The Inversion of Consciousness from Dante to Derrida: A Study of Intellectual History

by Hugh Mercer Curtler

Inverted consciousness is a notion Curtler (philosophy, Southwest State U.) developed, and refers to as a process of the subject becoming the principal object of human awareness. Then he began to wonder how it (the phenomenon, not the notion) came about, and turned for answers to poets and visionaries who were sensitive to the same phenomena and were as concerned about their implications as he himself was. Here he compiles his reflections on what they had to say about Dante's medieval world, the birth of modernism, the Romantic revolt, and after modernism. Wondering too how, if at all, such a widespread and possible dangerous condition might be avoided, he concludes by suggesting that it will take an effort of will perhaps beyond the ability of anyone to wrest human consciousness away from itself and turn it again toward the world. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

120 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2004