philosophy

Self-Liberation: Through Seeing with Naked Awareness

mandy — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:00:00 +0000

By John Myrdhin Reynolds, Guru Padmasambhava

Self-Liberation is a new translation of a Buddhist text said to have been hidden for generations by its creator, Guru Padmasambhava, in order to ensure that it was not uncovered until such time as Tibetans were mentally prepared for it. This is one of many such texts, but is revered to be the epitome of all Buddhist teachings by many scholars.

The book itself begins with a foreword that establishes the historical context for the teachings as well as explaining the difficulty in translation. John Myrdhin Reynolds is a particularly appropriate translator of this material since he is a Buddhist scholar as well as someone who is able to read Tibetan. After the translator’s introduction, the translation itself is written, followed by an outline of the text, the translator’s comments on the meaning of the text, and several appendices. The original Tibetan text is included as well.

The material is very academic and philosophical in nature, although if the reader is knowledgeable of Buddhist teachings, much of it will be familiar. The ultimate meaning of the term self-liberation is to free one’s self from identifying with his or her own thoughts and to realize that what we have come to know as reality is simply a construct of our mind itself. To simply contemplate the world around you, the author writes, is the act of being purely aware and transcending “mind.”

Throughout, the text repeats its lessons in the format of explaining a principle (View), how to think about the principle (Meditation), how to act on the principle (Conduct), and what one can expect to come of this (Fruit). The ideas are laid out in logical arguments and continually reinforce the importance of continued practice of contemplation of these notions. The author urges the reader not to confuse the nature of the mind with what the mind does: “Meditation involves the activities of the mind and the erecting of mental constructions, but is itself limited by the mind.”

Overall, Self-Liberation is an accessible text that will provide much food for thought to anyone who is interested in and familiar with Buddhist teachings. It is not, however, light reading.

Written by: Kari O’Driscoll, January 18th 2011

The Material of Knowledge: Feminist Disclosures

emily — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Susan Hekman

Indiana University Press

This is a book for the post post-modernist thinker. Written by professor of political science, Susan Hekman, The Material of Knowledge: Feminist Disclosures seeks to alleviate the theorist's conundrum with the material consequences in the events of natural disaster and destruction. Many theorists today are curiously silent on tsunamis, terrorist attacks, and earthquakes and Hekman sees this as a problem of post-modern thinking.

Philosophy from the second half of the twentieth century onwards has been largely preoccupied with what is called 'the linguistic turn'—an understanding that all reality is only perceivable through language. Also known as linguistic constructionism, the trend fails at taking into account the tangible elements of concepts and theory. A new way to theory-making or 'settlement' is in order and feminist theory is, argues Hekman, at the forefront of this breakthrough. And this is because no other system of thought is invested heavily on the experiences of oppression often imprinted on the body the way feminist theory is. However, the body alone is not enough to represent 'matter'.

Hekman argues that non-human matter have agency too in that they are not always predictable and in that regard, somehow have a 'life of its own'. This makes the relationship between human and non-human all the more interesting if a little unsettling. To illuminate the mechanics of this relationship, Hekman adopts Andrew Pickering's unglamorously-named concept of the mangle; things get mangled up when humans and non-human agents meet, producing inevitably messy outcomes. Hekman sees the mangle at work in the disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the prenatal sonogram. Both display the way different discourses (poverty and abortion) work with and against non-human elements (dangerous weather conditions and medical apparatus). The mangle represents an important link between the abstract realm of ideas and the world 'out there'.

The underlying argument throughout Hekman's thesis is, if crudely put, that philosophers are out of touch with reality. However, Hekman does not challenge the circumstances that grant philosophers the privilege to talk about society and yet seem to not be able to incorporate “real life” into their work. The critique of lofty intellectualism remains frustratingly absent here. While the mangle is undoubtedly a useful concept to understanding material destruction, Hekman makes a bold (if rather morbid) leap in suggesting that feminist theoretical approach to the body holds the key to new ways of understanding death and destruction of epic proportions.

The Material of Knowledge is a slow-burning demonstration of Hekman's linear thinking towards the new 'settlement'. As a proposal for a new theoretical tool to approaching pain and material devastation, Hekman's book leaves the reader with more questions than answers. To begin with, the concept of the mangle seems to absolve itself of refinement both by virtue of semantics and theoretical characteristic, and I am left wondering whether Hekman had backed herself into a theoretical corner where to understand material destruction is cook up an analytical mess.

