Thinking in the World: A Reader

Description

Engaging with contemporary issues responsibly and creatively can become a very abstract activity. We can sometimes find ourselves talking in terms of theories and philosophies which bear very little resemblance to how life is actually lived and experienced. In Thinking in the World, Jill Bennett and Mary Zournazi curate writings and conversations with some of the most influential thinkers in the world and ask them not just why we should engage with the world ,but also how we might do this. Rather than simply thinking about the world, the authors examine the ways in which we think in and with the world. Whether it's how to be environmentally responsible, how to think in film, or how to dance with a non-human, the need to engage meaningfully in a lived way is at the forefront of this collection. Thinking in the World showcases some of the most compelling arguments for a philosophy in action. Including wholly original, never-before-released material from Michel Serres, Alphonso Lingis, and Mieke Bal, the different chapters in this book constitute dialogues and approachable essays, as well as impassioned arguments for a particular way of approaching thinking in the world.

Jill Bennett is Professor of Visual Culture and Director of the National Institute for Experimental Arts, University of New South Wales, Australia. Her books include World Memory: Personal Trajectories in Global Time (2003), Empathic Vision (2005), Practical Aesthetics (I.B. Tauris, 2012) and New Media Art and Living in the Anthropocene (2013). Mary Zournazi is an Australian writer and philosopher. She teaches at the University of New South Wales, Australia and is the author of several books, including Hope - New Philosophies for Change (2003), Inventing Peace: A Dialogue on Perception (I.B. Tauris, 2013). Her book Keywords to War (2008) was made into a radio documentary for ABC Radio National in Australia, and it was nominated for the Australian UN Media Peace Prize in 2008.

This volume is a remarkable collection of essays for its creative approach to the topic of thinking. The various essays effectively demonstrate the ways in which thinking does not merely take place in the brain but is embodied in our material and practical engagement with the world. -- James Risser, Professor of Philosophy, Seattle University, USA Here is a book to help us understand the ways we and the world are mutually obliged. A book leading us toward the ecological sensibility that we must learn quickly from the lively world that, for the moment, continues to host us. * Ross Gibson, Centenary Professor of Creative & Cultural Research, University of Canberra, Australia * Attuned to contemporary technologies that open new ways to engage mind-world relationships, this outstanding collection of critical and innovative phenomenological analyses provides a rich set of exciting interventions that respond in original ways to (both senses of) the question that Heidegger famously formulated: "What is Called Thinking?" / "What Calls for Thinking?" -- Michael J. Shapiro, Professor of Political Science, University of Hawai'i, Manoa