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This book frames the mission of the Continental Philosophy and History of Thought series at Lexington Books. International leading scholars contribute essays that explore and redefine the relationship between received arguments in contemporary Continental philosophy and various influential figures and arguments in the history of thought. By bringing Continental philosophy and the histories of thought into dialogue, editors Christian Lotz and Antonio Calcagno broaden the standard canon of what is considered Continental philosophy by including important yet understudied figures and arguments in the tradition; the chapters also deepen and contextualize significant movements and debate in the field by showing their rich historical underpinnings, thereby establishing new viewpoints in specific constituent subfields of philosophy. Reading Continental Philosophy and the History of Thought shows the growing richness of Continental philosophy via unexplored rethinking of the history of thought. The contributors expand Continental philosophy with and through the recovery of important historical developments, figures, and lines of thought.

Obgleich Heideggers Philosophie und die Kritische Theorie auf den ersten Blick als unvereinbar erscheinen, besteht zwischen ihnen eine enge Verwandtschaft.So führt die ontologische Technikanalyse bei Heidegger zu einer Diagnose ihrer Genese durch menschliche Praxis und zu einer pessimistischen Einschätzung der Erkenntnisfähigkeiten des Menschen, während die Kritische Theorie, von einer gesellschaftskritischen Analyse sozialer Praxis ausgehend, zu einem ontologischen Begriff der Verdinglichung gelangt. Sowohl die Technikkritik bei Heidegger als auch die Verdinglichungsthese der Kritischen Theorie bleiben jedoch erläuterungsbedürftig. Aus diesem Grund setzt sich Ding und Verdinglichung mit dem Begriff der Verdinglichung im Zusammenhang mit der Technikphilosophie und der Sozialphilosophie auseinander.

Ist Nachhaltigkeit überhaupt noch notwendig? Diese provokante Frage diskutierten Experten Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts auf internationalen Kongressen. Da das entstehende Eisenbahnnetz den Holztransport revolutionierte, schienen alte Nachhaltigkeitsideen nicht mehr zeitgemäß. Kritische Stimmen entgegneten, dass durch anhaltendes Wirtschaftswachstum auch nachwachsende Rohstoffe bald erschöpft sein würden. Christian Lotz analysiert in diesem Buch erstmals die Wechselwirkungen zwischen technologischem Wandel, der Erschließung neuer Räume (timber frontier) und dem Nachdenken über neue Konzepte zur Nutzung und Schonung von Ressourcen. Auf diese Weise befördert es auch eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit aktuellen Diskussionen um Nachhaltigkeit.

Mit Beiträgen von:Stefan Gandler, Andreas Greiert, Thomas Jung, Thomas Khurana, Marc Kleine, Christian Lotz, Konstantinos Rantis, Gert Sautermeister, Hans-Ernst Schiller, Michael Schwarz, Hermann Schweppenhäuser, Sebastian Tränkle

The Art of Gerhard Richter: Hermeneutics, Images, Meaning presents the first philosophical investigation of, arguably, one of the most popular and important painters working today, Gerhard Richter. From monochrome painting and photo realism to conceptual art and gesture-expressive painting, Richter has transformed the spectrum of 20th-Century painting. Building upon Gadamer's notion of'formed images', the book outlines elements of a hermeneutics and a phenomenology of images and paintings. Moreover, the hermeneutic approach to art is combined with the crucial question of how paintings and photographs are related to each other for Richter. The author suggests that paintings “open up” the fixed relation and intentionality of photographs by idealizing and essentializing the content of the photographs. By relying upon a hermeneutical and phenomenological approach, rather than working from abstract theory, The Art of Gerhard Richter provides philosophical insights developed out of Richter's works of art. Uncovering key philosophical aspects of Richter's work, the author's reflections discuss the relation between appearance and essence, the role of faith and hope, the dialectic of distance and nearness, the issues of death and terror, and the role of beauty and landscapes in Richter's paintings.

Christian Lotz argues that Immanuel Kant's idea of a mental schematism, which gives the human mind access to a stable reality, can be interpreted as a social concept, which, using Karl Marx, the author identifies as money. Money and its “fluid” form, capital, constitute sociality in capitalism and make access to social reality possible. Money, in other words, makes life in capitalism meaningful and frames all social relations. Following Marx, Lotz argues that money is the true Universal of modern life and that, as such, we are increasingly subjected to its control. As money and capital are closely linked to time, Lotz argues that in capitalism money also constitutes past and future “social horizons” by turning both into “monetized” horizons. Everything becomes faster, global, and more abstract. Our lives, as a consequence, become more mobile, “fluid,” unstable, and precarious. Lotz presents analyses of credit, debt, and finance as examples of how money determines the meaning of future and past, imagination, and memory, and that this results in individuals becoming increasingly integrated into and dependent upon the capitalist world. This integration and dependence increases with the event of electronics industries and brain-science industries that channel all human desires towards profits, growth, and money. In this way, the book offers a critical extension of Theodor Adorno's analysis of exchange and the culture industry as the basis of modern societies. Lotz argues—paradoxically with and against Adorno—that we should return to the basic insights of Marx's philosophy, given that the principle of exchange is only possible on the basis of more fundamental social and economic categories, such as money.

The question of the relation between human and non-human animals in theoretical, ethical and political regards has become a prominent topic within the philosophical debates of the last two decades. This volume explores in substantial ways how phenomenology can contribute to these debates. It offers specific insights into the description and interpretation of the experience of the non-human animal, the relation between phenomenology and anthropology, the relation between phenomenology and psychology, as well as ethical considerations.