This evokes a level of pessimism and an assumption that multiple elements of living and non-living persuasions affect each other on a more or less equal playing field; an event is simply a web of things and lives thrown in together, which leaves one to ask: where are we in Hekman's new settlement? Where is human agency in the midst of mangled discourses and wordlessness of fear and pain? It would be difficult to recommend Hekman's latest book for the uninitiated in post-structuralism and post-modernism as this slim tome can be a slog for even the well-versed. The Material of Knowledge: Feminist Disclosures does however inspire optimistic thoughts about the role of feminism in contemporary philosophy and the slow march of theory towards grasping reality.

Written by: Alicia Izharuddin, October 30th 2010

The Three Principal Aspects of the Path

priyanka — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Ruth Sonam, Geshe Sonam Rinchen

Snow Lion Publications

Buddhist philosophy seems simple only until we attempt to implement the teachings; as any practitioner quickly realizes, as soon as we are faced with the real world, even the straightest path to enlightenment is riddled with potholes and roadblocks, not to mention those confusing road signs that seem designed to discourage us wholly from the pursuit of compassion. Emptying our minds, sitting motionless in excruciating positions, meditating on seemingly nonsensical koans—if we survive all that, we still have to maintain compassion for the jerk who cuts us off in traffic and for the rude plumber who tracks mud all over our house.

It’s a rocky road for anyone to traverse, but the going is made easier by masters like Geshe Sonam Rinchen who elucidate the wisdom and inspire us on our journey. In the introduction to this beautifully produced volume, Rinchen assures us that we can achieve “an inner transformation if we approach [the teachings] in a constructive way by avoiding three faults and fostering six attitudes.” These faults and attitudes are neatly explained within the introduction, allowing readers to prepare and remain open to the commentary that follows.

This volume, The Three Principal Aspects of the Path, is based upon an oral teaching given by Geshe Sonam Rinchen regarding the brief but insightful teaching of Je Tsongkhapa. Born in Tibet in the fourteenth century, Tsongkhapa is surrounded by legends of mystical activity and intellectual prowess. It is said that he experienced visions of the master Manjushri through which he was guided for the rest of his life. Tsongkhapa’s The Three Principal Aspects of the Path, inspired by Manjushri, is a summation of the traditional practices leading to enlightenment.

One might assume that such a work is complete and that devoted aspirants could find full wisdom through Tsongkhapa’s words. Like all apparently simple instruction, however, this summation leads to even more questions and confusion. While students should look to the source for themselves, teachers such as Geshe Sonam Rinchen do us an honor by expounding upon what others have recognized and experienced, and by sharing their own understanding of those teachings. Tsongkhapa’s root teaching is included at the end of Rinchen’s book, but I recommend to readers that they turn first to that brief summation and return to the beginning of The Three Principal Aspects of the Path after considering Tsongkhapa’s original work.

Rinchen’s attentive exploration touches on specific areas within the text that may be overlooked even by those who are deeply familiar with it. Beginning in his prologue, Rinchen addresses at length the importance of Tsongkhapa’s opening statement, “Homage to the venerable and holy teachers!” Especially in the Western world where we put great value on individual achievement, self-help, and do-it-yourself, the treasure of a human teacher is often ignored. Rinchen insists, “No one has ever gained, nor will ever gain, a state of high realization without guidance from a spiritual teacher.” He then provides us with a list of the ten most desirable qualities to be found in a teacher, drawn from Maitreya’s Ornament for the Mahayana Sutras.

As Rinchen moves through the remainder of Tsongkhapa’s work, addressing the wish for freedom, altruistic intention, and correct view, his approach is both humble and firm. Though Tsongkhapa’s three principal paths teaching contains “quintessential Buddhist practices” and is a point of reference in many talks, Geshe Rinchen’s unique and clear approach to The Three Principal Aspects of the Path is accessible for beginners while also providing thoughtful advancement for more experienced students.

Written by: Deborah Adams, October 25th 2010

Living in the End Times

barbara — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Slavoj Žižek

Verso

Reading Slavoj Žižek for the first time is not unlike being stuck on a bar stool next to a slightly inebriated, repentant MBA who just read a Karl Marx biography and thinks he has the world figured out. An aside about the deeper meaning of 3:10 to Yuma, a diatribe against Slovenia’s failure as a communist state, and praise of the five stages of grief seem like disconnected nonsense unless taken as a larger, comprehensive analysis of the failure of global capitalism. After a while, you’re either also drunk or so bewildered by the onslaught of information that you begin to see the reason behind this grizzled young man’s ramblings. Now just imagine that this is one of the most gifted living intellectuals.

Žižek—one of the world’s leading contemporary academic thinkers—is at once obscure and brilliant. In Living in the End Times, he pulls together themes from several smaller works and dozens of speeches and papers from the past several years to illuminate the apocalyptic zero-point for which the world is headed. The four horsemen of the apocalypse are approaching—ecological crisis, explosive social divisions and exclusions, consequences of the biogenetic revolution, and systemic imbalances (struggles over raw materials, food, and water; as well as more abstract battles over issues like intellectual property)—and our textbook-diagnosed reactions show that the end is nigh.

