Simon Critchley

Swedish artists Mats Bigert and Lars Bergström first began their creative partnership in 1986, and have since become internationally recognized for a wide range of art projects ranging from large-scale sculptures and installations to performance and film. The duo are known for their analysis of current societal and environmental issues, often using humour as a tool. They tend to focus on scientific, climate-related and social issues, and the intersection between them. This detailed monograph covers their entire artistic oeuvre, from its very beginnings to the present moment a wealth of material that allows for an in-depth examination of their practice and its continuing relevance.

'A significant and courageous invitation to think again about the kinds of thinking that matter; the kinds of thinking that keep us awake' Rowan Williams Mysticism has been called 'experience at its most intense form', and here philosopher Simon Critchley asks: wouldn't you like to taste this intensity? Wouldn't you like to be lifted up and out of yourself? Mysticism is not a question of religious belief but of felt experience and daily practice. It is a way of freeing yourself of your standard habits, fancies and imagining so as to see what is there and stand with what is there ecstatically. It is the achievement of a fluid openness between thought and existence. This is a book about Julian of Norwich and medieval mystics that also ranges through the work of Anne Carson, Annie Dillard and T.S. Eliot. It looks at Nick Cave and German krautrock and shows how music can be secular worship. It opens the door to mysticism not as something unworldly and unimaginable, but as a way of life.

“There is a common fallacy that is oddly and sadly even more widespread amongst non-philosophers than philosophers, that art is somehow explained by philosophy. It is not.”The philosopher Simon Critchley has long been drawn to the distinctive questions raised by tragedy. In this major new work, conceived as a sequel to his Tragedy, the Greeks and Us (2019), he describes the power of tragic drama as deriving from its depictions of 'stuckness': of the inescapable situation of being oneself. In readings of Jean Racine, Henrik Ibsen, and Samuel Beckett, Critchley offers an exceptionally perceptive account of how tragedy dramatises this irreducibly absurd condition.I Want to Die, I Hate My Life is at once a searching philosophical engagement with tragedy and a bracing argument against the widespread tendency to reduce literary texts to mere illustrations of philosophical ideas. Critchley’s exposition of the ambiguities that lie at the heart of tragic drama—of tragedy’s resistance to the kind of rational explanations that philosophers have sought to impose upon it—doesn’t just enhance our understanding of literature; it also points towards a wiser, more subtle, and more dynamic way of doing philosophy.

'Philosopher Simon Critchley's painstaking attempt to explore transcendent experience provides a fascinating overview of Christianity's great outliers' 'Book of the Day', Guardian 'A playful, profound new study of mysticism ... generous and animated' Brian Dillon Mysticism is about existential ecstasy - an experience of heightening one's senses and self into a sheer feeling of aliveness. Mystical experiences offer us a practical way to open our thoughts and deepen the sense of our lives, whether through a mainstream connection to God or by taking part in mind-altering experiences. Here, Simon Critchley explores the history and practice of mysticism, from its origins in Eastern and Western religion, through its association with esoteric and occult knowledge, and up to the ecstatic modernism of T.S. Eliot and others. Through a discussion of the lives of famous mystics, like Julian of Norwich and Jesus Christ, Critchley reveals how embracing the spectrum of mystical experience can refresh our thinking and help us live deeper and freer lives. Philosophical and playful, analytical and inventive, On Mysticism is a definitive account of humanity's quest to understand the divine, and a call to thinkers everywhere to broaden our minds to life larger than our selves.

A probing, inspiring exploration of mysticism not as religious practice but as a mode of experience and way of life by one of the most provocative philosophical thinkers of our time. Why mysticism? It has been called "experience in its most intense form," and in his new book the philosopher Simon Critchley poses a simple question to the reader: Wouldn't you like to taste this intensity? Wouldn't you like to be lifted up and out of yourself into a sheer feeling of aliveness, both your life and those of the creatures that surround you? If so, it might be well worthwhile trying to learn what is meant by mysticism and how it can shift, elevate, and deepen the sense of our lives. Mysticism is not primarily a theoretical issue. It's not a question of religious belief but of felt experience and daily practice. A rough and ready definition of mysticism is that it is a way of systematically freeing yourself of your standard habits, your usual fancies and imaginings so as to see what is there and stand with what is there ecstatically. Mysticism is the practical possibility of the achievement of a fluid openness between thought and existence. This is a book about trying to get outside oneself, to lose oneself, while knowing that the self is not something that can ever be fully lost. It is also a book about Julian of Norwich, Anne Carson, Annie Dillard, T.S. Eliot, and Nick Cave. It shows how listening to music can be secular worship. It is a book full of learning, puzzlement, pleasure, and wonder. It opens the door to mysticism not as something unworldly and unimaginable, but as a way of life.

