Papers by Ashley Woodward
Historical Traces and Future Pathways of Poststructuralism, 2020
In any essay on Jean-François Lyotard, John Rachman writes: 'Perhaps since Adorno no philosopher ... more In any essay on Jean-François Lyotard, John Rachman writes: 'Perhaps since Adorno no philosopher has worked as directly with "aesthetics," and unlike some of his more "textualist" contemporaries, Lyotard was peculiarly concerned with the visual arts, one might even say with "the visual" in art.' 1 As Rachman indicates, Lyotard was the most important aesthetician of the poststructuralist generation of French thinkers, whose work has special importance for the visual arts. However, his work in this area has largely been overshadowed by contemporaries who have received more attention in visual arts theory (and aesthetics more generally), but who were in fact far less engaged with it, such as Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, or Gilles Deleuze. 2 I would like to suggest, then, that one possible future for poststructuralism might lie in the belated reception of Lyotard as a philosopher of the visual arts. I will do this by first looking back to the historical reception of Lyotard's work, in order to show how it tended to obscure the extensive treatment of art in his work. I will then explain how Lyotard's work develops a 'logic' quite specific to a thinking of the visual. This 'logic' (in the most general sense: that is, a way of thinking, an account) stands in contrast with other forms of poststructuralism which have dominated its reception. While comparisons with other poststructuralist thinkers would also be relevant and useful-thinkers such as Foucault and Deleuze, as well as Julia Kristeva, Jean Baudrillard, and so on-within the limited space of this chapter I will focus on a comparison of Lyotard's work with Derrida's. This choice is made for two reasons: first, the specificity of Lyotard's treatment of the visual contrasts most markedly with Derrida's on a philosophical level; and second, Lyotard's reception in the Anglophone academy was historically skewed by Derrida's prominence. Further work still needs to be done to bring the uniqueness of Lyotard's work to light from under the shadow of Derrida, and the specific image of poststructuralism-a textual or discursive one-it continues to color. This chapter contributes to such a task. Let us begin then with a brief account of Lyotard's reception.
The Idea and Practice of Philosophy in Gilbert Simondon, 2023
In this chapter Iwill explore thenature and functionofphilosophy in Simondon from as ingle perspe... more In this chapter Iwill explore thenature and functionofphilosophy in Simondon from as ingle perspective, that of information. The recent development of a branch of philosophynamed "Philosophy of Information" allowsthe framing of this perspective:i tp ermits us to take ar etrospective look at Simondon'sw ork from our current situation, and to appreciate what, in this remarkable work, continues to speak to us with great force and urgency today. 1 Simondon, of course, who died at the end of the 1980s, did not see the recent fruits of the information revolution,but his writings were deeply inspired by cybernetics and the theory of information at its heart. Accordingly, we can readily see Simondon as one of the earliest philosophers of information, who reformed philosophy on the basis of the notion of information in multiple key areas. In what follows, after af irstd iscussion of Simondon'sn otion of information and its place in his thought, Iw ill focus on reforms in two main areas:anew image of philosophy (thought as individuation), and an ew task for philosophy(thei ntegration of philosophya nd culture).T hroughout, what Iw ish to emphasise-as my title indicates-is that for Simondon, information is not simply an object for philosophical study, but an otion that comes to reform what philosophyi tself is and how it is done. In other words, for Simondon, philosophy of information is also philosophy as information.
Contingency and Plasticity in Everyday Technologies, 2022
Architecture Philosophy, 2021
Open Philosophy
This article explores the theme of nihilism from the perspective of post-continental philosophy b... more This article explores the theme of nihilism from the perspective of post-continental philosophy by focusing on semiotics and information theory and the question of “meaning” at stake between them. Nihilism is characterised here as an avatar of the counter-Enlightenment tradition. Post-continental philosophy is defined by a positive revaluation of reason, science, and technology, which were critiqued for their nihilistic effects by key continental philosophers. Rather than critiquing nihilism, then, post-continental philosophers have tended to affirm it. This article argues that, despite appearances, such developments in fact allow a deepened response to nihilism, considered as an existential problem. It does so by using Lyotard’s critique of semiotics to show how the kind of linguistic and cultural meaning associated with continental philosophy is itself a kind of nihilism. It then examines Meillassoux’s theory of the meaningless sign and Laruelle’s idea of the secret truth of Herme...
According to Manfred Frank, Gianni Vattimo is the man whose name occurs immediately to one and a... more According to Manfred Frank, Gianni Vattimo is the man whose name occurs immediately to one and all when someone calls for the leading Italian philosopher and intellectual. While much of Vattimos work has been translated into English (he is perhaps best-known for the book The End of Modernity), there has been little critical reaction to this work. Finally, a volume of critical essays has become available in English with the publication of Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. The volume is edited by Vattimos disciple Santiago Zabala, who also provides an excellent introduction to Vattimo and his philosophy of weak thought (pen-
ISBN (Electronic) 9781409435686 ISBN (Print) 1409435679, 9781409435679 Publication status Publish... more ISBN (Electronic) 9781409435686 ISBN (Print) 1409435679, 9781409435679 Publication status Published 2013 Abstract The idea of the affect-phrase (outlined in essays collected in Misère de la philosophie) is one of the most important of Lyotard’s later philosophy, in so far as it revises, and attempts to give more definition to, a notion central to his earlier thought: the silent phrase. The silent phrase indicates the limits of representation, and testifies to the existence of something unpresentable. My aim here is to explore the nature and significance of the affect-phrase by contextualising it within the framework of an issue arising from The Differend and related works: the problem of testimony. The problem is this: if the Holocaust, or any other specific injustice, is construed as unpresentable, how is bearing witness to it possible? What distinguishes one unpresentable, traumatic historical event, from another? Moreover, Lyotard identifies other, quite different things – such a...
