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CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY NEW The Power of Art MARKUS GABRIEL University of Bonn ‘Few living philosophers can match Markus Gabriel in breadth of interest and competence. Here he defends the radical autonomy of art.’ Graham Harman, author of Art and Objects We live in an era of aesthetics. Art has become both pervasive and powerful – it is displayed not only in museums and galleries but also on the walls of corporations and it is increasingly fused with design. But what makes art so powerful, and of what does its power consist? According to a widespread view, the power of art – its beauty – lies in the eye of the beholder. What counts as art appears to be a function of individual acts of evaluation supported by powerful institutions. On this account, the power of art stems from a force that is not itself aesthetic, such as the art market and the financial power of speculators. Art expresses, in a disguised form, the power of something else – like money – that lies behind it. In one word, art has lost its autonomy. In this short book, Markus Gabriel rejects this view. He argues that art is essentially uncontrollable. It is in the nature of the work of art to be autonomous to such a degree that the art world will never manage to overpower it. Ever since the cave paintings of Lascaux, art has taken hold of the human mind and implemented itself in our very being. Thanks to the emergence of art we became human beings, that is, beings who lead their lives in light of an image of the human being and its position in the world and in relation to other species. Due to its structural, ontological power, art itself is and remains radically autonomous. Yet, this power is highly ambiguous, as we cannot control its unfolding. In this book, a leading proponent of new realism applies this philosophical perspective to art to create a new aesthetic realism. 190 x 124mm • 102 pages • UK June 2020, US September 2020 HB • 978-1-5095-4096-9 • £35.00 / $45.00 / €42.90 PB • 978-1-5095-4097-6 • £9.99 / $12.95 / €12.90 ebook available Neo-Existentialism MARKUS GABRIEL ‘Markus Gabriel has a radical and deeply interesting conception of what philosophical picture we should form of our situation, a conception which has roots in classical German philosophy and retrieves a powerful but neglected portion of the existentialist legacy. This book weighs the familiar claims of naturalism and anti-naturalism in new terms and puts forward an original proposal for exiting from the deadlock to which they all too often lead.’ Sebastian Gardner, University College London In this highly original book, Markus Gabriel presents ‘Neo-Existentialism’, an anti-naturalist view that holds that human mindedness consists in an open-ended proliferation of mentalistic vocabularies. Challenged by Charles Taylor, Andrea Kern and Jocelyn Benoist, Gabriel deftly refutes naturalism’s metaphysical claim to epistemic exclusiveness. 216 x 138mm • 144 pages • 2018 HB • 978-1-5095-3247-6 • £45.00 / $59.95 / €55.90 PB • 978-1-5095-3248-3 • £12.99 / $16.95 / €15.90 ebook available NEW The Limits of Epistemology MARKUS GABRIEL Translated by Alex Englander ‘Markus Gabriel builds bridges between the philosophical traditions. His new way of philosophizing combines a hermeneutic perspective with precise analytical reasoning and method. This book points in the direction of future philosophical theory-building in epistemology and ontology.’ Anton Friedrich Koch, University of Heidelberg At the centre of modern epistemology lurks the problem of scepticism: how can we know that the forms of our cognition are compatible with the world? In this book, by distinguishing different forms of scepticism, Markus Gabriel shows how we can begin to grasp the limits of the modern project of epistemology. 229 x 152mm • 384 pages • UK November 2019, US January 2020 HB • 978-1-5095-2566-9 • £60.00 / $79.95 / €73.90 PB • 978-1-5095-2567-6 • £19.99 / $28.95 / €24.90 ebook available I AM NOT A BRAIN I am Not a Brain Philosophy of Mind for the 21st Century MARKUS GABRIEL Translated by Christopher Turner ‘Gabriel’s engaging, accessible and incisive introduction to the philosophy of mind tackles the deep problems raised by both classical thinkers and modern neuroscience. Bringing the zombies and homunculi of the philosophical debates together with the Daleks and Fargo, it is as illuminating as it is enjoyable.’ Sacha Golob, King’s College London In this book, philosopher Markus Gabriel challenges an increasing trend in science towards neurocentrism, the assumption that the self is identical to the brain. In a sharp critique, he presents a new defense of the free will and provides a timely introduction to philosophical thought about the self – with verve, humour and surprising insights. 229 x 152mm • 256 pages • 2017 HB • 978-1-5095-1475-5 • £55.00 / $69.95 / €67.90 PB • 978-1-5095-3872-0 • £12.99 / $16.95 / €15.90 ebook available MARKUS GABRIEL Why the World Does Not Exist MARKUS GABRIEL Translated by Gregory Moss ‘Gabriel has written a gripping thriller, which is of course what all good philosophy should be.’ Die Literarische Welt Where do we come from? Are we merely a cluster of elementary particles in a gigantic world receptacle? And what does it all mean? In this highly original new book, philosopher Markus Gabriel challenges our notion of what exists and what it means to exist. 216 x 138mm • 256 pages • 2015 HB • 978-0-7456-8756-8 • £55.00 / $69.95 / €67.90 PB • 978-0-7456-8757-5 • £12.99 / $16.95 / €15.90 ebook available WWW.POLITYBOOKS.COM 22