Using Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ model, he categorizes our reactions to modern economic, social, and ecological crises as stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. While many believe Kübler-Ross’ framework to be somewhat flawed, it does provide a handy way of determining one’s own stage of grieving the collapse of society. How else to make sense of our apathy in the face of the simultaneous rise of extreme religious fundamentalism, crumbling banking systems, and expansive, violent political repression? What other way to explain away the near-psychotic binaries in wealth and poverty in places like Kuwait and Dubai, oil-dependent towering desert empires built by thousands of slave-wage immigrants and ruled by a frighteningly wealthy upper class—and the ways with which we turn the other cheek?

If you believe the state of the global economy, social hierarchy, and legal affairs to be as dramatically desperate as Žižek, you’ll not be surprised that he beckons us to prepare for famine, plague, global warfare, and ultimate death. If you have little faith in humanity, you’ll find good company in the bright if troubled theorist. If you believe in our eventual recovery, you’ll also find nuggets of helpful wisdom between his dismal predictions.

You may not be able to keep up the apocalyptic philosopher, but you’d be better off for trying.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, October 23rd 2010

The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy

admin — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Andrew Holecek

Snow Lion Publications

In The Power and the Pain, Andrew Holecek divides chapters of his teachings by the Three Turnings, or teachings, of the dharma, and associates different cycles of suffering with each. Applying Buddhist principles to different hardships and difficulties along the Buddhist Path, he writes to help those cope with obstacles we stumble upon while moving forward.

In “Hardship as Loss of the Feminine” Holecek explains the concepts of masculine and feminine principles in relation to suffering. In Buddhist cosmology, Holecek writes, ladies come first. I took this chapter with the understanding that Holecek writes on Tibetan Buddhist ideologies being transmitted through Western society, and any critique would require an analysis that takes this into consideration.

Holecek uses terminology that is specific to Buddhism, but it is definitely not only for Buddhists. The Three Turnings are presented as a template for hardships that arise on a spiritual path. Holecek makes the point early on that one might enter the path unconsciously, and what I got from that was the idea that these practices would be beneficial for healing the heart and spirit, even if one doesn’t necessarily believe they are on a spiritual path.

Life is never as tidy as going from Point A to Point B to Point C, and it was possible to read select chapters and not feel you were missing anything. I received The Power and the Pain during a most spiritually tiring time in my life. I was going back to school after a five year hiatus, and the kids were on their summer break (and this meant childcare issues, or lack thereof). These challenges were coupled with serious transitions happening at work. Being a non-linear reader, I randomly opened the book to start reading and found this: “If you are wondering where you should go on your path, look into those areas that scare you and you will find your next step.” That seemed pretty right on.

Even though I am not a practicing Buddhist, I found that The Power and the Pain spoke to me as a guide, and I often went back to passages that connected how outside pressures and events can affect one’s spirit, which made the connection click.

Written by: Noemi Martinez, August 7th 2010

Anarchism and Its Aspirations

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Cindy Milstein

AK Press, Institute for Anarchist Studies

Anarchism and Its Aspirations is a collection of several essays that together offer an introduction to modern anarchist thought and its applications. The title essay, which is the first and longest essay in the book, discusses anarchism’s historical and philosophical roots, as well as its fundamental tenets. The other three essays, “Anarchism’s Promise for Anticapitalist Resistance,” “Democracy is Direct,” and “Reclaim the Cities: From Protest to Popular Power,” attempt to tease out the relevance of anarchism in the contemporary context of state consolidation and the globalization of capital.

The book is geared toward two audiences: first, established anarchists who want to renew their visions for anarchism, and second, readers curious about anarchism who are familiar with the basics of progressive political theory, but unacquainted with anarchist thought in particular. As the author states explicitly, the book attempts to present a rosy view of anarchism–an emphasis on what it strives to be capable of–more than a detailed analysis of its past or present weaknesses or distortions. However, the author does touch on her opinions about the areas in which anarchism has room to grow–in particular, she discusses the importance of getting beyond “protests against” and placing more emphasis on building popular power.

I appreciated the book’s visionary tone, as well as the clear analysis of what anarchism uniquely has to offer to other progressive schools of thought. Among the many aspects of anarchism discussed in the essays, I found the focus on unabashed utopianism particularly compelling. In a world in which even the most progressive of activists often think in terms of strategic compromise, it is refreshing to remember that it is possible to dream bigger dreams–anarchist dreams of pluralism, direct democracy, organizing for mutual aid based on true consensus, and above all, an abundance of resources, love, play, sustainability, and peace for all inhabitants of the planet.

