Leonard Lawlor
Biographic Data
| ID | 460984 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Leonard Lawlor |
| GIVEN NAMES | Leonard |
| FAMILY NAME | Lawlor |
| SIGNATURE | LAWLOR L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Pennsylvania State University |
| ORCID | 0009-0005-3978-4791 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 23 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1989 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Pathos and Praxis: Michel Henry and Paul Ricœur in Dialogue
The primacy of the practical: Russell Ford's Experience and empiricism: Hegel, Hume, and the early Deleuze
As the subtitle indicates, this article examines Russell Ford's new book on Deleuze's 1953 Empiricism and Subjectivity . Ford's book especially illuminates Deleuze's book on Hume in two ways. First, he shows how Deleuze's first book intervenes in an ongoing debate in French philosophy between transcendence and immanence. Second, Ford provides an intense reading of Deleuze's first book. The question, however, that Ford's book aims to answer is the…
The Ultimate Meaning of Counter-Actualisation: On the Ethics of the Univocity of Being in Deleuze's Logic of Sense
As is well known, Deleuze says in Difference and Repetition that ‘the task of contemporary philosophy has been defined: to reverse Platonism’. This task is then continued in Logic of Sense, through its discussion of Stoic logic. Deleuze says there that ‘the Stoics are the first to reverse Platonism’. And, at the same time, in the big Spinoza book, we see Deleuze present Spinoza's ‘anti-Cartesian reaction’. This anti-Cartesian reaction is equivale…
“A Fuller Consciousness of Edges,” or, The Disequilibrium of Edward S. Casey’s The World on Edge
Persuasion and Automation: What Philosophy Might Have Been, in the Thought of Michael Nass
The Implications of Immanence: Toward a New Concept of Life
The Implications of Immanence develops a philosophy of life in opposition to the notion of “bio-power,” which reduces the human to the question of power over what Giorgio Agamben terms “bare life,” mere biological existence. Breaking with all biologism or vitalism, Lawlor attends to the dispersion of death at the heart of life, in the “minuscule hiatus” that divides the living present, separating lived experience from the living body and, crucial…
Philosophical Debates About Derrida and the Death Penalty: State of the Question
In this essay, I examine Derrida’s deconstruction (or critique) of the death penalty in his first set of lectures ( The Death Penalty, Volume 1 ). The essay has two parts. First, I reconstruct this deconstruction. I show that the deconstruction depends on the difference between the calculable instant and the incalculable instant. Then, in the second part I show how this difference is based on the deconstruction of temporalization Derrida produced…
The Categorical Imperative and Not Being Unworthy of the Event: Ethics in Deleuze's Difference and Repetition
This essay starts from a consideration of Deleuze's theory of time. It begins with the empty form of time. But the essay's aim is to understand Deleuze's reversal of Platonism in his 1968 Difference and Repetition. There is no question that the stakes of the reversal of Platonism are ontological. But I argue that what is really at stake is a movement of demoralisation. The essay proceeds in three steps. First, we determine what sufficient reason …
Mark Sinclair, Bergson
Mark Sinclair's Bergson follows the preset format for the series ‘Routledge Philosophers’: Each chapter explicates a particular concept or idea in the philosopher under consideration, and within each chapter, there is a summary at the end and a suggestion for further reading. The book opens with a biography and closes with Bergson's legacy. There is also a helpful glossary of Bergson terms at the end. The chapter explications in Bergson are clear…
Michel Henry Reader
I Value Effort above Everything Else”: Bergson’s Response to the Question of Egoism
Vulnerability and Violence: On the Poverty of the Remainder (or Beyond Kant)
This article tries to show the irreducible connection between vulnerability and violence. This connection leads us back to the ethical level of experience. If vulnerability makes violence irreducible, then at least two reactions to violence are possible. On the one hand, a reaction is possible in which one attempts to negate vulnerability in order to close down the very thing within us that allows violence to enter. This negative reaction is actu…
From Violence to Speaking Out: Apocalypse and Expression in Foucault, Derrida and Deleuze
Three Ways of Speaking: Deleuze's Way, or Death and Flight
In this essay, I examine the ‘Postulates of Linguistics’ chapter of A Thousand Plateaus. In regard to this chapter, I aim to demonstrate something that has remained unrecognised about minor language in Deleuze and Guattari. I aim to show not only the characteristics of Deleuzian speaking in tongues (glossolalia) that overlap with Foucaultian speaking-freely (parrēsia) and with Derridean speaking-distantly (teleiopoesis), but also and more importa…
