Alphonso Lingis (born November 23, 1933) is an American

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, writer and translator, with Lithuanian roots, currently Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

. His areas of specialization include

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

modern philosophy Modern philosophy is philosophy developed in the modern era and associated with modernity. It is not a specific doctrine or school (and thus should not be confused with ''Modernism''), although there are certain assumptions common to much of it ...

, and

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

. Lingis is also known as a

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

, and he complements the philosophical themes of many of his books with his own photography.

Career

Lingis attended Loyola University in Chicago, then pursued graduate studies at the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. His doctoral dissertation, written under Alphonse de Waelhens, was a discussion of the French phenomenologists

Maurice Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. (; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interest an ...

and

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

. Returning to the United States, Lingis joined the faculty at

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as the Pittsbu ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. In the mid-1960s he moved to

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

, where he published numerous scholarly articles on the history of philosophy, developing a passionate engagement with

Continental philosophy Continental philosophy is a term used to describe some philosophers and philosophical traditions that do not fall under the umbrella of analytic philosophy. However, there is no academic consensus on the definition of continental philosophy. Pri ...

that would prove vital to his later book career. Lingis also began working at his translation projects, and over the years, translated authors including

Emmanuel Levinas Emmanuel Levinas (; ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the relationship of ethics to me ...

, and

Pierre Klossowski Pierre Klossowski (; ; 9 August 1905 – 12 August 2001) was a French writer, translator and artist. He was the eldest son of the artists Erich Klossowski and Baladine Klossowska, and his younger brother was the painter Balthus. Life Born in Par ...

. His first book was ''Excesses'' (1983), which inaugurated a series: anthropological, jet-set, Continental-philosophy-referencing books. In 1994 Lingis published three more books in a single year: ''The Community of Those Who Have Nothing in Common'', ''Abuses'', and ''Foreign Bodies''. In 2000, in his mid-60's, Lingis released ''Dangerous Emotions'', which involved a series of limit-experience “dares” along with references to a broad range of philosophical topics. Later books include ''Trust'' (2004), ''Body Transformations'' (2005), ''The First Person Singular'' (2007), ''Violence and Splendor'' (2011) and ''Irrevocable: A Philosophy of Mortality'' (2018). In the books listed above, Lingis's philosophical style is visceral, occasionally obscene, and (to say the least) beyond good and evil. Lingis's motto from ''Abuses'' (1994) that “The unlived life is not worth examining” is categorically emphasized in these books.Lingis, Alphonso. “Antarctic Summer,” in ''Abuses'', p. 91. Print. Lingis's “phenomenology” monographs, on the other hand, (e.g. ''The Imperative'' (1998)) emphasize the Socratic point that “

The unexamined life is not worth living "The unexamined life is not worth living" is a famous dictum supposedly uttered by Socrates at his trial for impiety and corrupting youth, for which he was subsequently sentenced to death. The dictum is recorded in Plato's '' Apology'' (38a5–6) ...

.” In many of his books, Alphonso Lingis elaborates an epistemological ethics that broadly affirms Earthly life's polymorphous sexuality. Alphonso Lingis also sometimes writes of a politics of the body which dictates a neo-Foucauldian pain-pleasure nexus in the name of a broad base of access to power and knowledge. Alphonso Lingis rolls left-wing and hedonist, a postmodern Hemingway who lives philosophy and commits it to print.

Books

* ''Excesses: Eros and Culture'' (1983) * ''Libido: The French Existential Theories'' (1985) * ''Phenomenological Explanations'' (1986) * ''Deathbound Subjectivity'' (1989) * ''The Community of Those Who Have Nothing in Common'' (1994) * ''Abuses'' (1994) * ''Foreign Bodies'' (1994) * ''Sensation: Intelligibility in Sensibility'' (1995) * ''The Imperative'' (1998) * ''Dangerous Emotions'' (2000) * ''Trust'' (2004) * ''Body Transformations'' (2005) * ''The First Person Singular'' (2007) * ''Wonders Seen in Forsaken Places: An Essay on the Photographs and the Process of Photography of Mark Cohen'' (2010) * ''Contact'' hotographs(2010) * ''Violence and Splendor'' (2011) * ''The Alphonso Lingis Reader'', edited by Tom Sparrow (2018) * ''Irrevocable: A Philosophy of Mortality'' (2018)

Translations (French into English)

, ''De l’existence à l’existant'' (1947). Translated by Lingis as ''Existence and Existents'' (2001). * Emmanuel Levinas, ''Totalité et infini: essai sur l’extériorité'' (1961). Translated by Lingis as ''Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority'' (1969). * Emmanuel Levinas, ''Autrement qu’être ou au-delà de l’essence'' (1974). Translated by Lingis as ''Otherwise than Being, or Beyond Essence'' (Springer, 1991). * Maurice Merleau-Ponty, ''Le visible et l’Invisible'' (1964). Translated by Lingis as ''The Visible and the Invisible'' (1968). * Pierre Klossowski, ''Sade, mon prochain'' (1947). Translated by Lingis as ''Sade My Neighbor'' (1991).

Secondary literature

* Thomas J. Altizer, Edward Casey, Thomas L. Dumm, et al., ''Encounters with Alphonso Lingis'' (2003) * Bobby George and Tom Sparrow, ''Itinerant Philosophy: On Alphonso Lingis'' (2014) * Randolph Wheeler, Anne Ashbaugh, Wolfgang W. Fuchs, Graham Harman, Alexander E. Hooke, Alphonso Lingis, et al., ''Passion in Philosophy: Essays in Honor of Alphonso Lingis'' (2016) * Alexander E. Hooke, ''Alphonso Lingis and Existential Genealogy: The First Full Length Study Of The Work Of Alphonso Lingis'' (2019)

References

External links