Everything good is on the highway. The middle region of our being is the temperate zone. We may climb into the thin and cold realm of pure geometry and lifeless science, or sink into that of sensation. Between these extremes is the equator of life, of thought, of spirit, of poetry - a narrow belt. Emerson
My research focuses on modern philosophy and literature. I have a special interest in Nietzsche, as well as strong interests in the philosophy of the emotions and conceptions of philosophy as a way of life. I have authored ten books and edited/co-edited a further ten books. Several of the books have been translated, including editions in Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, and Turkish.
A new book entitled Nietzsche's Earthbound Wisdom. The Philosopher, the Poet, and the Sage will be published by Chicago University Press in the spring of 2025. In the book I set out to recover Nietzsche’s love for a philosophy that guides us through our passions and opens us more fully to the possibilities of life and the joy of knowledge. I offer close readings of Nietzsche’s texts in conversation with philosophical and literary figures including Augustine, Baudelaire, Carlyle, Dostoevsky, Emerson, Flaubert, and Stendhal, and probe Nietzsche’s critique of literary naturalism and his alternative conception of the poet as seer who has a deep longing for a new earth.
I am currently researching two books. The first examines how several important thinkers and writers of the twentieth century, several of them unduly neglected today, responded to, and engaged with, the challenge of Nietzsche’s texts, concepts, ideas, and legacy. Figures I focus on include Hannah Arendt, Albert Camus, John Cowper Powys, André Gide, D. H. Lawrence, Octavio Paz, George Santayana, Lev Shestov, Oswald Spengler, Miguel de Unamuno, Paul Valéry, and G. Wilson Knight. The second book probes the significance of Santayana on the sanity of philosophy and seeks to show his relevance today in relation to the on-going need to cultivate a critical, lively, and serene intelligence.
My research focuses on modern philosophy and literature. I have a special interest in Nietzsche, as well as strong interests in the philosophy of the emotions and conceptions of philosophy as a way of life. I have authored ten books and edited/co-edited a further ten books. Several of the books have been translated, including editions in Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, and Turkish.
A new book entitled Nietzsche's Earthbound Wisdom. The Philosopher, the Poet, and the Sage will be published by Chicago University Press in the spring of 2025. In the book I set out to recover Nietzsche’s love for a philosophy that guides us through our passions and opens us more fully to the possibilities of life and the joy of knowledge. I offer close readings of Nietzsche’s texts in conversation with philosophical and literary figures including Augustine, Baudelaire, Carlyle, Dostoevsky, Emerson, Flaubert, and Stendhal, and probe Nietzsche’s critique of literary naturalism and his alternative conception of the poet as seer who has a deep longing for a new earth.
I am currently researching two books. The first examines how several important thinkers and writers of the twentieth century, several of them unduly neglected today, responded to, and engaged with, the challenge of Nietzsche’s texts, concepts, ideas, and legacy. Figures I focus on include Hannah Arendt, Albert Camus, John Cowper Powys, André Gide, D. H. Lawrence, Octavio Paz, George Santayana, Lev Shestov, Oswald Spengler, Miguel de Unamuno, Paul Valéry, and G. Wilson Knight. The second book probes the significance of Santayana on the sanity of philosophy and seeks to show his relevance today in relation to the on-going need to cultivate a critical, lively, and serene intelligence.
