Ann V. Murphy is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART ONE: Violence, Reflexivity, Critique 1. Thinking in ImagesViolence and the Philosophical ImaginaryFeminism and the Motif of ViolenceGenealogy and Violence2. Philosophy’s ShameShame and the Philosophical ImaginaryPhilosophy and Its OthersShame and the Discourse on Difference3. Violence, Visibility, and Identity PoliticsPhilosophy, Identity, and ViolenceThe Defense of Identity PoliticsThe Visible and the RealSexuality and SpectaclePART TWO: Vulnerability, Ambiguity, Responsibility 4. The Provocations of VulnerabilityFeminist Philosophy and the Vulnerable BodyEthical Ambiguity and Corporeal VulnerabilityA Phenomenology of TouchFraming Violence and Vulnerability5. What’s in a Name? Imagining Vulnerability OtherwiseUniqueness and the HumanOntological VirtueOntological ViceAn Ethics of the Singular6. Assuming Ambiguity: The Body and Ethical LifeAmbiguity in Beauvoir’s Early WorkVulnerability RevisitedAssuming AmbiguityFreedom and ViolenceConclusion: Witnessing the ImaginaryReferencesIndex

"…a concise and insightful exploration of the motif of violence within twentieth- and twenty-first-century continental philosophy … Violence and the Philosophical Imaginary is an essential addition to recent rereadings of Beauvoir's oeuvre, especially her ethical period writings … a precisely written and important book for anyone interested in feminist ethics, violence, or contemporary continental philosophy." — Hypatia"In short, Murphy's exciting book returns our attention to the ambiguity of our precarious lives and the overflowing imaginaries that animate them; we move from descriptive to prescriptive claims only through exercising critical restraint, such that we might do justice to our lived complexity." — APA Newsletter"Violence and the Philosophical Imaginary makes a unique and remarkable contribution to contemporary discussions of violence. What is unique about the approach of the book is that, from a position squarely on the side of nonviolence, Ann Murphy embarks on a critical analysis of critiques of violence. This is as brave as it is necessary." — Rosalyn Diprose, author of Corporeal Generosity: On Giving with Nietzsche, Merleau-Ponty, and Levinas