engage with the idea that the question "what is Europe?" must measure up a series of questions, namely: what was it to be? What does it mean to initiate and sustain a project, such as Europe, if only at times, after the fact? The questions of internal and external borders, of homogeneity and coherence, identity and equality, legitimacy and rights, democracy and representation can only be raised insofar as the question of Europe, its destiny, and destination, is raised as a whole.
Georgios Tsagdis is Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy of Technology at Wageningen University and Research (WUR) and Lecturer in Philosophy at Leiden University. He has coedited Derrida's Politics of Friendship and Bernard Stiegler. Rozemund Uljée is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Institute for Philosophy, Leiden University. She is the author of Thinking Difference with Heidegger and Levinas, also published by SUNY Press. Bart Zantvoort is Lecturer in Philosophy at Leiden University. He is the coeditor of Hegel and Resistance.
Reviews
"This deeply thought-provoking collection asks if Europe can reimagine itself, beyond essentialism, in the wake of immigrant waves that reveal foreclosed political imaginaries that challenge and confront Europe’s own image and self-understanding. By concentrating results and ideas of philosophers, political scientists, and interdisciplinary scholars, it offers new ways of contesting Europe from within. It offers sophisticated, bold chapters engaging Plato, Descartes, Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger, and post-war philosophers such as Patočka, Derrida, Agamben and Esposito. Overall, the collection reimagines Europe beyond closure, by thinking about it from a perspective of limits, thresholds, and margins. This volume is an excellent resource in contemporary continental political philosophy, indispensable for opening new horizons in today’s geo-political thought." — Emilia Angelova, Concordia University