From Violence to Speaking Out
The Cambridge Foucault Lexicon
The Cambridge Foucault Lexicon is a reference tool that provides clear and incisive definitions and descriptions of all of Foucault's major terms and influences, including history, knowledge, language, philosophy and power. It also includes entries on philosophers about whom Foucault wrote and who influenced Foucault's thinking, such as Deleuze, Heidegger, Nietzsche and Canguilhem. The entries are written by scholars of Foucault from a variety of…
No More Insults to Friendship
In 2007, I published a book that analyzed and extended Derrida’s final thinking about animal life. The book was based on lectures I presented at the 2006 Collegium Phaenomenologicum in Umbria, Italy, invited by Michael Naas. I am truly indebted to Michael for this invitation because writing those lectures and the book based on them opened up a new investigation for me, an investigation of violence and possible reactions to violence. The premisses…
Neither Violent nor Tranquil: How to Reconceive the Animal-Human Relation on the Basis of Foucault's History of Madness
A Note on the Relation between Étienne Souriau's L'Instauration philosophique and Deleuze and Guattari's What is Philosophy
From the beginning of his career, Deleuze always denounces confusions. This is especially evident in his 1968 study Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza (Deleuze 1990: 46, 47, 48; 1968: 37, 38, 39). Thus it should not be surprising to see this theme reappear in his last great work (with Guattari), the 1991 What is Philosophy?: ‘It is essential not to confuse the plane of immanence and the concepts that occupy it’ (Deleuze and Guattari 1994: 39; 1…
Further Questions: A Way Out of the Present Philosophical Situation (via Foucault)
Let us begin by assembling some signs of the present philosophical situation. On the one hand, the most important living French philosopher, Alain Badiou, calls for a “return to Plato,” despite the movement of anti-Platonism that dominated French and German thought in the 20th century. On the other hand, the present moment sees a resurgence of naturalism in philosophy in general (including and especially Anglophone analytic philosophy), despite t…
Becoming and Auto-Affection: Part 2: Who Are We
The Friend of the Future: A Note on Merleau-Ponty’s “Brouillion d’une rédaction”
Following the Rats: Becoming-Animal in Deleuze and Guattari
Following the Rats:Becoming-Animal in Deleuze and Guattari Leonard Lawlor (bio) Undeniably, globalization defines the epoch in which we are living. As the word suggests, this means that the earth has been enclosed within a globe. And this means that all the ways out have been closed, so that one species—the human—is able to dominate all other species.1 What justifies this—what gives us the right to dominate the animals? The answer is well known: …
This Is Not Sufficient: An Essay on Animality and Human Nature in Derrida
"Derrida wrote extensively on "the question of the animal." In particular, he challenged Heidegger's, Husserl's, and other philosophers' work on the subject, questioning their phenomenological criteria for distinguishing humans from animals. Examining a range of Derrida's writings, including his most recent L'animal que donc je suis, as well as Aporias, Of Spirit, Rams, and Rogues, Leonard Lawlor reconstructs a portrait of Derrida's views on anim…
The Merleau-Ponty Reader
Sources of the Texts Editors's Introduction I. THE PRE-SORBONNE PERIOD (PRECEDING 1949) 1. The Relations of the Soul & the Body & the Problem of Perceptual Consciousness, from The Structure of Behavior (1942) 2. The War Has Taken Place (1945), from Sense and Non-Sense 3. What is Phenomenology? Preface to the Phenomenology of Perception (1945) 4. Cezanne's Doubt (1945), from Sense and Non-Sense 5. The Contemporary Philosophical Movement (1945), fr…
Following the Rats: Becoming-Animal in Deleuze and Guattari
Following the Rats:Becoming-Animal in Deleuze and Guattari Leonard Lawlor (bio) Undeniably, globalization defines the epoch in which we are living. As the word suggests, this means that the earth has been enclosed within a globe. And this means that all the ways out have been closed, so that one species—the human—is able to dominate all other species.1 What justifies this—what gives us the right to dominate the animals? The answer is well known: …
Animals Have No Hand: An Essay on Animality in Derrida
I. Introduction: Not the Worst, the Least ViolenceWe are trying set up the possibility of a more sufficient response to what Derrida, in L'animal que donc je suis, calls a "war of the species."This war is part of globalization, which is itself a form of war, a form of pacification of all opponents; it is, in fact, as Derrida says in "Faith and Knowledge," "globalatinization" (1998a).But with globalatinization, we see as well that its universal mo…
No More Insults to Friendship
