Europe, or The Infinite Task: A Study of a Philosophical Concept

by Rodolphe Gasché

Overview

What exactly does "Europe" mean for philosophy today? Putting aside both Eurocentrism and anti-Eurocentrism, Gasché returns to the old name "Europe" to examine it as a concept or idea in the work of four philosophers from the phenomenological tradition: Husserl, Heidegger, Patočka, and Derrida. Beginning with Husserl, the idea of Europe became central to such issues as rationality, universality, openness to the other, and responsibility. Europe, or The Infinite Task tracks the changes these issues have undergone in phenomenology in order to investigate "Europe's" continuing potential for critical and enlightened resistance in a world that is progressively becoming dominated by the mono-perspectivism of global market economics. Rather than giving up on the idea of Europe as an anachronism, Gasché aims to show that it still has philosophical legs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804760614
Publisher:	Stanford University Press
Publication date:	12/22/2008
Series:	Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics Series
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Rodolphe Gasché is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Eugenio Donato Professor of Comparative Literature at the State University of New York at Buffalo. His most recent books are Views and Interviews: On "Deconstruction" in America (2007), and The Honor of Thinking: Critique, Theory, Philosophy (Stanford, 2007).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Abbreviations xi

Introduction 1

Part I Edmund Husserl

1 Infinite Tasks 21

2tUniversality and Spatial Form 44

3 Universality in the Making 64

Part II Martin Heidegger

4 Singular Essence 95

5 The Strangeness of Beginnings 124

6 The Originary World of Tragedy 144

Part III Jan Patocka

7 Care of the Soul 211

8 The Genealogy of "Europe-Responsibility" 237

Part IV Jacques Derrida

9 European Memories 265

10 "This Little Thing That Is Europe" 287

11 De-closing the Horizon 303

Epilogue 339

Notes 349

Bibliography 397

Index 409

Editorial Reviews

"Europe, or the Infinite Task represents a much needed contribution to contemporary debates in political theory. Avoiding easy ways out or simplistic stances towards complex conceptual problems, Gasché faces the challenge of thinking about universality today with all its subtleties and perplexities. His book is not only an inspiring example of patient textual analysis and scholarly rigor, but also an invitation for the reader to face philosophical thinking in all its complexity—perhaps a practical exercise of the 'infinite task' Gasché wishes that we consider."—Javier Burdman, Theory & Event

"Gasché is among the top continental philosophers working in the United States, and this sophisticated and stimulating book is perhaps his crowning achievement so far."—Robert Bernasconi, University of Memphis

"In our ironic, post-philosophical epoch, it seems anachronistic and even foolish to write such an exhaustive philosophical treatise—in effect, four books in 412 pages. Despite this, Gasché offers an admirably unified argument thanks to his constant focus on 'question Europe'."—Philosophy in Review

From the Publisher

"Europe, or the Infinite Task represents a much needed contribution to contemporary debates in political theory. Avoiding easy ways out or simplistic stances towards complex conceptual problems, Gasché faces the challenge of thinking about universality today with all its subtleties and perplexities. His book is not only an inspiring example of patient textual analysis and scholarly rigor, but also an invitation for the reader to face philosophical thinking in all its complexity—perhaps a practical exercise of the 'infinite task' Gasché wishes that we consider."

Theory & Event - Javier Burdman

"Gasché is among the top continental philosophers working in the United States, and this sophisticated and stimulating book is perhaps his crowning achievement so far."

University of Memphis - Robert Bernasconi

"In our ironic, post-philosophical epoch, it seems anachronistic and even foolish to write such an exhaustive philosophical treatise—in effect, four books in 412 pages. Despite this, Gasché offers an admirably unified argument thanks to his constant focus on 'question Europe'."

Philosophy in Review