Subjectivity as radical hospitality : recasting the self, with Augustine, Descartes, Marion, and Derrida

Intervervening in a lively debate in contemporary European philosophy, this book offers a radically revisioned account of the self subjected to experience. Patiently yet vigorously engaging Jean-Luc Marion's reading of selfhood in St Augustine, Martis reaches back deeply into the Western Philosophical tradition to propose a bold solution to the phemomenological problem of how a self can recognise an other, while remiaining itself. Insights from Descartes, Kant, Derrida, Blanchot, Romano and others are brought together to undergird an account of a self that remains itself only in ceaseless loss to necessary incursions of the other: "I Welcome therefore I am." Intervening in a lively debate in contemporary European philosophy, Subjectivity as Radical Hospitality offers a new account of the self subjected to experience. Patiently yet vigorously engaging Jean-Luc Marion's reading of selfhood in St. Augustine, John Martis reaches back into the Western philosophical tradition to propose a bold solution to the phenomenological problem of how a self can recognize an Other while remaining itself. Insights from Descartes, Kant, Derrida, Blanchot, Romano, and others are brought together to undergird an account of a self that remains itself only in ceaseless loss to necessary incursions of the Other: "I welcome, therefore I am." Subjectivity as Radical Hospitality: Recasting the Self with Augustine, Descartes, Marion, and Derrida will be of particular value to students and scholars in continental philosophy and theology. Book jacket This book presents the philosophical subject as a self-in-loss structured in continuous openness to the other-than-self: I welcome, therefore I am. With Marion and Derrida for foil, Martis examines Cartesian-Augustinian self-based substantiality, discovering a self jointly constituted in Kantian transcendentality and phenomenological givenness.