There Are Many Shinings

In my last post I began to give my opinion on where ALL THINGS SHINING can be situated in relation to the more general context of discussions of and in pluralism. As the example of William Connolly and his take on Nietzsche shows, one can only regret that Dreyfus and Kelly do not engage the writings of other pluralist thinkers. Pluralism is not just about multiplicity but also involves dialogue with other points of view that can complement and sometimes correct our inevitable onesidedness. For example, William Connolly, Gilles Deleuze, and Jean-François Lyotard give far more detailed and useful accounts of Nietzsche than the few scattered remarks that we find in ALL THINGS SHINING. Paul Feyerabend has very interesting ideas on the differences between between the homeric cosmology and our own, and also on the possible retrieval of a homeric type of cosmology for today. Deleuze and Guattari called MOBY-DICK the “grand book of becoming” and considered it an important exemplar of the type of pluralist thought that they develop. James Hillman in his works calls for a contemporary revival of polytheism conceived as a more adequate account of the multiplicity of worlds and moods that we live in and by. Michel Serres calls to overcome the gap between the two cultures with a pluralism that extends to all fields, and not just to the humanities. Alain Badiou in his LOGICS OF WORLDS considers that we humans belong to a multiplicity of worlds and are constantly shifting from one world to another, with no need to appeal to the categories of miracle or grace. Dreyfus and Kelly are not alone, there are many shinings.

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