Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International
Pages: 192
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Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-78348-029-6 • Paperback • December 2014 • $36.00 • (£24.95)
978-1-78348-030-2 • eBook • December 2014 • $34.00 • (£23.95)
Michael Marder is IKERBASQUE Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country , Spain. He is an editorial associate of the journal Telos and has written numerous books and articles on phenomenology, political philosophy and environmental thought. His recent book publications include Plant-Thinking, 2013, The Philosopher’s Plant, 2014and Phenomena-Critique-Logos, 2014.
Acknowledgments / Kindling: The World on Fire / 1. The ABC of Pyropolitics, or the 'Elemental Regimes' of Carl Schmitt / 2. Light Without Heat, Heat Without Light, and the Problem of Evil / 3. Pyropolitical Theology I: The Fires of Revolution / 4. Pyropolitical Theology II: The Politics of Sacrifice / 5. The End of Heliotropic Utopias: When the Sun sets on the City upon the Hill / 6. Around the Hearth: Politics in the Kitchen / Extinguishing: The Politics of Ashes / Index / About the Author
With this subtle, smart, and well-documented book, Michael Marder authoritatively weighs in on an old discussion about the role that fundamental elements (water, air, earth, fire) play in the construction and destruction of societies. This is a brilliant contribution to political metaphorology, useful for understanding the logic behind the combustible world in which we live.
— Daniel Innerarity, Director of Globernance: Institute for Democratic Governance, San Sebastián, Spain
Scintillating!
— Jay M. Bernstein, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Philosophy, New School for Social Research
This is a staggeringly original and provocative piece of writing. Many other adjectives could be applied – scintillating, dazzling, brilliant, illuminating, scorching, explosive, absolutely burning in its urgency-- but it’s hard to use any of these terms innocently any longer after reading this fascinating, lucid, rigorous meditation, which strikes to the heart of the contemporary epoch.
— Rebecca Comay, Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
Recommended: “Marder's profound reading of Carl Schmitt's political theology informs his deep political ontology for this era of "the great blaze of global energy production and consumption.”
— CHOICE
In Pyropolitics: When the World is Ablaze, Michael Marder breaks the silence that envelops the atavistic and igneous element by proposing an original and compelling reinterpretation of the centrality of fire in our political and philosophical life … Through the ingenious pyropolitical lenses offered by this book, global politics becomes what one might call theoretical pointillism, the most appropriate graphic metaphor to describe the distinctive types of violence that characterize our age, from the recent attacks in Paris to the targeted killings carried out by the Obama administration.
— LA Review of Books