Philipp Schweighauser

Ever since the turn of the century aesthetics has steadily gained momentum as a central field of study across the disciplines. No longer sidelined, aesthetics has grown in confidence. While this recent development brings with it a return to the work of the canonical authors (most notably Baumgarten and Kant), some contemporary scholars reject the traditional focus on epistemology and theorize aesthetics in its ontological connotations. It is according to this shift that speculative realists have proclaimed aesthetics as "first philosophy" and as speculative in nature. With speculative realism aesthetics no longer necessarily implies human agents. This is in alignment with the general speculative realist framework for thinking all kinds of processes, entities, and objects as free from our all-pervasive anthropocentrism, which states, always, that everything is "for us." This special volume of Speculations explores the ramifications of what could be termed the new speculative aesthetics. In doing so, it stages a three-fold encounter: between aesthetics and speculation, between speculative realism and its (possible) precursors, and between speculative realism and art and literature.

1. Kurzversion To prosper democracy needs subjectivity and foreignness. This central theme, discussed e. g. in relation to the refugee crisis, provides the basis of this collection. Since literature is filled with oddballs and strangers, all contributors were asked to deal with literary texts. Thus, the book accomplishes nothing less than rejuvenating the mutual exchange between literature and political philosophy. 2. Längere Version Democracy does not survive on cohesion alone. To prosper it also needs subjectivity and foreignness. This central theme, discussed also in relation to the refugee crisis, provides the basis of this collection. Our contributors emphasize that this idea is much underestimated in today's political philosophy. As literature is filled with oddballs and strangers, all contributors were asked to deal with literary texts. Thus, works by Dostoyevsky, Beckett, Franzen and many more are - in some cases for the very first time - brought into a dialogue with philosophy. This way, the book accomplishes nothing less than rejuvenating the mutual exchange between literature and philosophy. Die Demokratie lebt nicht nur vom Zusammenhalt. Um zu gedeihen, braucht sie auch Subjektivität und Fremdheit. Dieser Leitgedanke, diskutiert u. a. anhand der Flüchtlingskrise, liegt dem Band zugrunde. Gezeigt wird insbesondere, dass er zu einem in der Politischen Philosophie stark unterschätztem Grade gilt. Weil die Literatur reich an Querköpfen und Fremdlingen ist, bekamen alle Beiträger den Auftrag, an die Literatur anzuschließen. So werden hier Werke von Dostojewski über Beckett bis hin zu Franzen, Erpenbeck u. v. a. - zum Teil erstmals - in Dialog mit der Politischen Philosophie gebracht. Damit gelingt es dem Band, den Austausch zwischen Literatur und Philosophie neu zu befruchten. Zwölf Beitragende, unter ihnen Martha C. Nussbaum und Winfried Fluck, zeigen, wie dringend Demokratien Querköpfe und Außenseiter brauchen.