Dis-orientations: philosophy, literature and the lost grounds of modernity Disorientations

This highly original collection of essays contributes to a critique of the common understanding of modernity as an enlightened project that provides rational grounds for orientation in all aspects and dimensions of the world. An international team of contributors contend that the modern principles of foundation show in themselves rather how modernity is disorienting itself. The book brings together discussions on the writings of philosophers who treat more systematically the questions of foundation and orientation, such as Kant, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Pascal, and Patočka, and studies of literary works that explicitly thematize this question, such as Novalis, Hölderlin, Beckett, Platonov, and Benjamin. This multi-disciplinary approach brings to the fore the paradox that modern figures of grounding and orientation unground and disorient and demonstrates a critical path to review current understandings of modernity and post-modernity. Editors: Marcia Sá Cavalcante Schuback is professor of philosophy at Södertörn University, Sweden. She has published widely in both English and Portuguese, including the Portuguese translation of Heidegger's Being and Time. Tora Lane is a Project Researcher at CBEES, Södertörn University, Sweden. Publisher's note This Is An Edited Collection Of Original Essays That Combine Philosophy, Phenomenology, And Literature To Reflect On Modern Ideas About Orientation And Disorientation, Grounds And Groundlessness. I. Disorientation In Thought: Husserl And The Earth / Sven-olov Wallenstein ; Sublime Disorientation : An Interpretation Of Kant's What Does It Mean To Orient Oneself In Thinking? / Krystof Kasprzak ; On Being Lost At Home : Between Economy And Ecology / Michael Marder ; Lightness Of Being, Gravity Of Thought : (dis-)orientations In Nietzsche And Kundera / Ludger Hagedorn -- Ii. Disorientation In Existence: On The Prehistory Of The Science Of Movement : World, Earth, Heaven And The Movement Of Human Life / Jan Patočka ; A Place In Movement : Jan Patočka And The Disorientation Of Human Existence / Gustav Strandberg ; Exile And Existential Disorientation / Marcia Sá Cavalcante Schuback -- Iii. Disorientation In Being: Intimacy And Abyss In Hölderlin's The Death Of Empedocles / Peter Trawny ; Hovering In The Between : Novalis And The Experience Of Limit / Peter Hanly ; Vertigo Of Being / Johan Redin -- Iv. Disorientation In Language: Words (mis)trusted / Helena Martins ; Platonov's Chevengur : Disorientation And The Quest For A Transcendental Home In The World / Tora Lane ; Disoriented Names : Benjamin And Kierkegaard On Politics And History In Language / Irina Sandomirskaia. Edited By Marcia Sá Cavalcante Schuback And Tora Lane. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.