The Creation of the World or Globalization

SUNY Series in Contemporary French Thought

by Jean-Luc Nancy, François Raffoul (Translator), David Pettigrew (Translator)

Appearing in English for the first time, Jean-Luc Nancy's 2002 book reflects on globalization and its impact on our being-in-the-world. Developing a contrast in the French language between two terms that are usually synonymous, or that are used interchangeably, namely globalisation (globalization) and mondialisation (world-forming), Nancy undertakes a rethinking of what "world-forming" might mean. At stake in this distinction is for him nothing less than two possible destinies of our humanity, and of our time. On the one hand, with globalization, there is the uniformity produced by a global economical and technological logic leading to the contrary of an inhabitable world, "the un-world" (l'im-monde)--as Nancy refers to it--an un-world that entails social disintegration, misery, and injustice. And, on the other hand, there is the possibility of an authentic world-forming, that is, of a making of the world and of a making sense that Nancy calls a "creation" of the world. Nancy understands such world-forming in terms of an inexhaustible struggle for justice. This book is an important contribution by Nancy to a philosophical reflection on the phenomenon of globalization and a further development on his earlier works on our being-in-common, justice, and a-theological existence.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory

137 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

Jean-Luc Nancy is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Strasbourg. Stanford has published English translations of a number of his works, including The Muses (1996), The Experience of Freedom (1993), The Birth to Presence (1993), Being Singular Plural (2000), The Speculative Remark (2001), and A Finite Thinking (2003).

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A metaphysical-geographic treatment of what it means for us to be global individuals and live with some sense of a global consciousness. Given the all-encompassing, all-consuming term 'global', not only is there no space for the spiritual, there is no mention of it. Thus, our 'globe' is our closed system of life. Any question which then is raised within the context of globalization ignores that which is beyond: be it divine, teleological, etc (neither deliberately nor self-consciously, but pure negelect via unawareness). My understanding here is a gross oversimplification, but anyone seeking to understand a non-political, non-ideological conception of globalization should read this book (particularly since within French philosophy this term 'globalization' has a dual meaning not recognized within Anglo-American philosophy). The translator's introduction alone does a great job capturing Nancy's argument.

[mao · Rating 4 out of 5]

The splitting of the term "globalization" (French: mondialisation) in two. Nancy here makes a necessary contribution - without necessarily being included within it - to the current debate on the latest stage of capitalism called globalization. What is called globalization? What is the creation of worlds?

Nancy here interrogates our sense of the world...(not finished with this review)

[Katarzyna Bartoszynska · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of these books that you see cited a few times and think "oh, I should read that," and then you do, and it is nothing like what you had expected. It's not that people project their own ideas onto philosophical works like this, it's more that everyone has their own unique encounter with it, and will probably get something else out of it.

[Christopher Fok · Rating 4 out of 5]

To create a whole new world it must come from an aporia. Ex nihilo. Wow. Just wow.

[Monokl Kitap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean-Luc Nancy, küreselleşme sürecine karşı dünyanın yeniden yaratma kapasitesini nasıl canlandırılabileceği üzerinde duruyor.

[SirriCan · Rating 3 out of 5]

çok hızlı, çok aceleci. Sorduğu her soru çok ciddi ama havada bırakıp kaçıyor. Politik anlamda Marx ve ötesi için çoğu yorum Carl Schmitt ve Löwith temelli gidiyorken sonunda Schmitt'i Führer'ci zaten yea diyip bırakıyor. Bu da Fransızlık oluyor herhalde?