Nonphilosophy poses a challenge to philosophical thought, inspired by the work of Francois Laruelle. It questions the idea that philosophy, or other disciplines, can tell us what it means to think. This edited collection brings together an internationally known and interdisciplinary group of scholars, including a major new essay by Laruelle himself. Together they use nonphilosophy to cross the boundaries between philosophy and performance.

Philosophers have been busy for centuries looking for the foundations of truth, value, and reality. They try to say what it all means and how it all fits together. Areas of life like science and art have to wait for the philosopher to show up to tell them what they are really about. Theory dictates meaning: performance just puts it into effect. Nonphilosophy is different. It says that reality is not an object out there that we can think and understand. The Real is the place we stand: it is where we think from.

Crucially, nonphilosophy understands philosophy itself to be performative. It enacts modes of thinking that do not dominate the material of thought and do not capture the Real in concepts. Philosophy is mutated by its performances; and performances themselves think, are modes of theory. What happens when we bring philosophy, art, and performance together, without hierarchy? How can they get inside and change one another? The thinkers in this collection answer these pressing questions.

About the Author

Steven Shakespeare is senior lecturer in philosophy at Liverpool Hope University. He works in the area of continental philosophy of religion and has written on Kierkegaard, Derrida, and black metal theory. He is author of a number of books, including Kierkegaard and the Refusal of Transcendence.

Niamh Malone is senior lecturer in drama at Liverpool Hope University. She has published in the areas of applied theatre and dementia, community theatre, storytelling/narrative and identity, global cities, and urban regeneration. She is the managing director of the Hope Graduate Theatre Company and is currently facilitating a three year project entitled "Forgotten Futures and the City" with residents of nursing homes in Liverpool.

Gary Anderson coorganizes The Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home (www.dissentathome.org) and is a senior lecturer in drama at Liverpool Hope University. He is the author of Four Boys [for Beuys] and coeditor of Performance Research On Children. He also runs the Study Room in Exile in collaboration with the Live Art Development Agency.

Book Information
ISBN 9781538147467
Author Steven Shakespeare
Format Hardback
Page Count 286
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Weight(grams) 653g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 160mm * 24mm