John Russon | University of Guelph (original) (raw)

Videos by John Russon

The second of three lectures on Plato's Apology.

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A short video about my book *Human Experience*, which uses ideas from phenomenology and existenti... more A short video about my book *Human Experience*, which uses ideas from phenomenology and existentialism to understand mental health.

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The first of three lectures on Plato's Apology.

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The third of three lectures on Plato's Apology.

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A video sponsored by the International Merleau-Ponty Society for, "Phenomenology of Perception Ar... more A video sponsored by the International Merleau-Ponty Society for, "Phenomenology of Perception Around the World," their 75th anniversary celebration of the publication of Merleau-Ponty's *Phenomenology of Perception*. This video showcases the Toronto Summer Seminar, a seminar I have been running annually since 2003.

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An introduction to the project of phenomenology through the Preface and Chapter 1, "Sensation," f... more An introduction to the project of phenomenology through the Preface and Chapter 1, "Sensation," from Merleau-Ponty's *Phenomenology of Perception*.
For more in the series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZyk__e49-CusVu5Vs2qWH3-hgwTh18cA

[I noticed an error in a quotation I typed on the screen (though I read it correctly). The quotation at 40:24-34 should be: "I would sense precisely insofar as I correspond with the sensed, insofar as this latter ceases to have a place in the objective world, and insofar as it signifies nothing to me."]

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Books by John Russon

Indiana University Press, 2021

"Russon's book is a timely exploration of how our habits of reason inform the possibility of hea... more "Russon's book is a timely exploration of how our habits of reason inform the possibility of healthy cities and souls. Russon examines the political consequences of how human beings "take account" of the world and of themselves, and in doing so also offers a vision of what a philosophical engagment with politics might look like. This work shows us the continued relevance of reading Plato's Republic today."
-- Marina McCoy, Boston College

"Early in his introduction, John Russon comments that the Republic is the source of seemingly never-ending insights and fresh interpretations. He then goes on to substantiate this insight with his own fresh and provocative reading of this much-interpreted dialogue. This guiding principle leads to one thought-provoking insight after another--a genuinely fresh reading of the Republic."
-- Drew Hyland, Trinity College

What does it mean to be an adult? In this original and compelling work, John Russon answers that ... more What does it mean to be an adult? In this original and compelling work, John Russon answers that question by leading us through a series of rich reflections on the psychological and social dimensions of adulthood and by exploring some of the deepest ethical and existential issues that confront human life: intimacy, responsibility, aging, and death. Using his knowledge of the history of philosophy along with the combined resources of psychology, sociology, and anthropology, he explores the behavioral challenges of becoming an adult and examines the intimate relationships that are integral to healthy development. He also studies our experiences of time and space, which address both aging and the crucial role that our material environments play in the formation of our personalities. Of special note is Russon's provocative assessment of the economic and political contexts of contemporary adult life and the distinctive problems they pose. Engaging and accessible, Adult Life is for anyone seeking the profound lessons our human culture has learned about living well.

“John Russon is one of the best phenomenologists in contemporary philosophy. He uses the phenomenological method to cast light on some of the most important issues in our lives. In this book, Russon offers a sensitive description of what it is like to navigate the world as an adult, displaying the ways in which adulthood involves a development of our relations with the world, one another, and ourselves. In doing so, he allows us to see afresh the ways in which our lives unfold over time.” — Todd May, author of Kenneth Lonergan: Filmmaker and Philosopher

"Sites of Exposure is one of the best works in phenomenology to cross my desk in years. In this p... more "Sites of Exposure is one of the best works in phenomenology to cross my desk in years. In this philosophically sophisticated and yet reader-friendly book, Russon examines what it is like to exist as a person. His central thesis is that our experience of ourselves, i. e., our sense of selfhood, is always constituted in being exposed to an outside, and he explores in rich detail how we seek a home for ourselves along with a sense of personal meaning in our encounter with the world—in our personal relationships, art, and politics. Russon is a consummate phenomenologist, and I recommend his book with great enthusiasm!" --Robert Stolorow

