Continental Philosophy of Luxury

John Armitage is Emeritus Professor of Media Arts at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, UK. He is the author of Luxury Philosophy (Bloomsbury 2025) and Luxury and Visual Culture (Bloomsbury 2020), and is on the editorial boards of journals such as Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption, and Luxury Studies: The In Pursuit of Luxury Journal.

• Acknowledgments1. A Continental Philosophy of Luxury: An Introduction2. On the Concept of a Continental Philosophy of Luxury3. Longing for Luxury Perfume: A Nietzschean Interpretation4. Heidegger and the World of Sustainable Luxury: On the Earth in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Equals Pi5. Luxurious Escape with Levinas: Superyachts as Getaway Vehicles6. The Pursuit of Luxury as an Act of Transgression: Bataille, Sovereignty, Desire7. What Is a Luxury Experience? Gadamer and Luxury Fashion Branded Videogames8. Adorno’s Critical Theory and the Singular Instant of Luxury: On Contemporary Conceptions of Luxury Consumer Experience9. Conclusion: Continental Philosophy of Luxury: Future PossibilitiesIndex

From longing an exclusive perfume to escape on a superyacht, from a Basquiat painting to transgression, from the singular instant to a high-fashion branded videogame: a compelling book on the thorny topic of luxury. Focusing on six continental philosophers, Armitage helps us understand contemporary luxury through philosophy, and at the same time philosophy through luxury.