Towards an Existential Archeology of Capitalist Spirituality
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2016, Vol 7, Issue 7
Abstract
Throughout his career, Michel Foucault sustained a trenchant critique of Jean-Paul Sartre, whom he accused of arguing that the subject “dispenses (all) significations”. In contrast to existentialism’s interests in subjective consciousness, Foucault pursues an archaeological method which he later develops into a genealogical approach to discourse that emphasizes the institutional practices and forms of knowledge/power that undergird historical epistemes. Taking contemporary networked Capitalism, the discourse of “workplace spirituality”, and the life history of one management reformer as its case studies, this paper turns to the cognitive linguistics of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in an effort to historicize experiences of neoliberal “spirituality”, as an archaeology of knowledge might, while also attempting to account for intentionality and biography, as existential approaches would. Turning to work in contemporary critical theory, which associates strident anti-humanism in social theory with the rise of neoliberal discourse, I argue that sustained attention to the ways in which personal and social history always entail one another and are mutually arising makes not only for better phenomenology but makes for better critical scholarship as well.
Authors and Affiliations
George González
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP25581
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7070085
- Views 361
- Downloads 7
Shelley’s Unknown Eros: Post-Secular Love in Epipsychidion
Whether Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Epipsychidion—a Platonic poem on love addressed to the patriarchally imprisoned Theresa Viviani or “Emily”—receives praise or blame has generally been determined by two focal passages: a...
Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God or for America? Christian Nationalism, the Christian Right, and the Contra War
This essay uses the concept of Christian nationalism to explore the religious dynamics of the Contra war and U.S.–Nicaraguan relations during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Religious organizations and individuals played c...
Orthodoxy in Engagement with the ‘Outer’ World. The Dynamic of the ‘Inward-Outward’ Cycle
This study explores the tension between the centripetal and centrifugal forces informing the activity of the Orthodox Church—both with regard to its interaction with the secular world and the wider ecumenical scene. Th...
Theodramatic Rehearsal: Fighting Self-Deception through the Dramatic Imagination
This paper seeks to appropriate the insights of dramatic theology for Christian psychology and soul care. According to Kevin Vanhoozer, Scripture is the ‘script’ for human beings’ fitting participation in the acts and...
Introduction to “Cognitive Science and the Study of Yoga and Tantra”
The range of disciplines known as the Cognitive Science of Religions (CSR), which has emerged in recent decades, embraces many areas and specializations within the Academy, including cognitive science, linguistics, neu...