"A genial exercise in public philosophy" (Kirkus, starred review) from one of the world's best-known popular philosophers"Simon Critchley is an international treasure—that rare and real philosopher who embraces Rousseau’s ‘feeling of existence,’ David Bowie’s vision of love, and Philip K. Dick’s genius with genuine wrestling and a soulful smile!’’—Cornel West, Harvard University The moderator of the New York Times’ Stone column and the author of numerous books on everything from Greek tragedy to David Bowie, Simon Critchley has been a strong voice in popular philosophy for more than a decade. This volume brings together thirty-five essays, originally published in the Times, on a wide range of topics, from the dimensions of Plato’s academy and the mysteries of Eleusis to Philip K. Dick, Mormonism, money, and the joy and pain of Liverpool Football Club fans. In an engaging and jargon-free style, Critchley writes with honesty about the state of world as he offers philosophically informed and insightful considerations of happiness, violence, and faith. Stripped of inaccessible academic armatures, these short pieces bring philosophy out of the ivory tower and demonstrate an exciting new way to think in public.

We might think we are through with the past, but the past isn't through with us. Tragedy permits us to come face to face with the things we don't want to know about ourselves, but which still make us who we are. It articulates the conflicts and contradictions that we need to address in order to better understand the world we live in. A work honed from a decade's teaching at the New School, where 'Critchley on Tragedy' is one of the most popular courses, Tragedy, the Greeks and Us is a compelling examination of the history of tragedy. Simon Critchley demolishes our common misconceptions about the poets, dramatists and philosophers of Ancient Greece - then presents these writers to us in an unfamiliar and original light.

From the moderator of The New York Times philosophy blog "The Stone," a book that argues that if we want to understand ourselves we have to go back to theater, to the stage of our lives "Engaging and congenial . . .makes the cogent, compelling argument that we ignore Greek Tragedy at our own peril." --New York Journal of Books Tragedy presents a world of conflict and troubling emotion, a world where private and public lives collide and collapse. A world where morality is ambiguous and the powerful humiliate and destroy the powerless. A world where justice always seems to be on both sides of a conflict and sugarcoated words serve as cover for clandestine operations of violence. A world rather like our own. The ancient Greeks hold a mirror up to us in which we see all the desolation and delusion of our lives but also the terrifying beauty and intensity of existence. This is not a time for consolation prizes and the fatuous banalities of the self-help industry and pop philosophy. Tragedy allows us to glimpse, in its harsh and unforgiving glare, the burning core of our aliveness. If we give ourselves the chance to look at tragedy, we might see further and more clearly.

I den nye rekken av Cappelens upopulære skrifter kommer Uendelig krevende av Simon Critchley som nr. 74. I boken, som opprinnelig ble gitt ut i 2007, utarbeider den britiske filosofen Simon Critchley en moralfilosofi med klare politiske føringer, fundert på tanken om den etiske nødvendigheten av å yte politisk motstand gjennom en form for ansvarlig anarkisme. Simon Critchley (f. 1960) er Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy ved The New School for Social Research i New York. Siden gjennombruddet med The Ethics of Deconstruction: Derrida and Levinas i 1992, har han publisert flere verk som, i likhet med Uendelig krevende, utforsker forskjellige skjæringspunkter mellom filosofi, politikk og teologi. Critchleys forfatterskap viser stor bredde og inkluderer i tillegg bøker om emner som humor, David Bowie, fotball og hvordan kjente filosofer avgikk ved døden for å nevne noen. Uansett om han skriver om Paulus eller Liverpool FC, kjennetegnes Critchleys forfatterskap av en gjennomgående vilje til å røske opp i etablerte sannheter. Med introduksjon av Anders Marcussen Gullestad og oversatt av Lars Holm-Hansen.