"Thoughtful, insightful, interdisciplinary, multifaceted, wide-ranging, and culturally engaging, this book casts a wide net. Russon (philosophy, Univ. of Guelph, Canada) deploys art, literature, and religious traditions to show that philosophy is relevant to living because it raises important fundamental questions about matters that endow life with purpose—matters such as freedom, meaning, cultural diversity, being at home in the world, and the stakes of political life (bios politikos). The author provides a unifed vision of a philosophy of art, history, and culture, and he avoids academic jargon in a successful attempt to make the book accessible to all in different but relevant practical ways. Articulating a philosophy for living life via experience, Russon argues for being at home in the world through family, community, and language to experience freedom: each person—in his or her own social, cultural, political, and geographic context—can experience expanded consciousness navigating life and avoid the risks of indifference, nihilism, and apathy. This is a book for those interested in philosophy and cultural criticism." --Choice

“John Russon draws from a broad range of art and literature to show how philosophy speaks to the most basic and important questions in our everyday lives. In Sites of Exposure, Russon grapples with personal experiences such as growing up and encountering death and with broader issues such as political oppression, economic exploitation, and the destruction of the natural environment to investigate how to make life meaningful. His is cutting-edge philosophical work, illuminated by original and rigorous thinking that relies on cross-cultural communication and engagement with the richness of human cultural history. These probing interpretations of the nature of phenomenology, the philosophy of art, history, and politics, are appropriate for students and scholars of philosophy at all levels.” --back cover

“…Human Experience is a genuine and original work of philosophy … It is exemplary in its clarity ... more “…Human Experience is a genuine and original work of philosophy … It is exemplary in its clarity and rigor of expression.” — Continental Philosophy Review

John Russon's Human Experience draws on central concepts of contemporary European philosophy to develop a novel analysis of the human psyche. Beginning with a study of the nature of perception, embodiment, and memory, Russon investigates the formation of personality through family and social experience. He focuses on the importance of the feedback we receive from others regarding our fundamental worth as persons, and on the way this interpersonal process embeds meaning into our most basic bodily practices: eating, sleeping, sex, and so on. Russon concludes with an original interpretation of neurosis as the habits of bodily practice developed in family interactions that have become the foundation for developed interpersonal life, and proposes a theory of psychological therapy as the development of philosophical insight that responds to these neurotic compulsions.

“Bearing Witness to Epiphany is another beautifully written book by John Russon, a companion to h... more “Bearing Witness to Epiphany is another beautifully written book by John Russon, a companion to his excellent Human Experience. While continental philosophy has relentlessly deconstructed the classical form of the philosophy book, Russon has revived this form in a most compelling way. Russon’s writing is so lucid, that the book seems to read itself. More importantly, like Human Experience, Bearing Witness to Epiphany is the expression of profound thinking. This book should make it clear to everyone that John Russon is one of the few original voices working in continental philosophy today.” — Leonard Lawlor, coeditor of The Merleau-Ponty Reader

In this probing sequel to the popular and award-winning Human Experience, John Russon asks, “What is it to be a person?” The answer: the key to our humanity lies in our sexuality, where we experience the freedom to shape identities creatively in cooperation with another. With grace and philosophical rigor, Russon shows that an exploration of sexuality not only illuminates the psychological dimensions of our interpersonal lives but also provides the basis for a new approach to ethics and politics. Responsibilities toward others, he contends, develop alongside our personal growth. Bearing Witness to Epiphany brings to light the essential relationship between ethical and political bonds and the development of our powers of expression, leading to a substantial study of the nature and role of art in human life.

