The Problem of Distraction

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, European, German, Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Phenomenology
Cover of the book The Problem of Distraction by Paul North, Stanford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Paul North ISBN: 9780804778978
Publisher: Stanford University Press Publication: October 19, 2011
Imprint: Stanford University Press Language: English
Author: Paul North
ISBN: 9780804778978
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Publication: October 19, 2011
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Language: English

We live in an age of distraction. Contemporary analyses of culture, politics, techno-science, and psychology insist on this. They often suggest remedies for it, or ways to capitalize on it. Yet they almost never investigate the meaning and history of distraction itself. This book corrects this lack of attention. It inquires into the effects of distraction, defined not as the opposite of attention, but as truly discontinuous intellect. Human being has to be reconceived, according to this argument, not as quintessentially thought-bearing, but as subject to repeated, causeless blackouts of mind.

The Problem of Distraction presents the first genealogy of the concept from Aristotle to the largely forgotten, early twentieth-century efforts by Kafka, Heidegger, and Benjamin to revolutionize the humanities by means of distraction. Further, the book makes the case that our present troubles cannot be solved by recovering or enhancing attention. Not-always-thinking beings are beset by radical breaks in their experience, but in this way they are also receptive to what has not and cannot yet be called experience.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

We live in an age of distraction. Contemporary analyses of culture, politics, techno-science, and psychology insist on this. They often suggest remedies for it, or ways to capitalize on it. Yet they almost never investigate the meaning and history of distraction itself. This book corrects this lack of attention. It inquires into the effects of distraction, defined not as the opposite of attention, but as truly discontinuous intellect. Human being has to be reconceived, according to this argument, not as quintessentially thought-bearing, but as subject to repeated, causeless blackouts of mind.

The Problem of Distraction presents the first genealogy of the concept from Aristotle to the largely forgotten, early twentieth-century efforts by Kafka, Heidegger, and Benjamin to revolutionize the humanities by means of distraction. Further, the book makes the case that our present troubles cannot be solved by recovering or enhancing attention. Not-always-thinking beings are beset by radical breaks in their experience, but in this way they are also receptive to what has not and cannot yet be called experience.

More books from Stanford University Press

Cover of the book From Boas to Black Power by Paul North
Cover of the book Consuming Literature by Paul North
Cover of the book And Then We Work for God by Paul North
Cover of the book In the Wake of Neoliberalism by Paul North
Cover of the book A Goy Who Speaks Yiddish by Paul North
Cover of the book Literature and the Creative Economy by Paul North
Cover of the book Regulating Prostitution in China by Paul North
Cover of the book Selling under the Swastika by Paul North
Cover of the book Dialectic and Dialogue by Paul North
Cover of the book The Latino Threat by Paul North
Cover of the book The Rhetoric of Error from Locke to Kleist by Paul North
Cover of the book Making Money by Paul North
Cover of the book Racing for Innocence by Paul North
Cover of the book The Jewish Persona in the European Imagination by Paul North
Cover of the book White Bound by Paul North
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy