[1]A new, second edition of William Desmond’s Desire, Dialectic, & Otherness: An Essay on Origins [2] has recently been published (Wipf & Stock, 2013, 292pp)
Book description:
Many philosophers since Hegel have been disturbed by the thought that philosophy inevitably favors sameness over otherness or identity over diff erence. Originally published at a time when the issue was not so widely discussed in the English-speaking world, William Desmond here off ers a constructive and positive approach to the problem of diff erence and otherness. He systematically explores the question of dialectic and otherness by analyzing how human desire inevitably seeks immanent wholeness in a manner that opens it to irreducible otherness. He faces the diffi culties bequeathed to Continental thought by Hegelian dialectic and its tendency to subordinate diff erence to identity, whether appropriately or not. Unlike many recent critics of Hegel, he argues that we must preserve what is genuine in dialectic. Granting the positive power of dialectic, Desmond off ers his fi rst articulation of a further philosophical possibility—what he terms the metaxological—a discourse of the “between,” a discourse doing justice to desire’s search for wholeness without any truncating of its radical openness to otherness. In a wide-ranging yet unifi ed discussion, Desmond tackles such issues as the nature of the self, the ambiguous restlessness and inherent power of being revealed by human desire, desire’s relation to transcendence, its openness to otherness in agapeic good will and in relation to the sublime as an aesthetic infi nitude. Finally, Desmond brings this metaxological understanding to bear on the metaphysical question of the ultimate origin.
Th is book is a remarkable introduction to Desmond’s metaxological philosophy, prefi guring many of the ideas with which his later thought is associated. Th is second edition contains a substantial new preface and an afterword to each chapter in which Desmond reflects on the material from the standpoint of his current thinking.
Blurbs:
“What splendid news that William Desmond’s admirable, insightful, engaging, and—because of its Hegelian involvements—exasperating book is republished! It invites reflection on those conversations with others in which we become other to ourselves. . . . Desmond’s book initiates just such a badly needed conversation with his readers.” — ALASDAIR MACINTYRE, Professor Emeritus, University of Notre Dame
“At the time of its publication over twenty years ago Desire, Dialectic, and Otherness represented the appearance of a truly important and original philosophical voice. It exhibited critical mastery of the entire philosophical tradition and a rare ability both to sift through it and to penetrate to its original and originating core. It was a portend of much to come. And in hindsight, one can see in this still amazingly fresh work the seeds of Desmond’s great trilogy in metaphysics, which has made him one of the essential philosophers of his generation.” — CYRIL O’REGAN, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
Download the flyer here [3] [PDF]
[Purchase from Wipf & Stock [2]]
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