Hva gjorde David Bowie (1947–2016) til det kulturelle ikonet han er i dag? Denne boksingelen består av et utdrag på ni korte essays fra boka On Bowie (2014, utvidet utgave 2016) av den engelske filosofen og professoren Simon Critchley (f. 1960). Critchley skriver med stor kunnskap og personlig begeistring, slik at tekstene oppleves som både en hyllest til Bowie og en samling skarpe meditasjoner. Essensielle sider ved Bowie som artist, tekstforfatter og låtskriver belyses – samt Bowies død. Hva gjorde det med oss, og hvordan forholder vi oss til musikken og tekstene hans nå? Hvert essay tar omtrent like lang tid å lese som å høre en Bowie-sang eller to, men sitter i likhet med gode sanger igjen mye lenger.

“Fodbold giver os en privilegeret adgang til eviggyldige indsigter i, hvad det vil sige at være menneske.”Hvad tænker vi på, når vi tænker på fodbold? På tid og erindring? På identitet og individualisme? På helte og skurke - eller finter, fejl og snyd? På spillets kollektive natur – som i sit væsen nærmer sig socialisme – midt i dyndet af grådighed og korruption? Eller på fodboldens magi, og hvordan vi tilskuere drages med ind i spillet?Simon Critchley forsøger at finde en mening i det hele – og at vise, hvad det smukke i ‘det smukke spil’ består i.

Aristoteles begik selvmord ved at indtage stormhat. Heraklit blev kvalt i komøg. Bentham bad om at blive udstoppet efter sin død og er anbragt i en glasmontre på University College i London.De døde filosoffers bog er et katalog over næsten 200 filosoffers liv og død, fra det antikke Grækenland op til i dag – en enestående samling, der både er en skarp og underholdende introduktion til historiens største tænkere og en livsbekræftende undersøgelse af døden og derigennem livet og muligheden for menneskelig lykke.“Fantastiske og vidunderligt sjove fortællinger… Lad dig ikke skræmme af de mange århundreder – bogen er en fornøjelse at læse.”New York Times

What do we think about when we think about football? Football is about so many things: memory, history, place, social class, gender (especially masculinity, but increasingly femininity too), family identity, tribal identity, national identity, the nature of groups. It is essentially collaborative, even socialist, yet it exists in a sump of greed, corruption, capitalism and autocracy. Philosopher Simon Critchley attempts to make sense of it all, and to establish a system of aesthetics - even poetics - to show what is beautiful in the beautiful game. He explores, too, how the experience of watching football opens a particular dimension in time; how its magic wards off oblivion; how its dramas play out national identity and non-identity; how we spectators, watching football with tragic pensiveness, participate in the play. And of course, as a football fan, he writes about his heroes and villains: about Zidane and Cruyff, Clough and Revie, Shankly and Klopp.

Humor is een fascinerend, prachtig geschreven en komisch boek over wat homor ons kan vertellen over onze menselijke natuur. Van de oudheid tot aan de moderne tijd en puttend uit het werk van een breed scala aan auteurs, in het bijzonder Swift, Sterne, Shaftesbury, Bergson, Beckett en Freud, keert Humor het komische binnenstebuiten en onthult ons een smakelijk inzicht in wat we grappig vinden. Humor beantwoordt vragen zoals: "Waarom lijden komieken aan depressies", "Waarom lachen we zo vaak om dieren" en "Wat gebeurt er in racistische en seksistische humor". Humor zal niet alleen de lezers uit een reeks van disciplines zoals filosofie, theologie, literatuurwetenschap, psycholanalyse, geschiedenis en antropologie aanspreken, maar ook zeer tot de verbeelding spreken van een ieder met een gevoel voor humor - ieder van ons dus, hopelijk.

Simon Critchley first encountered David Bowie in the early seventies, when the singer appeared on Britain's most-watched music show, Top of the Pops. His performance of "Starman" mesmerized Critchley: it was "so sexual, so knowing, so strange." Two days later Critchley's mum bought a copy of the single; she liked both the song and the performer's bright orange hair (she had previously been a hairdresser). The seed of a lifelong love affair was thus planted in the mind of her son, aged 12. In this concise and engaging excursion through the songs of one of the world's greatest pop stars, Critchley, whose writings on philosophy have garnered widespread praise, melds personal narratives of how Bowie lit up his dull life in southern England's suburbs with philosophical forays into the way concepts of authenticity and identity are turned inside out in Bowie's work. The result is nearly as provocative and mind-expanding as the artist it portrays.

