You Must Change Your Lifeby Peter SloterdijkReviewed by John David EbertThe main thesis of Peter Sloterdijk's newly translated 2009 work You Must Change Your Life is that there is no such thing as religion and never has been. (The … [Continue reading]
On Jannis Kounellis
Jannis KounellisAn Essay by John David EbertHorsesIn Paleolithic art, the magic of the paint which touched the surface of the rock walls of the cave had the effect of symbolically dissolving the walls so that they could become … [Continue reading]
On Damien Hirst
Damien HirstAn Essay by John David EbertThe Artist as MetaphysicianThe thing about Damien Hirst is that he is not, strictly speaking, an artist; he is, rather, a metaphysician. The vast majority of his work, as is well known, is … [Continue reading]
On Zdzislaw Beksinski
On a Painting by Zdzislaw Beksinskiby John David EbertMaster SignifierIn 1975, the great Polish artist Zdzislaw Beksinski created a painting that I wish to consider here as a sort of master signifier, or key to understanding his work … [Continue reading]
On Peter Sloterdijk’s The Art of Philosophy
The Art of Philosophy: Wisdom as Practiceby Peter SloterdijkReviewed by John David EbertThe new Sloterdijk translation, put out by Columbia University Press and originally published in German in 2010, is something of an appendix to … [Continue reading]
On the Art of Joseph Beuys
The Damaged Cosmology of Joseph BeuysBy John David EbertThe Crisis of MeaningWhenever an Age collapses -- whether by natural catastrophe, barbarian invasion or gigantic war makes no difference -- the collapse itself generates a crisis … [Continue reading]
On Planetary Scale Disasters
This book has just been published by http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-7142-3The new millenium has brought with it new disasters of unprecedented scale and scope. These disasters have not only grown larger than they were in … [Continue reading]
From “The Age of Catastrophe”: An Excerpt
A Few Words on a Civilization's Loss of Command Over its Environmentby John David EbertOne of the constitutive aspects of Martin Heidegger's analysis of the worldhood of the world -- of its nature as a world -- is that the objects around us … [Continue reading]