Read more
In this book, Michael Murphy argues that if cosmopolitanism is to remain critical and relevant, rather than set out another grand project, what is required is a process of critique and cooperation. At the level of inter-cultural exchange, this requires understanding the encounter with the Other as a mutual phase of development and holds out the potential to rejuvenate world philosophies.Through this process the cosmopolitan imagination emerges from a dialogue between global traditions of relational sociologies on matters of common concern.
The second stage of the book applies this methodology to provide a radical account of being and acting in the world. This will be achieved through engaging in conversation with the works of the critical theorist Gerard Delanty, the decolonial theorist Walter Mignolo, and the Buddhist, Confucian, and phenomenological inspired work of Watsuji Tetsur¿. In providing a move away from abstractions and ideals to instead focus on injustices and the everyday life, Murphy uncovers an independent source for political legitimacy not defined by the rationality of the state or dependent on the ideals of Western philosophy. Part of this investigation also reveals a post-individual account of agency as an enactive being. Emphasising agency as becoming has the potential to allow us to reimagine the relationship between the self and the institutions of democracy. The main themes of this book are eurocentrism, critical cosmopolitanism, post-individual subjectivity and democracy.
List of contents
Introduction
Part One
1. A Global History of Cosmopolitanism
2. Global Critical Theories
3. Watsuji, Modernity and the Art of Life
Part Two
4. The Emptiness of Cosmopolitanism: How Should a Cosmopolitan Think?
5. Cosmopolitan Transmodernity: Re-imagining the Loci of Enunciation
6. Aidagara and the Grounds of Radical Imagination
Afterword: The Failure of Thought: A Radical Imagination for the Critical Space of Democracy
About the author
Michael Murphy uses his life experiences to tell great stories. His lifetime of living on the West Coast and having a wonderful brother, combined with his desire to tell a story, led to the writing of Kane's Guest Book and Yakutian Magic. His love for reading and travel fuels his writing, which builds on themes of learning to accept and overcome difficult challenges in life, and characters coming into their own.
When not writing, Murphy enjoys cycling, walking, and spending time in the outdoors. He lives in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, with his beautiful wife of forty years.
Summary
The book offers a critical synthesis of critical theory, decolonial theory and Buddhist/Confucian inspired social theory.
