Doing, Hardcover

In Doing, Jean-Luc Nancy, one of the most prominent and lucid articulators of contemporary French theory and philosophy, examines the precarious but urgent relationship between being and doing. His book is not so much a call to action as a summons to more vigorous thinking, the examination and reflection that must precede any effective action. The first section of the book considers this matter tersely: Jean-Luc Nancy's quickness of language and grace of humor lead the reader carefully past the dangers of oversimplification, toward a general awareness of meaningful being. In the last section, Nancy examines the realities of terrorist actions--specifically those that shocked Paris a few years ago, and more generally the frightening world of politics without conscience, where conscience is the root of all thinking.

About author(s):Jean-Luc Nancy is the Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Chair and professor of philosophy at the European Graduate School. Charlotte Mandell has translated more than forty books, including several other works by Jean-Luc Nancy. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband, the poet Robert Kelly.