Fred Dallmayr

Fred Dallmayrâs work is innovative in its rethinking of some of the central concepts of modern political philosophy, challenging the hegemony of a modern âœsubjectivityâ at the heart of Western liberalism, individualism and rationalism, and articulating alternative voices, claims and ideas. His writings productively confound the logocentrism of Western modernity, while providing alternative conceptions of political community that are post-individualist, post-anthropocentric and relational.

The editor has focused on work in three key areas:

Critical phenomenology and the study of politicsThe first selections focus on the philosophical roots of Dallmayrâs work in two of the most innovative intellectual trends of the twentieth century: phenomenology and critical theory. These chapters outline some of the main arguments advanced by practitioners of phenomenology, particularly âœexistential phenomenology,â as well the guiding ideas of critical theory and critical Marxism, while tracing Dallmayrâs debt to thinkers such as Heidegger, Gadamer, Habermas, Adorno and Merleau-Ponty.

Cross-cultural theoryThese readings illustrate Dallmayrâs explorations beyond the confines of Western culture, as this phase of his thinking turns toward what is now called cross-cultural or âœcomparativeâ political theory. In an approach that maintains its linkage with critical phenomenology, Dallmayr asserts that Western (or European-American) political theory can no longer claim undisputed hegemony, rather it must allow itself to be contested, amplified and corrected through a comparison with non-Western theoretical traditions and initiatives.

CosmopolitanismThese selections explore the final phase of Dallmayrâs work, in which he applies his insights on cross-cultural studies to the context of global politics, rebutting Samuel Huntingtonâs âœclash of civilizationsâ thesis, and instead arguing for a cosmopolitanism that takes a middle path between both global universalism and restrictive particularism, advocating sustained dialogue and respectful mutual learning between countries and civilizations.