If Anarchism and Its Aspirations has a single flaw, it is its tendency towards slightly dense prose. Overall, it is highly readable, especially given the many layers of history and politics that it explores with depth and nuance. However, a few more anecdotes and applications would have helped this particular reader immensely–the most striking example is the “battle of Seattle,” which is mentioned throughout the book as a watershed moment for modern anarchism, but which is never elucidated, not even via a brief account of the events of November 30, 1999. In this regard, the book occasionally assumes prior knowledge and familiarity (which I, for one, didn’t have) with the internal politics of modern anarchism, which renders some of the book’s detailed political discussion abstract and difficult to follow. In general, I don’t have a problem with finding myself in over my head when I’m reading about something new–in this case, though, the book states that one of its two main aims is to serve as an introduction to anarchism to those who are unfamiliar with it, so I feel that the omission deserves comment.

On the whole, though, Anarchism and Its Aspirations succeeds in painting a hopeful portrait of the relevance and utility of an anarchist framework in the context of the contemporary struggle for revolutionary social change.

Written by: Ri J. Turner, July 24th 2010

The Promise of Happiness

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:03:00 +0000

By Sara Ahmed

Duke University Press

In the introduction to her new book The Promise of Happiness, Sara Ahmed asks readers a provocative question: “Do we consent to happiness? And what are we consenting to, if or when we consent to happiness?” Ahmed takes on the elusive topic of happiness not to define it, but to look at how it works. Amazingly, this book does not get trapped in abstraction. Sara Ahmed approaches her critique of happiness with explicitly feminist, anti-racist, and queer analysis, always attentive to the historical moment in which she’s writing. She moves through what she calls an “archive of happiness,” comprised of novels, philosophical treatises, films, utopian proposals, and dystopian visions that all deal in some way with happiness.

In the first chapter, the author reads older European philosophical and psychological accounts of happiness, many of them concerned with the family as a site of happiness. This history of ideas sets the groundwork for the ways in which happiness is constructed in contemporary times. Ahmed introduces the figure of the “affect alien” as a person who challenges the happy family ideal. This figure takes shape in the next three chapters in the form of “feminist killjoys,” “unhappy queers,” and “melancholy migrants.”

These chapters demonstrate how happiness gets used as a form of social control. In looking at how feminists challenge the notion that people are naturally happiest in rigid gender roles, Ahmed writes, “The struggle over happiness forms the political horizon in which feminist claims are made.” Her reading of the classic novel The Well of Loneliness considers how an unhappy ending for a queer main character opens up a possibility for social critique that a “happy” one might not. In her reading of the film Bend It Like Beckham, Ahmed asks why certain kinds of rebellion (say, against one’s immigrant parents) get celebrated in mainstream film while other kinds (say, against British imperialism) don’t. She also recasts the age-old parental plea of “I just want you to be happy,” as a way in which a child is obligated to be happy in order to make the parent happy (a kind of debt).

In concluding chapters, Ahmed cleverly turns her gaze to the future by looking at the varied promises of happiness presented in speculative fiction. Dystopian visions, such as Ursula LeGuin’s short story “The People Who Walked Away from Omelas,” can show how insidiously the happiness of the majority might be used to justify cruelty toward the marginalized. Ahmed acknowledges that positioning happiness as a goal has disturbing implications. She suggests a new approach to living: “...if we no longer presume happiness is our telos, unhappiness would register as more than what gets in the way. When we are no longer sure of what gets in the way, then ‘the way’ itself becomes a question.” In her conclusion, Ahmed uses the word hap (itself so much more buoyant in sound than the heavy happiness) as a way to work through new ideas at the level of language.

Ahmed writes in her introduction, “To kill joy... is to open a life, to make room for possibility, for chance. My aim in this book is to make room.” I think Sara Ahmed succeeds in her project. Fresh in its premises and elegant in its follow-through, with plenty of incisive questions to move it along, The Promise of Happiness offers new lenses on an emotion rarely challenged. I suggest you make room for it on your shelf.

Written by: Vani Natarajan, July 7th 2010

Stance: Ideas about Emotion, Style, and Meaning for the Study of Expressive Culture

admin — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Harris M. Berger

Wesleyan University Press

My critical theory class from university seemed far away when I started reading Harris M. Berger’s study, Stance. In that course, Reception Theory was probably the most difficult one to grasp, with the most theoretically abstract readings, readings for the most part founded in philosophy. Realistically, the world does not know enough about the brain or perception, and cultural context varies considerably from person to person. Joe can like or dislike something but Jane’s tastes are different; subjectivity is the key to this experience, and thus Berger is attempting to explain a very complex phenomenon. To look at subjectivity through reason, what Berger is attempting to do, seems a daunting task.

