Stephan Fuchs: Against Essentialism: A Theory of Culture and Society (2001)
Filed under book | Tags: · avant-garde, communication, constructivism, culture, essentialism, ethnomethodology, hermeneutics, networks, social theory, society, sociology, systems theory, theory
Against Essentialism presents a sociological theory of culture. This interdisciplinary and foundational work deals with basic issues common to current debates in social theory, including society, culture, meaning, truth, and communication. Stephan Fuchs argues that many mysteries about these concepts lose their mysteriousness when dynamic variations are introduced.
Fuchs proposes a theory of culture and society that merges two core traditions–American network theory and European (Luhmannian) systems theory. His book distinguishes four major types of social “observers”–encounters, groups, organizations, and networks. Society takes place in these four modes of association. Each generates levels of observation linked with each other into a “culture”–the unity of these observations.
Against Essentialism presents a groundbreaking new approach to the construction of society, culture, and personhood. The book invites both social scientists and philosophers to see what happens when essentialism is abandoned.
Publisher Harvard University Press, 2001
ISBN 0674006100, 9780674006102
380 pages
Iain Thomson: Heidegger on Ontotheology. Technology and the Politics of Education (2005)
Filed under book | Tags: · critique, essentialism, hermeneutics, national socialism, nihilism, ontology, phenomenology, philosophy, philosophy of technology, technology
Heidegger is now widely recognized as one of the most influential and controversial philosophers of the twentieth century, yet much of his later philosophy remains shrouded in confusion and controversy. Restoring Heidegger’s understanding of metaphysics as ‘ontotheology’ to its rightful place at the center of his later thought, this book demonstrates the depth and significance of his controversial critique of technology, his appalling misadventure with Nazism, his prescient critique of the university, and his important philosophical suggestions for the future of higher education. It will be required reading for those seeking to understand the relationship between Heidegger’s philosophy and National Socialism, as well as the continuing relevance of his work.
• Examines the direct connection between Heidegger’s philosophy and his decision to join the National Socialist party in 1933 • Provides a clear reconstruction and defense of Heidegger’s later philosophy • Bridges the gap between continental and analytic philosophy
Publisher Cambridge University Press, 2005
ISBN 052161659X, 9780521616591
202 pages
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