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CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY NEW Art and Objects GRAHAM HARMAN Southern California Institute of Architecture (on leave from the American University in Cairo) ‘Artists, critics, theorists, and philosophers engaged in the field of contemporary art – particularly in interdisciplinary practices of installation art, performance art, and works in augmented and virtual reality – will find Graham Harman’s considerations of the ontological vibrancy of art and objects imaginatively contrarian with regard to most art critical and theoretical writings of the last half century and usefully provocative as we think about the art to come.’ Steven Henry Madoff, School of Visual Arts NYC ‘Harman’s writing is always clear, highly readable and provocative. With Art and Objects Harman continues his project of making aesthetics central to philosophy by turning his maverick theoretical attention to art, thus pursuing his ongoing interrogation of objects and the world.’ Francis Halsall, National College of Art and Design, Dublin In this book, the founder of object-oriented ontology develops his view that aesthetics is the central discipline of philosophy. Conceiving of philosophy and art in this way allows us to reread key debates in aesthetic theory and art history. This work will be essential reading in philosophy, aesthetics, art history and cultural theory. 229 x 152mm • 224 pages • UK October 2019, US November 2019 HB • 978-1-5095-1267-6 • £55.00 / $69.95 / €67.90 PB • 978-1-5095-1268-3 • £17.99 / $24.95 / €23.90 ebook available Speculative Realism An Introduction GRAHAM HARMAN ‘An essential guide by the foremost philosopher of our age. This book will educate and delight both aficionados and those unfamiliar with the first major philosophical movement of the twenty-first century.’ Timothy Morton, Rice University 229 x 152mm • 208 pages • 2018 HB • 978-1-5095-1998-9 • £55.00 / $69.95 / €67.90 PB • 978-1-5095-1999-6 • £17.99 / $24.95 / €23.90 ebook available Persons and Things From the Body’s Point of View ROBERTO ESPOSITO Translated by Zakiya Hanafi ‘Working across the fields of political philosophy and law, Persons and Things offers the reader dazzling perspectives on person as thing and thing as person. This, quite simply, is a brilliant book.’ Timothy Campbell, Cornell University Series: Theory Redux 190 x 124mm • 176 pages • 2015 HB • 978-0-7456-9064-3 • £40.00 / $49.95 / €48.90 PB • 978-0-7456-9065-0 • £9.99 / $12.95 / €12.90 ebook available NEW Politics and Negation For an Affirmative Philosophy ROBERTO ESPOSITO Scuola Normale Superiore Translated by Zakiya Hanafi ‘As soon as Hegel’s consciousness is dialectically transformed into “the subject,” there is negation. Roberto Esposito, in Politics and Negation, finds in modernity a ubiquitous politics of negation, spanning Hobbes to Heidegger to Carl Schmitt, in which even freedom is understood primarily as non-necessity. What this book does is to convert such negation, in avoiding every dialectic, into – via Machiavelli, Spinoza, Nietzsche and Foucault – an ontology of affirmation. It takes the author’s signature work on our contemporary obsession with immunity (to disease, the migrant, etc.) into a transmogrification as affirmative community. A challenge to the negativity of all populisms, Esposito has written yet another page-turner.’ Scott Lash, University of Oxford ‘In this compelling book, Roberto Esposito offers the first comprehensive study of the relation between politics and negation. From logic to ontology, from Hobbes to Heidegger, and from depoliticization to thanatopolitics, Esposito not only tracks the mutually intertwined fates of politics and negation in modernity but also seeks to imagine a new affirmative theory of negativity. This is a major new study from one of the most important contemporary political philosophers.’ Arthur Bradley, Lancaster University In this book, leading Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito reconstructs the genealogy of the reciprocal intertwining of politics and negation. Against the centrality of negation, Esposito proposes a rigorous and original pathway which recognizes the disturbing traumas of our time, as well as the harbingers of what awaits at its limits. 229 x 152mm • 256 pages • UK & US November 2019 HB • 978-1-5095-3661-0 • £55.00 / $69.95 / €67.90 PB • 978-1-5095-3662-7 • £17.99 / $24.95 / €21.90 ebook available A Philosophy for Europe From the Outside ROBERTO ESPOSITO Translated by Zakiya Hanafi ‘Esposito’s A Philosophy for Europe is a clarion call for the coming into political existence of a European people based neither on a metaphysics of identity nor on one of difference, but rather on one that emerges out of a real political dialectic built on what he calls, with Machiavelli and Vico, civilian power. Across some of his most thoughtful and unsettling readings of German philosophy, French theory, and Italian thought, Esposito urges the reader to find a point of union among interests and values able to give birth to a new European political space. This is Esposito’s most provocative work yet.’ Timothy Campbell, Cornell University In this book, leading Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito looks at how various strands of European philosophy have achieved the outward turn, needed now more than ever, if the continent is to address crises on multiple fronts. From the relationship and tension between them, a form of thought can arise that is equal to the challenges faced today. 229 x 152mm • 288 pages • 2018 HB • 978-1-5095-2105-0 • £55.00 / $69.95 / €67.90 PB • 978-1-5095-2106-7 • £17.99 / $24.95 / €23.90 ebook available WWW.POLITYBOOKS.COM 23