In 2007, I published a book that analyzed and extended Derrida’s final thinking about animal life. The book was based on lectures I presented at the 2006 Collegium Phaenomenologicum in Umbria, Italy, invited by Michael Naas. I am truly indebted to Michael for this invitation because writing those lectures and the book based on them opened up a new investigation for me, an investigation of violence and possible reactions to violence. The premisses…
Further Questions: A Way Out of the Present Philosophical Situation (via Foucault)
Let us begin by assembling some signs of the present philosophical situation. On the one hand, the most important living French philosopher, Alain Badiou, calls for a “return to Plato,” despite the movement of anti-Platonism that dominated French and German thought in the 20th century. On the other hand, the present moment sees a resurgence of naturalism in philosophy in general (including and especially Anglophone analytic philosophy), despite t…
The Friend of the Future: A Note on Merleau-Ponty’s “Brouillion d’une rédaction”
Phenomenology and Metaphysics: Deconstruction in La Voix Et Le Phénomène
Definition de la these principale de l'ouvrage de Derrida intitule «La voix et le phenomene», qui consiste a reperer dans la phenomenologie de Husserl une rupture fondamentale avec la metaphysique occidentale. L'A. montre que, contrairement a Husserl, l'oeuvre de deconstruction de Derrida realise une sortie hors des philosophies de l'histoire et une ouverture vers une nouvelle epoche
From the Trace to the Law: Derridean politics
This chapter shows how Jacques Derrida's political attacks are based on his earlier critiques of metaphysics. It focuses on Derrida's claim that all language possesses an irreducible metaphoricity through two other interrelated Derridean notions, that of the trace and iterability. Certain metaphysical discourses on language have trapped this irreducible metaphoricity within the identity of concepts; deconstruction aims to free it. The law is a tr…
From the Trace to the Law: Derridean politics
This chapter shows how Jacques Derrida's political attacks are based on his earlier critiques of metaphysics. It focuses on Derrida's claim that all language possesses an irreducible metaphoricity through two other interrelated Derridean notions, that of the trace and iterability. Certain metaphysical discourses on language have trapped this irreducible metaphoricity within the identity of concepts; deconstruction aims to free it. The law is a tr…
A little daylight: A reading of Derrida's ?White Mythology
Navigating a Passage: Deconstruction as Phenomenology
Phenomenology and Metaphysics: Deconstruction in La Voix Et Le Phénomène
Definition de la these principale de l'ouvrage de Derrida intitule «La voix et le phenomene», qui consiste a reperer dans la phenomenologie de Husserl une rupture fondamentale avec la metaphysique occidentale. L'A. montre que, contrairement a Husserl, l'oeuvre de deconstruction de Derrida realise une sortie hors des philosophies de l'histoire et une ouverture vers une nouvelle epoche
The end of phenomenology: Expressionism in Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty
Natalie Deprez: Transcendence et incarnation: Le statut de l'intersubectivite comme alterite a soi chez Husserl
The Challenge of Bergsonism: Phenomenology, Ontology, Ethics
The Challenge of Bergonsim questions our ways of thinking, particularly the concept of reality, and ultimately demands a return to ethics. The book also includes the first English translation of Jean Hyppolite's highly influential essay, 'Various Aspects of Memory in Bergson
What Immanence? What Transcendence? The Prioritization of Intuition Over Language in Bergson
(2004). What Immanence? What Transcendence? The Prioritization of Intuition Over Language in Bergson. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology: Vol. 35, Bergson Now, pp. 24-41
Eschatology and Positivism: The Critique of Phenomenology in Derrida and Foucault
Un Ecart Infime (Part III): The blind spot in Foucault
This article is the third part of a trilogy investigating the relation between Merleau-Ponty and Foucault. All three essays are inspired by Foucault’s diagnosis of our epoch in terms of biopower. They therefore aim at the creation of a new concept of life. In ‘ Un Ecart Infime (Part III)’, I lay out Foucault’s analysis, from the first chapter of The Order of Things, of Velázquez’s painting, Las Meninas. By stressing what Foucault says about the ‘…
Verstellung “: Completions of Immanence
The Implications of Immanence: Toward a New Concept of Life (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)
Leonard Lawlor develops a philosophy of life in opposition to the notion of 'bio-power, ' which reduces the human to the question of power over what Giorgio Agamben terms 'bare life', mere biological existence. He provides conceptual tools for intervening in issues such as the AIDS epidemic & life-support for the infirm
This Is Not Sufficient: An Essay on Animality and Human Nature in Derrida
