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Centre for Research in Philosophy and Literature

On Jean-Luc Nancy: The Sense of Philosophy

Edited by Darren Sheppard, Simon Sparks and Colin Thomas
Warwick Studies in European Philosophy

'These extraordinarily timely essays do far more than make sense of Nancy's work; they take from that work a sense of orientation for the task of thinking that remains once the great Western project called philosophy attains the limit of its own idea: universality, global economy, the transnational world. Nancy is here given generous welcome by a company of very demanding readers who meet his thought at its most provocative. The collection of these encounters prepares a true experience of freedom for the reader.'
Peggy Kamuf, University of Southern California

The work of Jean-Luc Nancy has introduced and reinvigorated a startling new 'political' edge in continental philosophy at a time when our very notions of what it means to 'do' philosophy are under attack. His notions of sense, of the birth to presence and of the inoperative community have been acknowledged by key figures such as Jacques Derrida as having powerfully influenced their own work.

On Jean-Luc Nancy draws together a number of outstanding commentators to provide an invaluable companion to Nancy's own work. In addition to contributions by Howard Caygill, Rodolphe Gasché and Alphonso Lingis, there is a text by Nancy's renowned long-time co-author, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe. These essays approach the main themes in Nancy's work. From Nancy the philosopher of the contemporary and of the disorientation in thinking today to Nancy and the significance of anger and sacrifice in philosophy, the recurrent themes of community, freedom, being and the divine in his work are brought out.

This collection provides a fascinating picture of what, today, Nancy's contemporaries seek to negotiate with in his thought, and it demands to be read by those interested in philosophy, political theory and French studies.

The Contributors: Georges Van Den Abeele, Miguel de Beistegui, Howard Caygill, Fred Dallmayr, Francis Fischer, Rodolphe Gasché, Werner Hamacher, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Jeffrey S Librett, Alphonso Lingis, Michael B Naas and Wilhelm S Wurzer.

Edited by: Darren Sheppard, Simon Sparks and Colin Thomas.