An original and insightful account of nature and our place in it from one of France’s preeminent historians of philosophy.
One of France’s preeminent historians of philosophy, Marcel Conche has written and translated more than thirty-five books and is recognized for his groundbreaking and authoritative work in Greek philosophy, as well as on Montaigne. In Philosophizing ad Infinitum, one of his most remarkable and daring books, Conche articulates a unique and powerful understanding of nature, inclusive of humanity, as infinite in time and space-ever self-renewing, eternal, and beyond complete understanding or control.
In today’s world the notion of infinity is at the core of the crisis humanity faces understanding nature. For the last two hundred years economies have been running at full speed, fueled by the implicit belief that natural resources are infinite; however, it is clear that they are not and that humanity needs to radically rethink the foundations of environmental and economic systems. Conche seeks to begin this rethinking, illustrating along the way insightful and sometimes unorthodox ideas about Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Montaigne, Nietzsche, Bergson, and others.
Table of Content
Foreword
J. Baird Callicott
Translators’ Introduction
Herman Bonne and Laurent Ledoux
Preface to the English Translation
Marcel Conche
I. Flashback
II. Presence of the Infinite: Plato and Science in Opposition to the Infinite
III. With and Without Aristotle
IV. With and Without Chrysippus
V. With and Without Epicurus
VI. With and Without Montaigne
VII. A Moment With Omar Khayyam
VIII. Concerning Nietzsche
IX. My Path With and Without Bergson
X. With Pascal and Without Him
XI. With the ‘Old Sage’ and Without Him
Appendix: Correspondence between Marcel Conche and Gilbert Kirscher
Glossarium
Bibliography of Marcel Conche
Notes
Index
About the author
J. Baird Callicott is Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas and is the current President of the International Society for Environmental Ethics. He is the author of many books, including In Defense of the Land Ethic, also published by SUNY Press.
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