Discourse on Disenchantment

Gilbert G. Germain is Assistant Professor of Political Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island.

• Preface Introduction Part One. The Outward Journey I The Setting The Turn Toward EpistemologyPositivism and Anti-PositivismThe Nietzschean CritiqueSummary and ConclusionII The Disenchantment Thesis The Weberian SynthesisThe Disenchantment of NatureThe Disenchantment of the WorldLukács and Instrumental RationalitySystems TheorySummary and ConclusionPart Two. The Journey Home III Modernity Vindicated Blumenberg and the Legitimacy of ModernityHabermas: Early WorksHabermas: The Theory of Communicative ActionSummary and ConclusionIV Modernity Reconsidered Habermas AppraisedAdorno RevisitedMerleau-Ponty: From Perception to OntologySummary and ConclusionV Embodied Politics The Problem with 'Politics'Embodied PoliticsEpilogue Notes Bibliography

"In the worldwide ecological crisis facing us today, hardly an issue demands our attention more urgently than the relation between modern civilization and nature. Germain boldly tackles this issue in its broad political and philosophical ramifications. Focusing on the Weberian notion of 'disenchantment,' his book offers a detailed genealogy of the steadily deepening rift between mind and matter, between modern technology and mastery over nature. An elegantly written study addressed to and deserving a wide audience." — Fred Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame"The philosophical critique is excellent, of the highest order." — Philip Green, Smith College