John McCumbers’ book On Philosophy: Notes from a Crisis challenges the key dichotomy of Western philosophical tradition— the distinction between form, or οὐσία, and matter. This basic ontological distinction, first formulated by Aristotle, appears under different guises throughout the history of Western thought, making oppression integral to philosophy, and leading the discipline into the situation of a major crisis, in which, as McCumber eloquently argues, philosophy and philosophers find themselves today. In this essay I argue that by developing the notion (...) of the speaking of matter McCumber subverts the oppressive history of Western philosophy. I explore this rich concept, showing how it successfully undermines ousiodic ontology. By drawing on McCumber’s text, and also on the works of Gilles Deleuze and Gloria Anzaldúa I argue that a non-ousiodic ontology has to prioritize anomalous, or seemingly contradictory beings. I discuss one possible direction such ontology could take—it could focus on the internal stranger, or the metic, to use an ancient Greek term. (shrink)

This collection examines an aspect of Gilles Deleuze’s thought that has largely been neglected; whether or not Deleuze was a metaphysician. Answering this question may reveal the problematic nature of so-called postmodernism and the critique it leveled at the first philosophy, and it may help readers to better understand philosophy’s fate.

If “classical” lies aimed to conceal truth and “modern” ones attempted to destroy it, “postmodern” propaganda targets the self and the certainty of thinking. The organized lies of our times aim to silence the self by sabotaging our ability to make sense of the world. As a result, it is difficult to speak truth today. It is equally difficult to hear it, not in the least because truth, unlike propaganda, is unwilling to admit that it is one opinion among others. (...) An artificial form – a metaphor, a paradox, a novel, or a painting – can help truth be heard. Literature can help me decide something that has already been decided. Hannah Arendt’s essay “Truth and Politics,” the text written by Parmenides, Merab Mamardashvili’s concept of artificial organs, and Stanislav Aseyev’s recent memoir help me establish these claims. (shrink)

Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1983 masterpiece Nostalghia allows us to rethink our ordinary notion of nostalgia and move beyond the idea of nostalgia as sentimental longing for the past, the fruitless yearning that allows us to avoid living in the present. The film suggests that nostalgia can help us notice that which is not a part of our current situation and to introduce new threads into the fabric of our world. Because of nostalgia, we become aware of perforations in the existing order (...) of things and, as a result, become capable of altering the status quo. The protagonist of Tarkovsky’s film, Gorchakov, a Russian poet visiting Italy, shows us that nostalgia is a violent voyage that never leads home but only helps us find and found a new–and always temporary–dwelling place. Nostalgia, then, is a journey to the home that never was, but to the home that might be. The final sequence of the film beautifully confirms this by placing Gorchakov next to his Russian home that turns out to be inside the ruins of the Cistercian abbey of San Galgano in Italy. This cinematic merging of two very different places and cultures creates a new world for Gorchakov and asks us to continue creating the places in which we happen to find ourselves today. (shrink)

The concept of Eastern Europe was constructed during Enlightenment in order to solidify and purify the idea of Western Europe. The essay proposes that today the notion of Eastern Europe can be reclaimed: although traceable to a specific geographical region, Eastern Europe cannot be reduced to geopolitical and economic categories. It is rather a way of being that Heraclitus traces out with his aphorism “I went in search for myself.” Challenging the dichotomy between the West and the non-West, Eastern Europe (...) provides a vantage point from which we can approach philosophical and political problems in new ways. The essay relies on the philosophical concepts developed by Heraclitus, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Merab Mamardashvili. (shrink)

This paper discusses Eastern Europe as a way of being traceable to a specific place or topos in between the West and its Others. By virtue of fitting neither one of the terms of the usual dichotomy it could provide novel insights into Western or European identity, as well as social and political problems, such as immigration. More precisely, Eastern Europe is an instance of the process of creating the self through the encounter with an other that is not radically (...) other. Such a notion of Eastern Europe is developed from three sources: the Ancient Greek thinker Heraclitus, the Chicana theorist and writer Gloria Anzaldúa, and Merab Mamardashvili, a philosopher from Soviet Georgia. (shrink)