"John Russon offers a second volume on Hegel’s Phenomenology that emphasizes not the historical t... more "John Russon offers a second volume on Hegel’s Phenomenology that emphasizes not the historical text but the pedagogy one might draw from serious consideration of Hegel’s description of the individual, social, and institutional structures of self-consciousness. It is particularly welcome, in this time where circumstances seem to exacerbate differences among cultures, classes, ethnicities, political arrangements and religions Its logical lessons on the differences between the infinite and the finite, and the particular and the universal point to solutions that involve not totalitarian flight to abstract (or imposed) universals, religious or political, but a patient abiding with difference and exploration of the particularity of human social organization — “ethicality” or Sittllichkeit. The book’s language is fluid and jargon-free; the Hegelian experiential lessons it expounds would be useful in both higher-level undergraduate and graduate courses. They are supported by an exoskeleton of textual scholarship, including German citations and a brief history of 20th century Francophone Hegel interpretation. I find the book engaging, deep, and useful." Michael Vater, NDPR

"The 15 chapters each focus on a section of Hegel's book, making this an excellent resource in a ... more "The 15 chapters each focus on a section of Hegel's book, making this an excellent resource in a course on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers." —Choice

In Reading Hegel’s Phenomenology, John Russon uses the theme of reading to clarify the methods, premises, evidence, reasoning, and conclusions developed in Hegel’s seminal text. Russon’s approach facilitates comparing major sections and movements of the text, and demonstrates that each section of Phenomenology of Spirit stands independently in its focus on the themes of human experience. Along the way, Russon considers the rich relevance of Hegel’s philosophy to understanding other key Western philosophers, such as Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Husserl, Heidegger, and Derrida. Major themes include language, embodiment, desire, conscience, forgiveness, skepticism, law, ritual, multiculturalism, existentialism, deconstruction, and absolute knowing. An important companion to contemporary Hegel studies, this book will be of interest to all students of Hegel’s philosophy.

"This treatise makes an outstandingly important contribution to the interpretation of the Phenome... more "This treatise makes an outstandingly important contribution to the interpretation of the Phenomenology." --H.S. Harris, The Owl of Minerva

A major criticism of Hegel's philosophy is that it fails to comprehend the experience of the body. In this book, John Russon shows that there is in fact a philosophy of embodiment implicit in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Russon argues that Hegel has not only taken account of the body, but has done so in a way that integrates both modern work on embodiment and the approach to the body found in ancient Greek philosophy.

Although Russon approaches Hegel's Phenomenology from a contemporary standpoint, he places both this standpoint and Hegel's work within a classical tradition. Using the Aristotelian terms of 'nature' and 'habit,' Russon refers to the classical distinction between biological nature and a cultural 'second nature.' It is this second nature that constitutes, in Russon's reading of Hegel, the true embodiment of human intersubjectivity. The development of spirit, as mapped out by Hegel, is interpreted here as a process by which the self establishes for itself an embodiment in a set of social and political institutions in which it can recognize and satisfy its rational needs. Russon concludes by arguing that self-expression and self-interpretation are the ultimate needs of the human spirit, and that it is the degree to which these needs are satisfied that is the ultimate measure of the adequacy of the institutions that embody human life.

This link with classicism - in itself a serious contribution to the history of philosophy -provides an excellent point of access into the Hegelian system. Russon's work, which will prove interesting reading for any Hegel scholar, provides a solid and reliable introduction to the study of Hegel.

15 essays of original phenomenological research, exploring the continuing significance of Merleau... more 15 essays of original phenomenological research, exploring the continuing significance of Merleau-Ponty's *Phenomenology of Perception*.

"This fine collection . . . has a tenacious loyalty to details, reading them with utmost care and... more "This fine collection . . . has a tenacious loyalty to details, reading them with utmost care and sensitivity to the dialogue as a whole, other dialogues, Athenian history, as well as its literary scene (especially Aristophanes and his play The Clouds), and the subtleties of the Greek language. The result is as astonishing as it is illuminating: the Apology is given back to us in its complexity and its profundity." --Jason Wirth, Seattle University.