Harris M. Berger approaches these questions with gusto, however, and for that I must give him credit. His grasp of key intellectuals and their theories are evident in the text. The purpose of his analysis is to explore the larger issues associated with a person‘s “lived experience,” of diverse phenomenon, and especially music. Music is central to Berger’s work as a professor of music and performance studies in Texas.

Luckily for readers, the author is not just diligent about defining the terms he uses but also writes with acuity and finesse. For example, for him “stance is the manner in which the person grapples with a text, performance, practice, or item of expressive culture to bring it into experience.” Stance is a much more elegant word than posture, position or interpretation but all three refer to the work that is done in the reception of an occurrence. Berger is also generous with examples in an attempt to contextualize some of the more complicated passages. The narration of some of his own experiences is quite fascinating, and the first-person perspective, although it contrasts with the very formal philosophical discussion, alleviates our experience of the book.

A word of warning: I believe that Berger’s study would be almost impenetrable to someone who is not an academic (or very well versed in philosophy) because of its philosophical nature and Berger’s phenomenological approach. For neophytes, phenomenology is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “an approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and the objects of direct experience.” For this reason, Berger’s book needs to be read with leisure and much concentration. However, if one is willing to make the effort, Berger’s study contains many insights into the multifaceted nature of what Berger calls the “lived experience.”

Written by: Sophie M. Lavoie, June 4th 2010

The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America

admin — Sun, 30 May 2010 19:10:00 +0000

By Stefanie Syman

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

If you assume, as I did, that yoga came to the United States via the Maharishi in the 1970s, you’ll be surprised again and again as you read Stefanie Syman’s The Subtle Body. This intensively researched history reveals an unexpected American familiarity with yoga as early as the late eighteenth century, and a steady underground pursuit of yoga’s fundamental nature that burst into a national obsession in the past decade.

The Transcendentalists may be credited with bringing interest in the Eastern philosophies to polite Western society. It cannot be said, however, that Emerson and friends had a firm grasp on what yoga was or, for that matter, any interest in the discipline. Nevertheless, the study of The Bhagavad Gita led to a slow blossoming of yogic practices, and by the late nineteenth century, yoga was a key component of a spiritual retreat in Maine. It was there that Swami Vivekananda instructed his flock of mostly female followers in the practice of yoga, even delving into “Kundaline” and meditation. The part of the general public that was aware of the goings-on viewed the whole situation with a suspicious eye. Was it quackery or pagan religion? The same question issues from a large portion of the population to this day.

Though not a focus of Syman’s book, it is interesting to note that women were (and remain) the bulk of yogic followers and supporters. From the conversion of Woodrow Wilson’s daughter to Garbo and Swanson, women flocked to yoga and Hinduism, either in search of spiritual enlightenment or weight loss and beauty.

The Subtle Body is a hearty volume, better suited for the serious student of yoga than for the dilettante. Syman balances her research with profound characterization of the key players and delivers an exceptionally fast-paced but thorough history of Eastern spiritual and physical paths as they blended into and assimilated Western culture.

Written by: Deborah Adams, May 30th 2010

Philosophy: An Innovative Introduction: Fictive Narrative, Primary Texts, and Responsive Writing

admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Michael Boylan, Charles Johnson

Westview Press

I was interested in Philosophy: An Innovative Introduction because I so thoroughly enjoyed Steven Church’s Theoretical Killings. Church’s book could appear to be a group of essays on many aspects of philosophy, but actually is as innovative as it is entertaining, ranging from the formally philological to rampant pop-culture rampages. If Theoretical Killings is a fun amusement park ride of the life of the mind, Philosophy: An Innovative Introduction is a more informative museum installation, with relevant interactive exercises at every turn. Muriel Rukeyser stated that, "The universe is made up of stories, not atoms." Applicable to the study of ethics and humanities as well as philosophy, the book utilizes a strong manifestation of ‘fictive narrative philosophy’—a perspective that respects the role of story in philosophical discussion.

Boylan and Johnson’s work innovatively seeks to engage by taking historical figures from dusty pages to serve as protagonists of life’s travails and intrigues. Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Hume, Murdoch, and King are included. Short stories are juxtaposed with excerpts from original texts. Students gain comprehension through indirect argument in the stories and via direct, deductive sections. Each group of readings is followed by study questions and essay suggestions as an aid to an understanding and construction of creative arguments.

This is a work of relative diversity for its genre, with the Buddha accompanying Plato and Arendt balancing Aquinas. The attempts to humanize these historical figures can be inadvertently amusing—readers learn of Kant’s dinner menu and Marx’s choice of color in neckties—but the overall quality of the fiction is of the caliber indicated by Johnson’s MacArthur Fellowship and National Book Award. Recommended for both classroom and informal study.

