Cezary Woźniak

The article examines the history, essence, and current state of philosophy, based on the views of François Laruelle, the founder of non-philosophy, who believes that philosophy is the oldest superstition. The article is divided into five parts: Closure, Impossibility, Immanence, Vertigo of Immanence, and Spectral Dialectics. In the first section, titled Closure, the article discusses the origins of philosophy in ancient Greece, its assimilation into metaphysics, and the implications this has had for the fate of philosophy in the Western tradition. Additionally, the article raises questions about the essence of philosophy and the possibility of a non-metaphysical philosophy. The second section, titled Impossibility, explores the notion that it is impossible to conceive of anything truly distinct or foreign to philosophy, such as what might be considered transcendent or beyond it. The third section, Immanence, focuses on the transition of philosophy towards immanence, using the philosophies of Michel Henry, Gilles Deleuze, and Alain Badiou as examples. The fourth section, Vertigo of Immanence, explores the prospect of surpassing philosophy, drawing from Martin Heidegger’s late philosophy (the phenomenology of the inapparent) and Laruelle’s non-philosophy. Building on the preceding sections, the final part of the article suggests a way of conceiving contem-porary thought as spectral dialectics, comprising three elements: spectral phenomenology, spectral theory, and spectral performativity.

This book is a reaction to the reductionist and exploitative ideas dominating the mainstream contemporary management discourse and practice, and an attempt to broaden the horizons of possibility for both managers and organization scholars. It brings together the scholarly fields of humanistic management and organizational aesthetics, where the former brings in the unshakeable focus on the human condition and concern for dignity, emancipation, and the common good, while the latter promotes reflection, openness, and appreciation for irreducible complexity of existence. It is a journey towards wholeness undertaken by a collective of management and organization theorists, philosophers, artists, and art curators. Reading this book's contributions can help both academics and practitioners work towards building organizational practices aimed at acquiring wholeness by developing aesthetic awareness allowing for more profound understandings of performativity, insights into the dynamics of power, appreciation of ambiguity and ambivalence, and a much needed grasp of complexity. The varied ways of engaging with art explored by the authors promote imaginative insights into and reflection on the beauty and vicissitudes of organizing, of management knowledge and collective expression. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of organizational theory and practice, business and management history, human resource management, and culture management.