‘Bowie’ er en filosofisk rejse gennem David Bowies musik, tekstunivers og mange personaer ind til kernen i spørgsmålet om, hvorfor han har betydet så meget for så mange mennesker. Det er en bog om musikeren, som rakte ud efter os og viste os verdener, som vi ikke vidste fandtes – helt i Bowies egen ånd læst ud fra hans værk og kun sjældent hans biografi og privatliv.Simon Critchley er internationalt anerkendt professor i filosofi og livslang Bowie-fan, med rødder i den engelske, grå arbejderforstad som Bowie selv. Critchley er ikke i tvivl om, at Bowie er en af de største kunstnere i de seneste 100 år. Han viser hvorfor – og hvordan hans kunst balancerer mellem fortvivlelse og håb, dystopi og utopi, fravær og begær, mellem død og liv, og hvordan hans spektakulære exit den 10. januar 2016 fletter sig ind i kunstnerens værk.Om tolvårige Critchleys første møde med David Bowie på tv i 1972:“Han virkede så seksuel, så vidende, så underfundig og så fremmedartet. På én gang arrogant og sårbar. Han så ud, som om han havde forstået, hvad det hele gik ud på – hans ansigt var en dør til en verden af ukendte nydelser.”

What made Bowie special? What made him the cultural icon he is today? And what made millions of people around the world tune into his peculiar wavelength and find exactly what they'd been looking for all along? These are the questions asked by Simon Critchley in this keen-eyed, moving and textured tribute to Bowie. Each of the two dozen deceptively short chapters looks at Bowie from a new angle, slowly unfolding the enigma that was his artistic life into a celebration of what made him unique. From the author's earliest childhood exposure to the bizarre musical and sexual contours of Ziggy Stardust right through to the supernova glow of Blackstar, and covering everything in between, Critchley traces the development of Bowie's music and lyrics to tell the story of how he tapped into zeitgeist - and into our hearts. Growing up in working-class suburban England, the young Critchley was instantly drawn to this creature from another planet, 'so sexual, so knowing, so strange'. Now a celebrated philosopher who Jonathan Lethem has called 'a figure of quite startling brilliance', Critchley draws on a plethora of cultural and philosophical touchpoints, as well as his own intensely personal response to the music, to paint an essential portrait of Bowie as songwriter, poet, performer and icon.

Bowie on samaan aikaan sekä nostalginen että oivaltava kirja David Bowien urasta ja musiikista, sen eri kausista ja hahmoista ja niiden vaikutuksesta musiikkiin, kulttuuriin sekä koko yhteiskuntaan. David Bowie eri hahmoineen, mm. Ziggy Stardust ja Thin White Duke, antoi äänen niille, jotka tunsivat olevansa erilaisia (siis melkein kaikille) sekä luvan olla erilainen ja muuttua ajan myötä.Kirja syntyi Victoria & Albert -museon järjestämän ja vuodesta 2013 maailmaa kiertäneen David Bowie is... näyttelyn innoittamana ja se ulottuu viimeistä edelliseen, 2013 julkaistuun Next Day –albumiin saakka. Se on kirjoitettu niille lukuisille sukupolville, jotka ovat varttuneet Bowien kanssa ja paraikaa täyttävät tähden kuoleman aiheuttaman surun lukemalla ja jakamalla loputtoman määrän verkossa pyöriviä artikkeleita hänen elämästään.Simon Critchley, tunnustettu ja arvostettu filosofi, kietoo yhden maailman merkittävimmän artistin tuotannon tiiviiseen ja kiehtovaan esittelyyn henkilökohtaisia muistoja siitä, miten Bowie valaisi eteläisen Englannin esikaupungeissa vietettyä nuoruutta sekä filosofisia pohdintoja siitä, miten autenttisuuden ja identiteetin käsitteet kääntyvät päälaelleen Bowien tuotannossa. Lopputulos on lähes yhtä provokatiivinen ja tajunnanräjäyttävä kuin artisti, jota kirja yrittää kuvata!