"No one is wiser than Socrates." After hearing these words, the Greek philosopher Socrates made it his life's work to interpret them. Each of the original essays in this book brings into focus the Socrates of Plato's Apology, attendind carefully to the work's dramatic details, its philosophical teaching, and its complexity as a piece of writing. Overall, the contributors to Reexamining Socrates, distinguished scholars of ancient philosophy, share a conviction that the Platonic text cannot be reached except through a process of reading and thinking that mirrors Socrates' own hermeneutical practice--the Socratic "examination." True to the Socratic injunction that the unexamined life is not worth living, editors Patricia Fagan and John Russon continue that practice of examination, uniting the demands of mind and those of the text to offer a reexamination of Socrates in the Apology.

A Festschrift for H.S. Harris.

Papers by John Russon

Drawing upon Heidegger's Being and Time, I show how the method of phenomenology is itself respond... more Drawing upon Heidegger's Being and Time, I show how the method of phenomenology is itself responding to something like the Kierkegaardian recognition of subjectivity. Reflecting further on the notion of "meaning" within human life, and, with Heidegger and Derrida, upon the place of death and writing within the experience of meaning, I show first the distinctive way in which phenomenology completes itself in recognizing its own constitutive limits and second that this recognition should be understood as a faith that answers to the terms of the Kierkegaardian call.

I consider anger, erotic passion and love as different forms of knowing and reflect on the import... more I consider anger, erotic passion and love as different forms of knowing and reflect on the importance of love (in contrast to the indifference of technology) as an approach to nature.

The second of three lectures on Plato's Apology.

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The first of three lectures on Plato's Apology.

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The third of three lectures on Plato's Apology.

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Indiana University Press, 2021

A Festschrift for H.S. Harris.

ENVIRONMENTAL & ARCHITECTURAL PHENOMENOLOGY, 2021

This EAP issue includes the following:  An “in memoriam" for environmental psychologist Robert S... more This EAP issue includes the following:
 An “in memoriam" for environmental psychologist Robert Sommer, who died in February, 2021;
 A “book note” on architect Giulia Foscari’s Elements of Venice (2014).
 A “book note” on architect and planner Matthew Carmona’s 3rd edition of Public Places, Urban Spaces (2021), an overview of urban-design theories, concepts, and practices.
 Environmental educator Michael Maser’s explication of a place-based education grounded in what he calls “self-in-place.”
 Philosopher John Russon’s discussion of parallels between love of place and love of human beings.
 Philosopher Jeff Malpas’ consideration of the relation between “spirit of time” and “spirit of place.”
 Cartographer Luke Harvey’s efforts to draw on the example of London parks to develop graphic means for presenting aspects of place experience visually.

The tension of living in a world that is simultaneously one's home, and indifferent environment, ... more The tension of living in a world that is simultaneously one's home, and indifferent environment, and home to others. (Manuscript of English original, originally published in Turkish.) Published in Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology, Summer/Fall 2020, pp 12-14.

ENVIRONMENTAL & ARCHITECTURAL PHENOMENOLOGY, 2020

The 2020 summer/fall issue includes the following entries: • An “in memoriam” for architect and s... more The 2020 summer/fall issue includes the following entries:
• An “in memoriam” for architect and sacred geometer Keith Critchlow, who died in London in April;
• A “book note” on philosopher Dermot Moran’s study, Husserl’s Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology (2010);
• A “book note” on philosopher Ingrid Leman Stefanovic’s The Wonder of Water (2020), an edited collection examining how human experience relates to decisions about water;
• Torontonian Robert Fabian’s update on downtown neighborhood planning in his city;
• Philosopher John Russon’s exploration of the lived ambiguity of travelling to a foreign place;
• Independent researcher Stephen Wood’s discussion of two contrasting modes of science teaching—what he calls “knowledge-based learning” vs. “understanding-based learning”;
• Philosopher of science Henri Bortoft’s explication of Goethe’s proto-phenomenology of nature as one example of a science of wholeness (originally published as four separate essays in the last four EAP issues and now integrated into one).

The tension of living in a world that is simultaneously one's home, an indifferent environment an... more The tension of living in a world that is simultaneously one's home, an indifferent environment and home to others.

These books are excellent choices as texts for various courses in philosophy.

