A Leftist Ontology

Beyond Relativism and Identity Politics

2009

Carsten Strathausen, editor
Foreword by William E. Connolly

A new ontology for a globalized world

A Leftist Ontology offers a timely intervention in political philosophy, featuring some of the leading voices of our time. Rich with analyses of concepts from deconstruction, systems theory, and post-Marxism, with critiques of fundamentalist thought and the war on terror, this volume argues for developing a philosophy of being in order to overcome the quandary of postmodern relativism.

Intellectually broad-ranging, erudite, and attuned to philosophical complexities, A Leftist Ontology makes a significant contribution to the study of the relationship between philosophy and left thought.

Kenneth Surin, Duke University

Rich with analyses of concepts from deconstruction, systems theory, and post-Marxism, with critiques of fundamentalist thought and the war on terror, this volume argues for developing a philosophy of being in order to overcome the quandary of postmodern relativism. Undergirding the contributions are the premises that ontology is a vital concept for philosophy today, that an acceptable leftist ontology must avoid the kind of identity politics that has dominated recent cultural studies, and that a new ontology must be situated within global capitalism.

A Leftist Ontology offers a timely intervention in political philosophy, featuring some of the leading voices of our time.

Contributors: Bruno Bosteels, Cornell U; Christopher Breu, Illinois State U; Nicholas Brown, U of Illinois at Chicago; Sorin Radu Cucu, Manhattan College; George Edmondson, Dartmouth College; Eva Geulen, U of Bonn; Philip Goldstein, U of Delaware; Klaus Mladek, Dartmouth College; Alberto Moreiras, U of Aberdeen; Jeffrey T. Nealon, Pennsylvania State U; William Rasch, Indiana U; Ben Robinson, Indiana U; Imre Szeman, McMaster U; Roland Vegso, U of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Carsten Strathausen is associate professor of German and English at the University of Missouri. He is the author of The Look of Things: Poetry and Vision around 1900.

William E. Connolly is professor and chair of political science at The Johns Hopkins University.

Intellectually broad-ranging, erudite, and attuned to philosophical complexities, A Leftist Ontology makes a significant contribution to the study of the relationship between philosophy and left thought.

Kenneth Surin, Duke University