Lewis Call

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Western Philosophy
21st-century philosophy
Name
Lewis Call
Birth
School/tradition Postmodern philosophy, anarchism
Notable ideas Postmodern anarchism
Influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, Gilles Deleuze, William Gibson

Lewis Call is an American academic notable for being a central post-anarchist thinker. He is best known for his 2002 book Postmodern Anarchism, which develops an account of postmodern anarchism through philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and cyberpunk writers such as William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.[1] Call has written extensively on the intersection of post-anarchism and science fiction, covering philosophers and authors such as Gilles Deleuze, Jean Baudrillard, Octavia Butler, Samuel Delany and Ursula K. LeGuin.

Contents

[edit] Life and work

Call graduated with a B.A. from University of California, San Diego followed by an M.A. and Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of California, Irvine, finishing his studies in 1996. He is currently a lecturer in intellectual history, political economy and the history of network technology at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, and holds the position of Associate Editor of Anarchist Studies, an international journal of anarchist theory. He received the Distinguished Lecturer Award, from the California Faculty Association (California Polytechnic chapter) in 2005. Call is a dedicated practitioner of Tai Chi Chuan.[1]

[edit] Thought

For more details on this topic, see Post-anarchism.

Call is credited along with Saul Newman and Todd May with developing postanarchism from its roots in French postmodern and classical anarchist thought.[2] Call has attempted to develop post-anarchist theory through the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, rejecting the Cartesian concept of the "subject". From here a radical form of anarchism is made possible; the anarchism of becoming. This anarchism does not have an eventual goal, nor flow into "being", it is not a final state of development, nor a static form of society, but rather becomes permanent, as a means without end. Call critiques liberal notions of language, consciousness, and rationality from an anarchist perspective, arguing that they are inherent in economic and political power within the capitalist state organization.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Call, Lewis (2002). Postmodern Anarchism. Lexington: Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739105221. 
  2. ^ "Power, Subjectivity, Resistance:Three Works on Postmodern Anarchism", New Formulation, Volume 2, No.2, Winter/Spring 2004.
  3. ^ Martin, Edward J. "Call, Lewis Postmodern Anarchism.(Book Review)", Perspectives on Political Science, June, 2003

[edit] Selected bibliography

  • Postmodern Anarchism (2002). Lexington: Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739105221.
  • "Structures of Desire: Erotic Power in the Speculative Fiction of Octavia Butler and Samuel Delany." Rethinking History 9: 2/3 (June/September 2005).
  • "Anarchy in the Matrix: Postmodern Anarchism in the Novels of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling", Anarchist Studies, Volume 7, No. 2.
  • "A brief history of Anarchist Studies (so far)", Anarchist Studies, Volume 15, No. 2.
  • "Postmodern Anarchism in the Novels of Ursula K. Le Guin", SubStance, Volume 36, No. 2, 2007 (Issue 113), pp. 87-105.

[edit] External links