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The present volume probes the decline or twilight of subjectivity, which has served as cornerstone of modern philosophy since the Renaissance, together with the repercussions of this decline on social and political thought. In the latter domain, modern subjectivity has tended to foster a distinctive type of individualism: one which treats the ego as the center not only of theoretical cognition but of social-political action and interaction. In trying to pave the way toward a “post-individualist theory of politics”, the volume does not simply reject individualism, but seek to divest it of its anthropocentric, “egological”, and “possessive” connotations. The motivation animating the study, in any case, is not an anti-individualist, and even less an “anti-modernist”, sentiment. The rise of modern subjectivity and man-centered individualism is seen here not merely as an avoidable mistake, but as a phase in the course of human emancipation and maturation – though a phase whose intrinsic shortcomings have now become obvious.

“The role and meaning of individualism and the status of the thinking Subject are today surrounded by intense controversy. The present chapter seeks to elucidate a number of prominent contemporary perspectives on the issue. According to one perspective – which may be described as possessive neo-individualism – the dilemmas and shifting fortunes of liberalism are not so much sources of embarrassment as motives for reaffirmation.”

Fred R. Dallmayr

FRED DALLMAYR is Packey J. Dee Professor in the departments of philosophy and political science at the University of Notre Dame. He holds a Doctor of Law degree from the University of Munich (1955) and a Ph.D. in political science from Duke University (1960).

He has been a visiting professor at Hamburg University in Germany and at the New School for Social Research in New York, and a Fellow at Nuffield College in Oxford. He has been teaching at Notre Dame University since 1978. During 1991-92 he was in India on a Fulbright research grant.

Among his recent publications are: Between Freiburg And Frankfurt (1991); The Other Heidegger (1993); Beyond Orientalism: Essays On Cross-Cultural Encounter (1996; Japanese translation 2001); Alternative Visions: Paths In The Global Village (1998: Persian translation 2005); Achieving Our World: Toward a Global and Plural Democracy (2001); Dialogue Among Civilizations: Some Exemplary Voices (2002; Italian translation forthcoming); Hegel: Modernity And Politics (new ed. 2002); Peace Talks - Who Will Listen (2004); Small Wonder: Global Power and Its Discontents (2005); In Search of the Good Life: A Pedagogy for Troubled Times (2007);The Promise of Democracy: Political Agency and Transformation (2010); Integral Pluralism: Beyond Culture Wars (2010) and Comparative Political Theory: An Introduction (2010).

He is past president of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy (SACP). He is also a member of the International Coordinating Committee of "World Public Forum - Dialogue of Civilizations", and of the Scientific Committee of "RESET - Dialogue on Civilizations"