"Derrida wrote extensively on "the question of the animal." In particular, he challenged Heidegger's, Husserl's, and other philosophers' work on the subject, questioning their phenomenological criteria for distinguishing humans from animals. Examining a range of Derrida's writings, including his most recent L'animal que donc je suis, as well as Aporias, Of Spirit, Rams, and Rogues, Leonard Lawlor reconstructs a portrait of Derrida's views on anim…
The Merleau-Ponty Reader
Sources of the Texts Editors's Introduction I. THE PRE-SORBONNE PERIOD (PRECEDING 1949) 1. The Relations of the Soul & the Body & the Problem of Perceptual Consciousness, from The Structure of Behavior (1942) 2. The War Has Taken Place (1945), from Sense and Non-Sense 3. What is Phenomenology? Preface to the Phenomenology of Perception (1945) 4. Cezanne's Doubt (1945), from Sense and Non-Sense 5. The Contemporary Philosophical Movement (1945), fr…
Animals Have No Hand: An Essay on Animality in Derrida
I. Introduction: Not the Worst, the Least ViolenceWe are trying set up the possibility of a more sufficient response to what Derrida, in L'animal que donc je suis, calls a "war of the species."This war is part of globalization, which is itself a form of war, a form of pacification of all opponents; it is, in fact, as Derrida says in "Faith and Knowledge," "globalatinization" (1998a).But with globalatinization, we see as well that its universal mo…
Following the Rats: Becoming-Animal in Deleuze and Guattari
Following the Rats:Becoming-Animal in Deleuze and Guattari Leonard Lawlor (bio) Undeniably, globalization defines the epoch in which we are living. As the word suggests, this means that the earth has been enclosed within a globe. And this means that all the ways out have been closed, so that one species—the human—is able to dominate all other species.1 What justifies this—what gives us the right to dominate the animals? The answer is well known: …
Becoming and Auto-Affection: Part 2: Who Are We
The Friend of the Future: A Note on Merleau-Ponty’s “Brouillion d’une rédaction”
A Note on the Relation between Étienne Souriau's L'Instauration philosophique and Deleuze and Guattari's What is Philosophy
From the beginning of his career, Deleuze always denounces confusions. This is especially evident in his 1968 study Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza (Deleuze 1990: 46, 47, 48; 1968: 37, 38, 39). Thus it should not be surprising to see this theme reappear in his last great work (with Guattari), the 1991 What is Philosophy?: ‘It is essential not to confuse the plane of immanence and the concepts that occupy it’ (Deleuze and Guattari 1994: 39; 1…
Further Questions: A Way Out of the Present Philosophical Situation (via Foucault)
Let us begin by assembling some signs of the present philosophical situation. On the one hand, the most important living French philosopher, Alain Badiou, calls for a “return to Plato,” despite the movement of anti-Platonism that dominated French and German thought in the 20th century. On the other hand, the present moment sees a resurgence of naturalism in philosophy in general (including and especially Anglophone analytic philosophy), despite t…
Neither Violent nor Tranquil: How to Reconceive the Animal-Human Relation on the Basis of Foucault's History of Madness
The Cambridge Foucault Lexicon
The Cambridge Foucault Lexicon is a reference tool that provides clear and incisive definitions and descriptions of all of Foucault's major terms and influences, including history, knowledge, language, philosophy and power. It also includes entries on philosophers about whom Foucault wrote and who influenced Foucault's thinking, such as Deleuze, Heidegger, Nietzsche and Canguilhem. The entries are written by scholars of Foucault from a variety of…
No More Insults to Friendship
In 2007, I published a book that analyzed and extended Derrida’s final thinking about animal life. The book was based on lectures I presented at the 2006 Collegium Phaenomenologicum in Umbria, Italy, invited by Michael Naas. I am truly indebted to Michael for this invitation because writing those lectures and the book based on them opened up a new investigation for me, an investigation of violence and possible reactions to violence. The premisses…
From Violence to Speaking Out: Apocalypse and Expression in Foucault, Derrida and Deleuze
Three Ways of Speaking: Deleuze's Way, or Death and Flight
In this essay, I examine the ‘Postulates of Linguistics’ chapter of A Thousand Plateaus. In regard to this chapter, I aim to demonstrate something that has remained unrecognised about minor language in Deleuze and Guattari. I aim to show not only the characteristics of Deleuzian speaking in tongues (glossolalia) that overlap with Foucaultian speaking-freely (parrēsia) and with Derridean speaking-distantly (teleiopoesis), but also and more importa…
Philosophy (28 works) · Epistemology (25 works) · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism (14 works) · Philosophy (13 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Immanence (8 works) · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (8 works) · Psychology (8 works)