Erik Bormanis | New York University (original) (raw)
Papers by Erik Bormanis
Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics, and Innovation, 2024
In this essay I argue that we should consider Diogenes the Cynic's claim to be cosmopolitan in li... more In this essay I argue that we should consider Diogenes the Cynic's claim to be cosmopolitan in light of his homelessness as a spatial and material reality. I do this in order to arrive at a concept of cosmopolitanism that is more politically and ethically substantial than its typical rationalist Kantian formulations. I consider passages from Diogenes Laertius' Lives of the Eminent Philosophers to clarify the relationship of homelessness to cosmopolitanism, and draw upon authors such as Emmanuel Levinas, María Lugones, and José Medina in order to demonstrate the fruitfulness of a reconsidered cosmopolitanism in our contemporary context. I ultimately suggest that Diogenes' cosmopolitanism offers a rich and politically charged alternative to rationalist cosmopolitanism insofar as he points us towards critically rethinking both the cosmos and polis as expressions of political agency in a world in which homelessness and social exclusion are a common feature. I argue that cosmopolitan political practice would therefore be best understood as fundamentally tentative, whether in the form of productive negotiation, or an interruptive displacement of hegemonic understandings of shared spaces.
Etudes phénoménologiques - Phenomenological Studies, 2022
In this paper we explore how the intense and intimate commixture of emotion and habit contributes... more In this paper we explore how the intense and intimate commixture of emotion and habit contributes to the sense of belonging as well as to the reality of its actualization in concrete home-places. The factor of familiarity with the place where we belong – a familiarity both historical and perceptual – will be carefully discerned. A major paradox we explore concerns the fact that although being familiar with the places to which we belong may bring indolence and inaction, it can also become the basis for creative and constructive action taken in the artistic, social, and political spheres. Indeed, we argue that such creative actions can themselves be fundamental to a sense of belonging, insofar as they contribute to the openness and generativity of our familiar homeplaces.
Puncta: Journal of Critical Phenomenology, 2019
In this essay, I pose the question: what does it mean to be at home in a world where housing is i... more In this essay, I pose the question: what does it mean to be at home in a world where housing is increasingly a private commodity? I draw upon phenomenological analyses of the experience of home from Bachelard and Heidegger, both elaborating upon the fruitful descriptions of home as anchoring our temporal experience, while at the same time critiquing Bachelard’s all too hasty claim that all human beings begin in welcoming homes. As such, I claim that insofar as spaces of dwelling are not simply available in an increasingly precarious world, we ought to commit ourselves both to the work of cultivating more spaces of dwelling, and resisting an economic and political understanding of dwelling that reduces it to a purely material structure, or worse, an essentially fungible commodity or investment property, rather than a place that provides the conditions and parameters for human life.
Imagination and Art: Explorations in Contemporary Theory, 2020
In this chapter, I discuss the possibility of a “productive” imagination as it plays out in the c... more In this chapter, I discuss the possibility of a “productive” imagination as it plays out in the context of postmodern philosophy, and the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari in particular. Despite the promising suggestion that imagination can be productive in Deleuze’s early work, in Anti-Oedipus, Deleuze and Guattari consistently bemoan the merely “imaginary” consequences of desire understood as lack, which implies that they still take the imagination to be a merely representational faculty. I then challenge this claim by turning to Deleuze and Guattari’s critique of representation and treatment of art as a “monument” from What is Philosophy, and Deleuze’s account of cliché in Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation. As I demonstrate, once we abandon the representational image of thought, as Deleuze consistently urges us to do, then the imagination itself can be meaningfully rehabilitated as a productive capacity to clear away stale images and allow for genuine creativity and novelty.
Reviews by Erik Bormanis
Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics, and Innovation, 2024
In this essay I argue that we should consider Diogenes the Cynic's claim to be cosmopolitan in li... more In this essay I argue that we should consider Diogenes the Cynic's claim to be cosmopolitan in light of his homelessness as a spatial and material reality. I do this in order to arrive at a concept of cosmopolitanism that is more politically and ethically substantial than its typical rationalist Kantian formulations. I consider passages from Diogenes Laertius' Lives of the Eminent Philosophers to clarify the relationship of homelessness to cosmopolitanism, and draw upon authors such as Emmanuel Levinas, María Lugones, and José Medina in order to demonstrate the fruitfulness of a reconsidered cosmopolitanism in our contemporary context. I ultimately suggest that Diogenes' cosmopolitanism offers a rich and politically charged alternative to rationalist cosmopolitanism insofar as he points us towards critically rethinking both the cosmos and polis as expressions of political agency in a world in which homelessness and social exclusion are a common feature. I argue that cosmopolitan political practice would therefore be best understood as fundamentally tentative, whether in the form of productive negotiation, or an interruptive displacement of hegemonic understandings of shared spaces.
Etudes phénoménologiques - Phenomenological Studies, 2022
In this paper we explore how the intense and intimate commixture of emotion and habit contributes... more In this paper we explore how the intense and intimate commixture of emotion and habit contributes to the sense of belonging as well as to the reality of its actualization in concrete home-places. The factor of familiarity with the place where we belong – a familiarity both historical and perceptual – will be carefully discerned. A major paradox we explore concerns the fact that although being familiar with the places to which we belong may bring indolence and inaction, it can also become the basis for creative and constructive action taken in the artistic, social, and political spheres. Indeed, we argue that such creative actions can themselves be fundamental to a sense of belonging, insofar as they contribute to the openness and generativity of our familiar homeplaces.
Puncta: Journal of Critical Phenomenology, 2019
In this essay, I pose the question: what does it mean to be at home in a world where housing is i... more In this essay, I pose the question: what does it mean to be at home in a world where housing is increasingly a private commodity? I draw upon phenomenological analyses of the experience of home from Bachelard and Heidegger, both elaborating upon the fruitful descriptions of home as anchoring our temporal experience, while at the same time critiquing Bachelard’s all too hasty claim that all human beings begin in welcoming homes. As such, I claim that insofar as spaces of dwelling are not simply available in an increasingly precarious world, we ought to commit ourselves both to the work of cultivating more spaces of dwelling, and resisting an economic and political understanding of dwelling that reduces it to a purely material structure, or worse, an essentially fungible commodity or investment property, rather than a place that provides the conditions and parameters for human life.
Imagination and Art: Explorations in Contemporary Theory, 2020
In this chapter, I discuss the possibility of a “productive” imagination as it plays out in the c... more In this chapter, I discuss the possibility of a “productive” imagination as it plays out in the context of postmodern philosophy, and the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari in particular. Despite the promising suggestion that imagination can be productive in Deleuze’s early work, in Anti-Oedipus, Deleuze and Guattari consistently bemoan the merely “imaginary” consequences of desire understood as lack, which implies that they still take the imagination to be a merely representational faculty. I then challenge this claim by turning to Deleuze and Guattari’s critique of representation and treatment of art as a “monument” from What is Philosophy, and Deleuze’s account of cliché in Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation. As I demonstrate, once we abandon the representational image of thought, as Deleuze consistently urges us to do, then the imagination itself can be meaningfully rehabilitated as a productive capacity to clear away stale images and allow for genuine creativity and novelty.