The Originary Hypothesis: A Minimal Proposal for Humanistic Inquiry

by Adam Katz

The Originary A Minimal Proposal for Humanistic Inquiry brings together a series of new essays by collaborators of Eric Gans and Gans himself, that demonstrate the sophistication and applicability of Gans' originary hypothesis as well as its ability to transcend formalistic and narrowly disciplinary approaches to the arts and social sciences. Along with essays reconsidering the origins of Romanticism and its consequences for contemporary politics and popular culture, originary accounts of materialism and Christianity, the book, in a timely manner, addresses the relevance of the originary hypothesis to our post-9/11 world. Perhaps alone among contemporary discourses in critical theory, originary thinking eschews fashionable victimary nihilism, enabling us to reconsider our relation to the sacred center and the modern marketplace.

358 pages, Paperback

Published October 3, 2007