Written by: Erika Mikkalo, May 12th 2010

The Bride of E

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:01:00 +0000

By Mary Jo Bang

Greywolf Press

Mary Jo Bang’s amazing new collection of poetry, The Bride Of E, is vivid with haunting images. The poems in the first part of the book follow their lead from the alphabet, beginning with “ABC Plus E: Cosmic Aloneness Is The Bride Of Existence.” This disturbingly truthful poem is anything but simple. It mirrors the loneliness one can feel even in large crowds. This is just one example of the rich, thought-provoking poetry within this slim volume.

The poem “For Freud” begins with an exquisite sentence: “I didn’t mean to imply a girl is nothing more than a jewel box.” Volumes could be written on this statement alone. For a woman who grew up in a generation that expected women to be jewel boxes, “For Freud” is validation of a war fought to shed clinging expectations of society that all girls should marry a "good man" and become a mother. A new breed of independent women emerged from this battleground.

The Bride Of E is Mary Jo Bang’s examination into lived life. Some stanzas shine light into the dark shadowy corners of forgotten longings:

The bells are ringing, indicating/An original longing has been transformed/Into a pitch too high to hear.

This language encourages the reader to observe their surroundings with an artist’s eye.

Bang reveals our diverse world by splicing together images of college kids partying at a club, highbrow literary references, and even descriptions of a time to come. While there are hints of traditional romance, the poet has no problem throwing in a fragment of information technology or an impression of violence. The underlying message found in these poems is philosophy on a large plasma screen.

The second part of The Bride Of E consists of five prose poems that lend a hopeful note to the brutal honesty of part one. This is a collection I will take off my shelf to re-read and experience the life lessons waiting inside the cover.

Written by: Ann Hite, March 9th 2010

The Social Philosophy of Jane Addams

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0000

By Maurice Hamington

University of Illinois

Personally, what’s best about The Social Philosophy of Jane Addams by Maurice Hamington is something he left out. His focus stays on Addams’s political and philosophical thought with absolutely no mention of her having had, as I do, a twisted spine.

When my condition had just been detected, my eighth-grade health teacher singled me out to write a report on Jane Addams. My classmates got to choose. I was mortified. I had already read a children’s biography of Addams several years previously—subtitled “Little Lame Girl” if I remember correctly—before my scoliosis was noticeable or even present. I wanted nothing to do with Addams or Hull House. I had aspired to be Miss America. I didn’t want a role model for living with a crooked back; I wanted a straight back.

Today, reading a book about someone’s ideas, especially a woman’s ideas, offers a corrective to the current emphasis on “narrative” and “story” that even those who have normal spines can appreciate. Hamington’s biographical “overview” is a scant three pages, though for a figure like Addams, the “personal” is very much intertwined with the “political.” The first half of the book recounts her influences, writings, and unique contribution to philosophy (here Hamington lays out his argument that Addams is a philosopher in the line of American pragmatists and a feminist); and the second is devoted to the issues and subjects she wrote about.

To most of us, Addams is associated with Hull House, to my mind, unfortunately relegated to history as a museum and the settlement house movement. Social work, not philosophy—or even politics—would be the second identifier to come to mind. Sexism, argues Hamington, was what caused Addams to be omitted from the pantheon of American pragmatists and relegated to her position outside academia. William James, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead, who were influenced by and influenced Addams, were all professors. The author notes that although Addams acknowledged their influence on her work, the reverse was not true. Hamington, who supplies an impressive scholarly apparatus, partly excuses them with the comment: “Writers of the era were less meticulous about attribution than they are today.”

Feminists of a certain age who remember the outing of Addams in the 1970s will find little gossip about lesbianism, but they will find the Hull House culture cast as a prototype of what would be called “women’s space.” Not a separatist, Addams had friends of both sexes (and from all classes) and was much a part of the Progressive movement (1890-1920). Although claims are made about her construct of “lateral progress,” i.e., progress for everyone, as “radical” thinking, I suspect her emphasis on looking at things from all points of view would strike most as rather reformist. In a similar vein, she made important contributions to education, most especially adult education.

As for Addams’s place in feminism, Hamington tests Addams’s positions against a long array of feminisms, and ends up with “cultural” and proclaims her “prefigurative” of today’s more theoretical feminism. Her pacifist stand against American entry into World War I didn’t get Addams deported as Emma Goldman’s opposition did her. After all, Addams was the daughter of an Illinois state senator who corresponded with Abraham Lincoln. Still, this stand brought on bad press and considerably reduced her influence.