A connection is often made between postmodernism and nihilism, but the full meaning of such a con... more A connection is often made between postmodernism and nihilism, but the full meaning of such a connection is rarely explored. The contemporary Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo is one of the few philosophers to have devoted much work to explaining this connection. Vattimo extrapolates the relevance of Nietzsche’s theory of nihilism for the postmodern condition, arguing that the concept of the postmodern can only be thought rigorously in relation to the nihilistic destiny of the West. This article explores Vattimo’s postmodern reading of Nietzsche and argues that this reading helps to illuminate (1) the connection between nihilism and the postmodern; (2) the postmodern transformation of nihilism, which was originally a theory of the ails of modernity rather than of postmodernity; and (3) why postmodernists may wish to affirm nihilism rather than take the accusation that postmodernism is nihilistic as a charge that must be refuted. ===== Postmodernism as a mode of thought is often acc...
Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology
In 1975 Jean-François Lyotard published a short text entitled Pacific Wall. A mash-up of philosop... more In 1975 Jean-François Lyotard published a short text entitled Pacific Wall. A mash-up of philosophy, fiction, biography, and art criticism, it is highly gnomic if read in isolation. Studied alongside other works from this period, however, it may be understood as sketching a postcolonial libidinal economy. The book's central concept, "white (or blank) skin" avoids any simple identification and instead expresses a series of permutations of desire in relation to race and sex: it is equally the skin of white heterosexual women and of black homosexual men; equally the otherness at the borders of capital's expansion and the supposed identity at the heart of Empire. Lyotard suggests that political issues endemic to the postcolonial situation may be understood in terms of feelings such as lust, jealousy, fear, and the desire for revenge, and that these circulate and mutate along with the flows and transformations of capital.
Film-Philosophy
Jean-François Lyotard's work remains a largely untapped resource for film-philosophy. This ar... more Jean-François Lyotard's work remains a largely untapped resource for film-philosophy. This article surveys four fundamental concepts which indicate the fecundity of this work for current studies and debates. While Lyotard was generally associated with the “theory” of the 1980s which privileged language, signs, and cultural representations, much of his work in fact resonates more strongly with the new materialisms and realisms currently taking centre stage. The concepts examined here indicate the relevance of Lyotard's work in four related contemporary contexts: the renewed interest in the dispositif, new materialism, the affective turn, and speculative realism. The concept of the dispositif (or apparatus) is being rehabilitated in the contemporary context because it shows a way beyond the limiting notion of mise en scène which has dominated approaches to film, and Lyotard's prevalent use of this concept feeds into this renewal. While matter is not an explicit theme in Ly...
Angelaki
This paper seeks to demonstrate that in Lyotard's later works the sublime is posited as ... more This paper seeks to demonstrate that in Lyotard's later works the sublime is posited as a response to nihilism. This demonstration is significantly complicated by the fact that while Lyotard frequently gave the sublime a positive valuation, he also identified it with nihilism. ...
Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology
Deleuze Studies, 2015
This paper mounts a philosophical defence of Peter Shaffer's 1973 play Equus by interpreting it f... more This paper mounts a philosophical defence of Peter Shaffer's 1973 play Equus by interpreting it from three perspectives: that of Freud, Jung, and Deleuze and Guattari. The latter's concept of becoming-animal is offered as a leading perspective which reveals the deep philosophical significance of the drama, belying the claims of those critics who have dismissed it as bogus or banal. This interpretation also allows Equus to be seen as an exemplary illustration of what Deleuze and Guattari mean by their intriguing concept of becoming-animal, and throws fresh light on this fascinating but difficult notion.
Sophia, 2011
Abstract Camus published an essay entitled 'Nietzsche and Nihilism,'which was l... more Abstract Camus published an essay entitled 'Nietzsche and Nihilism,'which was later incorporated into The Rebel. Camus' aim was to assess Nietzsche's response to the problem of nihilism. My aim is to do the same with Camus. The paper explores Camus' ...
Continental Philosophy Review, 2013
This paper critically examines Deleuze’s treatment of the Nietzschean problem of nihilism. Of all... more This paper critically examines Deleuze’s treatment of the Nietzschean problem of nihilism. Of all the major figures in contemporary continental thought, Deleuze is at once one of the most luminous, and practically a lone voice in suggesting that nihilism may successfully be overcome. Whether or not he is correct on this point is thus a commanding question in relation to our understanding of the issue. Many commentators on Nietzsche have argued that his project of overcoming nihilism is destined to failure because of the affinity between the problem of nihilism and the logic of negation. While Nietzsche wants an absolute affirmation of life, Spinoza’s principle that “all determination is negation,” as well as Hegel’s dialectical conception of negation, suggest that affirmation free of negation is not possible. However, some commentators indicate that Deleuze successfully shows how overcoming nihilism is possible because his “logic of difference” allows for an affirmation which is not dialectically reappropriated by negation. This paper argues that beyond such logical considerations, there are metaphysical and existential reasons why Deleuze’s interpretation of nihilism fails to show that it can be overcome. For Deleuze, the overcoming of nihilism hinges not just on a logic of difference, but on a radical interpretation of Nietzsche’s doctrine of eternal return as “selective being.” Drawing on recent scholarship and on Nietzsche’s own writings I argue that this is not a tenable interpretation, and also, more importantly, that the metaphysical and existential implications of this understanding of eternal return reinstate nihilism at the very point where it is supposedly overcome. Moreover, I argue that there are attendant ethical and political dangers to Deleuze’s position on nihilism.
International Journal of Baudrillard Studies, 2008
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Papers by Ashley Woodward