ABC of Impossibility (Univocal) by Simon Critchley

by Simon Critchley

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’s voice moves from the serious to the pathetic, to the absurd, to the cynical, Simon Critchley’s 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, “In writing this, I promise to tell the truth, but not to be myself.”

Genres: Philosophy

Paperback

First published August 1, 2015

About the author

Simon Critchley (born 27 February 1960 in Hertfordshire) is an English philosopher currently teaching at The New School. He works in continental philosophy. Critchley argues that philosophy commences in disappointment, either religious or political. These two axes may be said largely to inform his published work: religious disappointment raises the question of meaning and has to, as he sees it, deal with the problem of nihilism; political disappointment provokes the question of justice and raises the need for a coherent ethics [...]

Reviews

[Amir · Rating 2 out of 5]

فارغ از ترجمه‌ی فارسی ویرایش نشده که غلط‌های تایپیش رو مخه، کتاب خواسته کاری رو بکنه که از پسش برنیومده. قرار بوده قطعاتی حکیمانه برای مدخل‌هایی نوشته بشه که این اتفاق نیافتاده و کتاب غیر از چند نقل قول دوست‌داشتنی چیز دیگه‌ای نداره.

[Rana Heshmati · Rating 3 out of 5]

سه و نیم ستاره. یا سه و هفتاد و پنج.
[نمی‌دونم چرا اینقدر امتیاز دادن به کتاب‌های نان-فیکشن برام سخته. خیلی خوش اومدن یا نیومدن مسئله‌ای نیستن در برابرشون انگار...]