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CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY

NEW

The Power of Art MARKUS GABRIEL University of Bonn ‘Few living philosophers can match Markus Gabriel in breadth of interest and competence. Here he defends the radical autonomy of art.’ Graham Harman, author of Art and Objects We live in an era of aesthetics. Art has become both pervasive and powerful – it is displayed not only in museums and galleries but also on the walls of corporations and it is increasingly fused with design. But what makes art so powerful, and of what does its power consist? According to a widespread view, the power of art – its beauty – lies in the eye of the beholder. What counts as art appears to be a function of individual acts of evaluation supported by powerful institutions. On this account, the power of art stems from a force that is not itself aesthetic, such as the art market and the financial power of speculators. Art expresses, in a disguised form, the power of something else – like money – that lies behind it. In one word, art has lost its autonomy. In this short book, Markus Gabriel rejects this view. He argues that art is essentially uncontrollable. It is in the nature of the work of art to be autonomous to such a degree that the art world will never manage to overpower it. Ever since the cave paintings of Lascaux, art has taken hold of the human mind and implemented itself in our very being. Thanks to the emergence of art we became human beings, that is, beings who lead their lives in light of an image of the human being and its position in the world and in relation to other species. Due to its structural, ontological power, art itself is and remains radically autonomous. Yet, this power is highly ambiguous, as we cannot control its unfolding. In this book, a leading proponent of new realism applies this philosophical perspective to art to create a new aesthetic realism. 190 x 124mm • 102 pages • UK June 2020, US September 2020 HB • 978-1-5095-4096-9 • £35.00 / $45.00 / €42.90 PB • 978-1-5095-4097-6 • £9.99 / $12.95 / €12.90 ebook available

