A Philosophy of the Possible

Modalities in Thought and Culture

Series: 

Author:
Mikhail Epstein
In this book, Mikhail Epstein offers a systematic theory of modalities (the actual, possible, and necessary), as applied to the discourse of philosophy in its post-Kantian and especially post-Derridean perspectives. He relies on his own experience of living in the USSR and the US, dominated respectively by imperative and possibilist modalities. Possibilism assumes that a thing or event acquires meaning only in the context of its multiple possibilities, inviting counterfactual and conditional modes of description. The author focuses on the creative potentials of possibilistic thinking and its heuristic value. The book demonstrates the range of modal approaches to society, culture, ethics, and language, and outlines potentiology as a new philosophical discipline interacting with ontology and epistemology.
Copyright Year:
2019
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978-90-04-39834-4
Publication:
07 Jun 2019
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ISBN:
978-90-04-39833-7
Publication:
20 Jun 2019
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Front Matter
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Introduction: Fundamental Concepts of the Theory of the Possible
Part 1 The Possible in Philosophy
Chapter 1 Criticism and Activism
Chapter 2 Philosophy and Reality
Chapter 3 Change of Modalities in the History of Philosophy
Chapter 4 Philosophy as Possibilistic Thinking
Chapter 5 The Area of the Thinkable: the Value of Thinking in Itself
Chapter 6 Theory, Utopia, and Hypothesis
Chapter 7 Catharsis of Thinking
Chapter 8 Personified Thinking
Chapter 9 Possible and Impossible: Aporia of Thinking
Chapter 10 Language, Thinking, and Signifiability
Chapter 11 Universals as Potentials: Conceptualism
Chapter 12 From the General to the Concrete and Universal
Chapter 13 Multiplication of Entities
Chapter 14 Philosophy as Parody and Grotesque
Part 1 The Fate of Metaphysics: from Deconstruction to Possibilization
Introduction to Part 2
Section 2.1 Reverse Metaphysics: Critique and Deconstruction
Chapter 15 Beyond Being and Nothingness: the Feeling of the Possible
Chapter 16 A Worldview, Not a Point of View: “A Net with No Knots”
Chapter 17 The Possible in Jean Derrida
Chapter 18 The Metaphysics of Deconstruction: the Main Terms
Chapter 19 The Radical Nature of Difference: Profit and Transcendence
Chapter 20 Center and Structure
Chapter 21 Reverse Metaphysics: the Other, the Play, and the Writing
Chapter 22 Différance and the Tao
Section 2.2 Construction and Possibilization
Chapter 23 From Deconstruction to Construction
Chapter 24 Construction and Creativity
Chapter 25 De- and Con-
Chapter 26 Potentiation as Method: Eros of Thinking
Chapter 27 What Is “the Interesting”? Proposed Criteria
Chapter 28 Small Metaphysics: the Unique
Part 3 The Worlds of the Possible
Introduction to Part 3
Chapter 29 Society
Chapter 30 Culture
Chapter 31 Ethics
Chapter 32 Psychology
Chapter 33 Religion
Conclusion
Back Matter
To Be Able, to Be, and to Know: a System of Modalities
Index of Names
Mikhail Epstein, Ph.D. (1990), Academy of Sciences, USSR; S.C.Dobbs Professor of Cultural Theory and Russian literature at Emory University (USA). He has published 35 books and hundreds of articles in philosophy and cultural and literary studies translated into 23 languages.
 Preface

&emspIntroduction: Fundamental Concepts of the Theory of the Possible
 1 The Problem of Modalities in Contemporary Thought
 2 A Preliminary Definition of the Modality of the Possible
 3 The Ontological Status of Possible Worlds. Nominalism and Realism
 4 The Principle of “Fullness” and the Problem of Realization of Possibilities
 5 Duality and “Demonism” of the Possible
 6 A Possibilistic Approach to the Possible
 7 The Plan of the Book

Part 1: The Possible in Philosophy


1 Criticism and Activism
2 Philosophy and Reality
3 Change of Modalities in the History of Philosophy
4 Philosophy as Possibilistic Thinking
5 The Area of the Thinkable: the Value of Thinking in Itself
6 Theory, Utopia, and Hypothesis
7 Catharsis of Thinking
8 Personified Thinking
9 Possible and Impossible: Aporia of Thinking
10 Language, Thinking, and Signifiability
11 Universals as Potentials: Conceptualism
12 From the General to the Concrete and Universal
13 Multiplication of Entities
14 Philosophy as Parody and Grotesque

Part 2: The Fate of Metaphysics: from Deconstruction to Possibilization


 Introduction to Part 2

Section 2.1: Reverse Metaphysics: Critique and Deconstruction


15 Beyond Being and Nothingness: the Feeling of the Possible
16 A World View, Not a Point of View: “A Net with No Knots”
17 The Possible in Jean Derrida
18 The Metaphysics of Deconstruction: the Main Terms
19 The Radical Nature of Difference: Profit and Transcendence
20 Center and Structure
21 Reverse Metaphysics: the Other, the Play, and the Writing
22 Différance and the Tao

Section 2.2: Construction and Possibilization


23 From Deconstruction to Construction
24 Construction and Creativity
25 De- and Con-
26 Potentiation as Method: Eros of Thinking
27 What is “The Interesting”? Proposed Criteria
28 Small Metaphysics: the Unique

Part 3: The Worlds of the Possible


 Introduction to Part 3
29 Society
30 Culture
31 Ethics
32 Psychology
33 Religion
 Conclusion

Appendix


 To be Able, to be, and to Know. A System of Modalities
 1Definitions of Modality
 A Typical Definitions
 B The Specific Definition
 2Оntic Modalities (Modalities of Being)
 A “To Be” and “To Be Able” in the Ontological and Modal Perspectives
 B Existence and Non-existence
 C The Possible and the Contingent
 D The Impossible and the Necessary
 E Strong and Weak Modalities
 F The General Scheme of Ontic Modalities
 G Supermodalities: The Due and the Miraculous
 3Еpistemic Modalities (Modalities of Knowledge)
 4Pure (Potentialistic) Modalities
 A Active Voice (Capacity, Need)
 B Passive Voice (Permission, Coercion)
 C Second-order Modalities
 (1)Will and Power
 (2)Desire and Love
 5The Final Tables of Modalities
 6Modal Categories in Various Disciplines
 A Be Able – Possess – Have Value. Modality in Economics
 B Necessity and Immortality: Modality in Eschatology
 7Potentiology: Prospects for the New Discipline
 Index of Names
 Index of Subjects
All interested in the philosophy of possible worlds and the role of modal categories (actual, necessary, interesting, hypothetical) in shaping postmodern culture, critical theory, and the future of the humanities.
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