Description: Ernst Bloch gives a striking account of materialism that traces emancipatory elements of modern thought to medieval Islamic philosophers' encounter with Aristotle. He argues that the great medieval Islamic philosopher Avicenna (Ibn Sina) planted the seeds of a radical materialism still relevant for critical theory today.
Brief description: Loren Goldman (PhD, Political Science, Chicago) is Assistant Professor of Political Theory at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published articles in Political Theory, William James Studies, and Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society and is currently completing a book titled Hope, Modernity, and Politics.
Review Quotes: In this beautiful and exciting essay, Ernst Bloch enables us to think differently, more alive, more openly and creatively, about matter and form by reading the history of metaphysics against the grain and across cultural divides. We get a taste of what real philosophy once was and what it might be again as the contours of world philosophy are beginning to emerge. Bloch's irreducibly personal voice comes alive in this excellent translation.--Johan Siebers, Director, Ernst Bloch Centre for German Thought, School of Advanced Study, University of London