Neo-Existentialism MARKUS GABRIEL ‘Markus Gabriel has a radical and deeply interesting conception of what philosophical picture we should form of our situation, a conception which has roots in classical German philosophy and retrieves a powerful but neglected portion of the existentialist legacy. This book weighs the familiar claims of naturalism and anti-naturalism in new terms and puts forward an original proposal for exiting from the deadlock to which they all too often lead.’ Sebastian Gardner, University College London In this highly original book, Markus Gabriel presents ‘Neo-Existentialism’, an anti-naturalist view that holds that human mindedness consists in an open-ended proliferation of mentalistic vocabularies. Challenged by Charles Taylor, Andrea Kern and Jocelyn Benoist, Gabriel deftly refutes naturalism’s metaphysical claim to epistemic exclusiveness. 216 x 138mm • 144 pages • 2018 HB • 978-1-5095-3247-6 • £45.00 / $59.95 / €55.90 PB • 978-1-5095-3248-3 • £12.99 / $16.95 / €15.90 ebook available

NEW

The Limits of Epistemology MARKUS GABRIEL Translated by Alex Englander ‘Markus Gabriel builds bridges between the philosophical traditions. His new way of philosophizing combines a hermeneutic perspective with precise analytical reasoning and method. This book points in the direction of future philosophical theory-building in epistemology and ontology.’ Anton Friedrich Koch, University of Heidelberg At the centre of modern epistemology lurks the problem of scepticism: how can we know that the forms of our cognition are compatible with the world? In this book, by distinguishing different forms of scepticism, Markus Gabriel shows how we can begin to grasp the limits of the modern project of epistemology. 229 x 152mm • 384 pages • UK November 2019, US January 2020 HB • 978-1-5095-2566-9 • £60.00 / $79.95 / €73.90 PB • 978-1-5095-2567-6 • £19.99 / $28.95 / €24.90 ebook available

I AM NOT A BRAIN

I am Not a Brain Philosophy of Mind for the 21st Century MARKUS GABRIEL Translated by Christopher Turner ‘Gabriel’s engaging, accessible and incisive introduction to the philosophy of mind tackles the deep problems raised by both classical thinkers and modern neuroscience. Bringing the zombies and homunculi of the philosophical debates together with the Daleks and Fargo, it is as illuminating as it is enjoyable.’ Sacha Golob, King’s College London In this book, philosopher Markus Gabriel challenges an increasing trend in science towards neurocentrism, the assumption that the self is identical to the brain. In a sharp critique, he presents a new defense of the free will and provides a timely introduction to philosophical thought about the self – with verve, humour and surprising insights. 229 x 152mm • 256 pages • 2017 HB • 978-1-5095-1475-5 • £55.00 / $69.95 / €67.90 PB • 978-1-5095-3872-0 • £12.99 / $16.95 / €15.90 ebook available

MARKUS GABRIEL

Why the World Does Not Exist MARKUS GABRIEL Translated by Gregory Moss ‘Gabriel has written a gripping thriller, which is of course what all good philosophy should be.’ Die Literarische Welt Where do we come from? Are we merely a cluster of elementary particles in a gigantic world receptacle? And what does it all mean? In this highly original new book, philosopher Markus Gabriel challenges our notion of what exists and what it means to exist. 216 x 138mm • 256 pages • 2015 HB • 978-0-7456-8756-8 • £55.00 / $69.95 / €67.90 PB • 978-0-7456-8757-5 • £12.99 / $16.95 / €15.90 ebook available

WWW.POLITYBOOKS.COM 22

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