Hardly the avid fan of Jane Addams that Hamington is, I have come to value her and her work as I have learned to live with a spinal deformity and participated in social movements. I now more fully recognize the benefits of settlements to those reformers drawn to them as well as the neighborhood people they serve. These settlements, more than 400 of them at their peak, gave activists a direct encounter with the social needs embodied in real people, not “target populations.” This is something too often lacking in the staff of antipoverty, anti-hunger advocacy nonprofits administering services from distant downtown offices. May Hamington’s effort to enhance the legacy of Addams help move her heirs in the direction she championed.

Written by: Frances Chapman, February 22nd 2010

Dancing with Iris: The Philosophy of Iris Marion Young

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Edited by Ann Furguson, Mechthild Nagel

Oxford University Press

Feminism has always been something I’ve engaged in practically and passively—like composting or choosing to bike rather than drive. It’s just another thing that seems good for me and my environment; however, I have never considered dumping my compost on my neighbor’s flower beds, or demanding that others give up their cars. Dancing with Iris, my first official foray into feminist philosophy, makes me feel otherwise.

Discarding the pervasive assumption that all feminists are angry and anti-male, Iris Marion Young inspired her peers to collectively revisit her works as a feminist and political philosopher. Through their recounting of intimate discussions with the Chicago-based professor, and their interpretations of her most well-known essays, I have been re-convinced of the important role feminism plays in our society. While great strides have been made for gender equality, we have a long way to go.

In the chapter aptly titled “Letter to Iris Young” by Karsten J. Struhl, the author addresses his deceased friend and colleague: “You asked at your last lecture...what is our responsibility against injustice?” This chapter made me ask, what is my responsibility? Is it simply to practice, passively? Or is to encourage and effect even the subtlest of changes in the minds of those who have grown complacent with the minimal incremental progress we’ve been able to eek out of our culture? Throughout that letter alone, dozens of brilliant sparks of feminist thought, which are not bitter nor chauvinist, inspire revelatory ideas I believe we all know and understand, but have never articulated as Young and her peers have done.

Author after author present obvious yet eye-opening theories. One such gem appears on page fifty-six in Michaele Ferguson’s "Resonance and Dissonance: The Role of Personal Experience in Iris Marion Young’s Feminist Phenomenology." Ferguson describes the fundamental beliefs of humanistic feminism, in short, that “humanists hope to overcome the limitations of femininity...in order to aspire to universal values, values which are mistakenly linked with men and masculinity.” Yet, Young’s examination of her own female bodied experience moved her toward a more gynocentric set of philosophies. Ferguson writes that Young “[calls] into question the usefulness of a humanist feminism that wants to erase differences between men and women, and to treat both sexes equally...Eliminating these lived differences would be not simply impossible, but also undesirable.”

In my notes on Ferguson’s essay, this one line is underscored much darker than the rest. Beautiful ideas from both humanist and gynocentric thought culminate in an almost annoyingly practical conclusion. Those of us roaming the planet on two legs, feeding ourselves, and making conversation are humans. As such, we deserve from each other a certain level of respect and consideration merely for existing. At the same time, we are still individuals, with different experiences and different thoughts, so we must reflect on these when arguing a position meant to be applied to everyone.

Page after page, I felt compelled to underline and make mental notes. So natural seem these philosophies, that their absence in our daily lives can only be because of their obviousness. So with each academic’s philosophizing I—as the reader, the passive activist, the casual observer—become more aware, more fervent, more interested, more committed, and it seems, somehow, more a woman.

Written by: Tatiana Ryckman, February 16th 2010

Destroying Mara Forever: Buddhist Ethics Essays in Honor of Damien Keown

admin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:59:00 +0000

By John Powers, Charles S. Prebish

Snow Lion

Destroying Mara Forever is by no means a leisurely read. Reading this collection of rigorously researched essays, I found myself personally engaged with the questions raised by these great scholars and I am grateful to have had such rich food for thought. The collection honors the work of Damien Keown, now retired Professor of Buddhist Ethics at London’s Goldsmith College. Keown’s body of work has significantly shaped the field of Buddhist studies and has greatly advanced its progress into the twenty-first century.

Applying traditional Buddhist ethical principles and the arguments found in myriad texts both ancient and contemporary, the essays explore issues central to our lives today. Contributor Ian Harris states that “[traditional Buddhism] is incapable, without modification, of responding to the present environmental crisis” and as I think this collection superbly demonstrates it is not just the environmental crisis that traditional Buddhism must evolve to address, but most of today’s pressing issues. In this volume, Buddhism is called upon to take a stance on contemporary issues like capital punishment, the environment, valuation of physical appearance, consumerism, technology, and war.

