Marquis de Sade and Continental Philosophy - Softcover

Lauwaert, Lode

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1474430708 ISBN 13: 9781474430708

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2020

Synopsis

He might be best known for sex and violence, but Lode Lauwaert shows that the Marquis du Sade sits at a crossroads of surprisingly disparate branches of western culture: abstract art, Tom and Jerry, gnosticism, Kant’s moral philosophy, romanticism, scholasticism, stoicism and more. To explore these links, Lauwaert reads six interpretations of Sade in French postwar philosophy – looking specifically at Pierre Klossowski, Maurice Blanchot, Georges Bataille, Jacques Lacan, Roland Barthes and Gilles Deleuze. Lauwaert shows how these interpretations of de Sade can be read as a lively introduction to a postmodern way of thinking that is often considered inaccessible, but which dominated the French intellectual scene after the Second World War.

About this title

About the Author

Lode Lauwaert is Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer in the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Leuven. He has been a visiting scholar at Boston College, Stellenbosch University and the University of Vienna. His research focuses on war, technology, and continental philosophy. He teaches, among others things, philosophical anthropology and philosophy of technology.

From the Back Cover

The reception of Marquis de Sade in French postwar philosophyFollowing World War II, many well-known French philosophers wrote extensive studies on the works of the Marquis de Sade. But there is still no clarification of what precisely is argued in that research. Lode Lauwaert offers in-depth readings of a range of interpretations of Sade in French postwar philosophy – looking specifically at Pierre Klossowski, Maurice Blanchot, Georges Bataille, Jacques Lacan, Roland Barthes and Gilles Deleuze.Lauwaert argues that these French philosophical Sade interpretations can be read as a lively introduction to a postmodern way of thinking, where the subject is taken away from the centre of the universe and is seen as an expression of a non-human force. He therefore outlines the necessary background in which to better understand contemporary thinkers such as Catherine Malabou and Quentin Meillassoux.Lode Lauwaert is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Leuven.

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1474430708
• ISBN 13: 9781474430708
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232