If you are interested in teaching Sites of Exposure in one of your classes, you can contact India... more If you are interested in teaching Sites of Exposure in one of your classes, you can contact Indiana University Press for an exam copy.

I was interviewed by Scott Marratto about my time in the profession and about the state of Contin... more I was interviewed by Scott Marratto about my time in the profession and about the state of Continental Philosophy in Canada.

I argue that creative acts of expression are presupposed in our basic powers of apparently simple... more I argue that creative acts of expression are presupposed in our basic powers of apparently simple description. I use art works in a number of different media to demonstrate how our own access to recognizing the specific character of our own experience can be facilitating by their path-breaking illumination.

Symposium, 2023

I use phenomenology to interpret the distinctive character of our human reality with a goal of de... more I use phenomenology to interpret the distinctive character of our human reality with a goal of determining how we can live in order to answer to our human needs.

Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, 2022

Through phenomenological description of the experience of the present, I should the inescapable i... more Through phenomenological description of the experience of the present, I should the inescapable intertwining of present and past, identifying a number of different ways the past remains present, and what they implications of this are for understanding our experience. This involves reflecting on the nature of recording, the nature of habit and the nature of existential change.

We explore Heidegger's deepening reflection on space from the notion of lived space and "world" i... more We explore Heidegger's deepening reflection on space from the notion of lived space and "world" in *Being and Time*, through the distinction between "earth" and "world" in "The Origin of the Work of Art" and the *Contributions to Philosophy*, to the critique of technology in "Building Dwelling Thinking."

Because Dasein, as conceived by Heidegger, is inherently temporal, the "who" of Dasein can never ... more Because Dasein, as conceived by Heidegger, is inherently temporal, the "who" of Dasein can never be defined simply in terms of a (self-)present identity but must have the character of what Derrida calls "differance." Dasein's authenticity, then, must be an embracing of this, its character as differance. This means that the "self" is "neither a substance nor a subject" but a resolution. The anticipatory resoluteness of authenticity, however, is a unique kind of resolve: it is the resolve to be open to transformation. For that reason, Dasein's proper self-appropriation--authenticity--is found precisely in its inherent inappropriability. Because Dasein is always being-in-the-world, the openness of its own "who" is equally an openness to being's "what." Dasein's authenticity is nothing other than the enactment of the question of the meaning of being.

Through careful phenomenological reflection, I demonstrate the layers of passivity that are inher... more Through careful phenomenological reflection, I demonstrate the layers of passivity that are inherent to the phenomenon of attention. Because attention is a form of freedom, however, this study also illuminates the dimensions of passivity inherent to freedom as such. I bring these points out more fully through reflection on the nature of work and the nature of language.

Our self-consciousness is fundamentally spatial, fundamentally mediated by "extention" and distan... more Our self-consciousness is fundamentally spatial, fundamentally mediated by "extention" and distance. More exactly, self-consciousness and space are intertwined infinites, defined by their mutual exclusivity. This phenomenon is recognized by Kant in the "Transcendental Aesthetic" and in the "Paralogisms" of the Critique of Pure Reason, and explicitly developed by Merleau-Ponty in the Phenomenology of Perception in his discussion of the "spatiality of situation." The conception of the "blindness" of art proposed by Derrida in his Memoirs of the Blind demonstrates the essential nature of this structure in the highest levels of our freedom. We are able to conclude finally that from the most elementary levels to the highest levels, our activity is subtended by an originary passivity.

Drawing on Merleau-Ponty's accounts of the phantom limb and language, and Derrida's account of th... more Drawing on Merleau-Ponty's accounts of the phantom limb and language, and Derrida's account of the trace, I show essential ways in which our self-experience is mediated by history and expression. I use this to identify three different "temporalities" that are integral to all experience.

I perform a phenomenology of 3 kinds of pain--phantom limb pain, nostalgia and compassion--to rev... more I perform a phenomenology of 3 kinds of pain--phantom limb pain, nostalgia and compassion--to reveal the inherently temporal and intersubjective character of experience and the inherently concrete character of lived temporality. I conclude with a consideration of the essential role of pain in our experience of history and the essential role of history in our experience of pain.