My attraction to Buddhist philosophy is largely due to the principle of compassion at the heart of Buddha’s teachings, and it was with great interest that I turned to "Buddhist Perspectives on Crime and Punishment." In this essay, author Peter Harvey examines the history of torture and the death penalty in Buddhist societies and what early Buddhist texts have to say on this controversial matter.

In this and other essays, debate arises from the finer points of translation and in many cases, from individual scholars applying interpretation to more elusive words. For instance: did the renowned Indian Buddhist emperor Aśoka apply the death penalty? Some translations indicate he may have tolerated it, though there is also evidence that he was the “first [known] ruler in history recorded to have abolished the death penalty.”

Careful and critical examination of the multiple sides of an issue is consistent throughout this collection. Some fundamental precepts become obsolete as argued in one of the most thought-provoking essays, "In Search of a Green Dharma: Philosophical Issues in Buddhist Environmental Ethics." Christopher Ives examines the arguments of the great Buddhist thinkers, from Keown to Gary Snyder on topics including interdependence, responsibility, identification with nature, intrinsic value, equality, animal rights, and the sacredness of nature as they relate to the current environmental crisis.

We see how examining contemporary environmental issues through a lens of traditional Buddhist doctrine can quickly create absolutes and even hold the wrong parties responsible. For example the doctrine of pratītya-samutpāda "conveys that nothing has a soul or unchanging essence" and therefore we are all interdependent parts of a single greater self. Zen teacher Joan Halifax calls this the greater "ecological self". To follow this line of thinking, Ian Harris says "then the black rhino depends on the hydrogen bomb, the rainforest on the waste dump."

The essays collected in Destroying Mara Forever do not shy away from questioning the relevance of foundational doctrine to answer today's greatest ethical dilemmas, and do so in pointed and respectful debate that leads one to continue that questioning and apply it to other issues.

Written by: Matsya Siosal, February 7th 2010

Resolving the Paradox of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Sexual Politics

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:05:00 +0000

By Tamela Ice

University Press of America, Inc.

Professor Ice begins her book with what she calls a paradox within philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau's social philosophy. In her words, “Rousseau's views on women sits [sic] in tension with his philosophy of freedom and equality.” That is, Professor Ice refers to the apparent discrepancy between Rousseau's vision of freedom for men and his endorsement of subordination for women. In the first chapter, Ice begins by exploring Rousseau's identity and sexual politics to determine Rousseau's definition (description would be better) of “woman.” Next, in the second chapter, she discusses what she considers Rousseau's overarching philosophical project—“the restoration of a sense of equality among men as men.” Thus, the question becomes: Does Rousseau's sexual politics undermine his larger project of restoring this sense of equality among men? In chapter three, Professor Ice moves to a discussion of the depiction of psychological alienation in literature to describe what happens to women when they are psychologically dependent and living in bad faith. In chapter four, Professor Ice directly employs selections from Simone de Beauvoir's oeuvreas a lens for refocusing interpretations of Rousseau.

I am sympathetic to the desire to connect Rousseau and Beauvoir. Indeed, stylistically, they are mutually sympathetic. Both Beauvoir and Rousseau have been lambasted by (some) feminists and other critics for insisting upon a status quo which they merely (brilliantly, feelingly) describe. It is not the case that there is no connection to be made between Rousseau and Beauvoir, it is simply that Ice never justifies her comparison. She never tells her reader why she chooses Beauvoir as a foil for Rousseau; she never explains why “bad faith” is something about which we ought to worry; she never explains why and how it is she justifies her anachronistic application of a twentieth century existentialist concept to an eighteenth century Enlightenment philosophy. Even if the reader were to set aside the lack of justification (and the regrettable editing errors), she must still contend with Ice's interpretation of Rousseau's sexual politics and social philosophy. Ice notes the masculine language Rousseau uses to discuss the civil “man,” but never looks at Rousseau's moral project (or even appears to recognize a moral project in Rousseau's work).

One might note a sort of progression in Rousseau's genealogy of human social development: wild, natural, civil, moral. The moral person is the culmination of Rousseau's project and the moral person comprises a man and a woman: in Emile, Rousseau claims that the community created by a woman and a man “produces a person...” (emphasis added). There is no moral humanity without women; men alone, as men, cannot be taken as the measure for (full) humanity.

Unfortunately, although Ice attempts a revision of Rousseau scholarship, there is nothing revisionary in her tired invocation of an illicit major premise: all men are human, no woman is a man, therefore, no woman is human. Rousseau doesn't take man, by himself, for the measure of humanity and doesn't measure women against men. When feminist academics employ such faulty logic, they disadvantage their scholarship and often miss subtleties that can be more fruitfully explored.

Written by: kristina grob, November 18th 2009