Melvilles Philosophies

Melville's Philosophies departs from a long tradition of critical assessments of Melville that dismissed his philosophical capacities as ingenious but muddled. Its contributors do not apply philosophy to Melville in order to detect just how much of it he knew or understood. To the contrary, they try to hear the philosophical arguments themselves-often very strange and quite radical-that Melville never stopped articulating and reformulating. What emerges is a Melville who is materialistically oriented in a radical way, a Melville who thinks about life forms not just in the context of contemporary sciences but also ontologically. Melville's Philosophies recovers a Melville who is a thinker of great caliber, which means obliquely but dramatically reversing the way the critical tradition has characterized his ideas. Finally, as a result of the readings collected here, Melville emerges as a very relevant thinker for contemporary philosophical concerns, such as the materialist turn, climate change, and post-humanism.

"Brings together some of the most eminent Melville scholars in academia today in the first book devoted to exploring Melville and philosophy"--

For more than a century readers have found Herman Melville’s writing rich with philosophical ideas, yet there has been relatively little written about what, exactly, is philosophically significant about his work and why philosophers are so attracted to Melville in particular. This volume addresses this silence through a series of essays that: (1) examine various philosophical contexts for Melville’s work, (2) take seriously Melville’s writings as philosophy, and (3) consider how modern philosophers have used Melville and the implications of appropriating Melville for contemporary thought. Melville among the Philosophers is ultimately an intervention across literary studies and philosophy that carves new paths into the work of one of America’s most celebrated authors, a man who continues to enchant and challenge readers well into the twenty-first century.

One Foot in the Finite inspires a radical shift in our view of Melville’s project in Moby-Dick, for its guiding notion is that Melville uses his book to call into question the naturalism that distinguishes the early modern period in Europe. Naturalism is not only the idea that reality is exhausted by nature, or that there exists a domain of physical entities subject to autonomous laws and unaffected by human ingenuity; it also implies a counterpart, a world of pretense and deception, a domain of mental entities ontologically distinct from physical entities and therefore constituting a different realm. To naturalists, whales are part of the background of existing objects against which man assembles his various, subjective, rather arbitrary interpretations. But in Moby-Dick Melville casts upon the world a more ingenious eye, one free of the dualist veil. He confronts a basic misconception: that the contents of consciousness comprise a different order from physical life. He rubs out the dividing line modernity has drawn between the human world of names or concepts and the nonhuman world of plants, creatures, geological features, and natural forces. Melville’s philosophizing, carried by fiction, has dramatic consequence. It overturns our view of language as a system of mental representations that might turn out to represent falsely.

"Brings together some of the most eminent Melville scholars in academia today in the first book devoted to exploring Melville andphilosophy"--

HERMAN MELVILLE Ultimate Collection: 50+ Adventure Classics, Philosophical Novels & Short Stories is truly a treasure trove for lovers of Melville's work. This comprehensive collection includes iconic titles such as Moby-Dick, Typee, Billy Budd, and Bartleby, the Scrivener, showcasing Melville's mastery of both adventure narratives and deep philosophical themes. Readers will be captivated by Melville's intricate storytelling, rich character development, and exploration of existential questions that continue to resonate today. Each work in this collection offers a unique perspective on the human condition and the complexities of life, making it a must-read for any literature enthusiast. Melville's blend of adventure and introspection creates a compelling literary experience that is both timeless and thought-provoking. The collection also includes lesser-known gems that are sure to delight readers with their profound insights and engaging narratives. HERMAN MELVILLE Ultimate Collection is a priceless addition to any bookshelf, offering a glimpse into the brilliant mind of one of America's greatest literary figures.

This challenging and timely study demonstrates that the problems Melville faced as a writer - the relationship between politics and aesthetics and the representation of the marginalized without appropriation - are similar to issues faced in the academy today.

Herman Melville's 'The Complete Novels' is a collection of sea tales, maritime adventures, and philosophical novels that showcase the author's mastery of language and storytelling. From the classic 'Moby-Dick' to lesser-known works like 'White-Jacket' and 'Billy Budd', Melville's writing is characterized by rich symbolism, complex characters, and profound themes of isolation, obsession, and the struggle between good and evil. His intricate narratives draw readers into the tumultuous world of the sea, exploring the depths of human nature and the mysteries of existence. Melville's literary style is both poetic and philosophical, inviting readers to reflect on the complexities of life and the inherent ambiguities of morality. Hailed as a literary genius, Melville's works continue to captivate audiences with their timeless relevance and profound insights. Herman Melville's own experiences as a sailor and his deep fascination with the sea inspired much of his writing, infusing his novels with an authentic sense of adventure and authenticity. His personal struggles and existential inquiries are reflected in his works, making them a compelling exploration of the human condition and the mysteries of the universe. Melville's literary legacy is characterized by his innovative storytelling techniques and his profound philosophical inquiries, which continue to intrigue readers and scholars alike. Recommended for readers interested in literary classics, maritime adventures, and philosophical reflections, 'The Complete Novels of Herman Melville' is a timeless collection that offers a profound exploration of human nature, morality, and the enigmatic forces that shape our lives.

Herman Melville is widely considered to be one of America's greatest authors, and countless literary theorists and critics have studied his life and work. However, political theorists have tended to avoid Melville, turning rather to such contemporaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau to understand the political thought of the American Renaissance. While Melville was not an activist in the traditional sense and his philosophy is notoriously difficult to categorize, his work is nevertheless deeply political in its own right. As editor Jason Frank notes in his introduction to A Political Companion to Herman Melville, Melville's writing "strikes a note of dissonance in the pre-established harmonies of the American political tradition." This unique volume explores Melville's politics by surveying the full range of his work -- from Typee (1846) to the posthumously published Billy Budd (1924). The contributors give historical context to Melville's writings and place him in conversation with political and theoretical debates, examining his relationship to transcendentalism and contemporary continental philosophy and addressing his work's relevance to topics such as nineteenth-century imperialism, twentieth-century legal theory, the anti-rent wars of the 1840s, and the civil rights movement. From these analyses emerges a new and challenging portrait of Melville as a political thinker of the first order, one that will establish his importance not only for nineteenth-century American political thought but also for political theory more broadly.

Studies of the writing of Herman Melville are often divided among those that address his political, historical, or biographical dimensions and those that offer creative theoretical readings of his texts. In Herman Melville and the Politics of the Inhuman, Michael Jonik offers a series of nuanced and ambitious philosophical readings of Melville that unite these varied approaches. Through a careful reconstruction of Melville's interaction with philosophy, Jonik argues that Melville develops a notion of the 'inhuman' after Spinoza's radically non-anthropocentric and relational thought. Melville's own political philosophy, in turn, actively disassembles differences between humans and nonhumans, and the animate and inanimate. Jonik has us rethink not only how we read Melville, but also how we understand our deeply inhuman condition.