I draw upon Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism to define a concept of "existential pain." Using this to ... more I draw upon Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism to define a concept of "existential pain." Using this to criticize the "medical model" of pain, I investigate the problems integral to institutionalized healthcare.

I experience teaching as an all-consuming practice. I have devoted my adult life to teaching, and... more I experience teaching as an all-consuming practice. I have devoted my adult life to teaching, and it structures my life both within and beyond the walls of the university.

A conference on my book Sites of Exposure.

A conference on my book Adult Life (2020)

One week of collective study, in downtown Toronto, of Hegel.

A week of intensive study for 25 faculty and advanced graduate students, focused on Paul's Epistl... more A week of intensive study for 25 faculty and advanced graduate students, focused on Paul's Epistle to the Romans and Augustine's Confessions.

Week-long workshop on Locke's Second Treatise and Smith's Wealth of Nations.

10 day workshop on Plato's Laws for faculty and advanced graduate students.

A intensive week of study focused on the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun

A week-long, intensive study of Plato's Phaedrus, cancelled due to COVID-19.

A week of collective study of virtue in Aristotle's *Nicomachean Ethics*.

A week-long intensive of early Buddhist discourses.

Is language simply a matter of formulating our ideas from our thought process into words? For exa... more Is language simply a matter of formulating our ideas from our thought process into words? For example, were you ever called upon to express your deep and intimate feelings, and your words failed you? How about if what we learned about ourselves from a probing conversation with others were not the beliefs and values that we formerly claimed? Drawing on Heidegger's writings on the nature of language, this conference will investigate the crucial, formative role that language plays in bringing our experience into a meaningful form in the first place. Explore this powerful relationship between expression and experience, investigating the nature and importance of artistic expression in our personal, social, and political dimensions of our lives. Reflect on important experiences of feelings when we don't "have a voice," such as can be experienced by, for example, healthcare patients, women, and people in oppressed racial or social groups.

We typically think of the human body as one thing in the world alongside other things, an object ... more We typically think of the human body as one thing in the world alongside other things, an object with clear boundaries and with scientifically measurable properties. In our living experience, however, this is not how we relate to our own bodies. For each of us as an individual person, our body is our living connection with reality, the very medium within which our encounter with the world is enacted. This “lived body” is not one thing among many, but is the very condition for the fact that “there is” anything for us at all. Drawing upon the ground-breaking philosophical work of Martin Heidegger, whose “existential phenomenology” focuses on describing our experience in the terms in which it is lived, we will explore this lived experience of the body and especially the significance of this for our understanding of illness and health. We will take our primary orientation from Heidegger and from other prominent philosophers who have developed his basic concept of “being-in-the-world,” and we will supplement our study by reading short essays by a variety of contemporary writers who have applied these ideas to specific issues in healthcare, ethics and related areas.

RENEWINg THE aNcIENT qUaRREL PLaTO, HEgEL, adORNO c O -d I R E c T O R S 2 013 John Lysaker | jly... more RENEWINg THE aNcIENT qUaRREL PLaTO, HEgEL, adORNO c O -d I R E c T O R S 2 013 John Lysaker | jlysake@emory.edu department of philosophy, emory university 561 south Kilgo circle, atlanta, ga 30322 usa John Russon | jrusson@uoguelph.ca department of philosophy, university of guelph 50 stone rd. east, guelph on, canada n1g 2W1

the first of a series of lectures in a short course on Phenomenology. This one introduces Phenom... more the first of a series of lectures in a short course on Phenomenology. This one introduces Phenomenology by discussion of Kant's 4th Paralogism from the Critique of Pure Reason.

This is an informal lecture I gave on the theme of "reason" in the Critique of Pure Reason and th... more This is an informal lecture I gave on the theme of "reason" in the Critique of Pure Reason and the Critique of Practical Reason. I use this discussion as a point of orientation for understanding Kant's overall philosophical project and especially for understanding his moral philosophy.