The wreckage of philosophy : Carlo Michelstaedter and the limits of bourgeois thought / Mimmo Cangiano.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cangiano, Mimmo, author.

Series:

Toronto Italian studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Michelstaedter, Carlo, 1887-1910--Criticism and interpretation.

Michelstaedter, Carlo.

Michelstaedter, Carlo, 1887-1910.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

286 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, 2019.

Summary:

"The work of Carlo Michelstaedter (1887-1910) is the first analysis of modernist philosophy as analyzed in strict connection with social changes in mass society. Revealing how Michelstaedter was able to unveil the relations between pivotal early-modernist philosophies and social restructurings, The Wreckage of Philosophy examines the ongoing processes of "specialization," "rationalization," and "atomization." The Wreckage of Philosophy points out how Michelstaedter connected the main theoretical expressions of Modernism with the decisive social transformations of the early-twentieth century, taking into consideration the key players of modernist philosophy, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Henri Bergson, Ernst Mach, and William James. By following Michelstaedter's analysis and strategies, The Wreckage of Philosophy focuses on several intertwined issues: the distinct philosophical positions within the modernist area; the connections between philosophy and modernist literature; the relations between intellectual positions and social upheavals; and the early-twentieth century links among traditional philosophy, critique of language, and epistemology of technique. A complete analysis of Carlo Michelstaedter's philosophy, this book analyses his work as one of the sharpest investigation of the practical and ideological mechanisms that assure social consent."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 The Crisis of Truth p. 7

I Michelstaedter and the Two Sides of Modernist Thought p. 7

II The Social Overcoming of the Aesthetic Perspective p. 20

III The Social Overcoming of Ethical Life and Tragic Thought p. 28

2 The Individual Will/Need and the Social Second Nature p. 35

I The Light of Will and the "Direct Mode," or Michelstaedter's Version of Specialization p. 35

II The Vortex of Correlativity, or Michelstaedter's Version of Relativism p. 44

III The Organization (Abstraction) of Relativity p. 51

IV The "Connective Mode" p. 58

3 Rhetoric's Paths p. 63

I Rhetoric in Language: Michelstaedter's Sprachkritik and Giuseppe Prezzolini p. 63

II The Abstractions of the Social Machine and the Master-Slave Dialectic p. 80

III The Wreckage of Greek Philosophy and the Road to Persuasion p. 91

4 The Persuasion-Rhetoric Dialectic: History and Social Being p. 111

I Science, Technology, and the Historical Character of the Second Nature p. 111

II Ethics, Practice, and Dialectics p. 122

III Rhetoric's Peak p. 137.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781487504649

1487504640

OCLC:

1080216845