The Philosophy of Tragedy: From Plato to Žižek

Jun 2013 · Cambridge University Press

Ebook

295

Pages

About this ebook

This book is a full survey of the philosophy of tragedy from antiquity to the present. From Aristotle to Žižek the focal question has been: why, in spite of its distressing content, do we value tragic drama? What is the nature of the 'tragic effect'? Some philosophers point to a certain kind of pleasure that results from tragedy. Others, while not excluding pleasure, emphasize the knowledge we gain from tragedy - of psychology, ethics, freedom or immortality. Through a critical engagement with these and other philosophers, the book concludes by suggesting an answer to the question of what it is that constitutes tragedy 'in its highest vocation'. This book will be of equal interest to students of philosophy and of literature.

About the author

Julian Young is William R. Kenan Professor of Humanities at Wake Forest University. He has written eleven books, which have been translated into Turkish, Chinese, Iranian, Greek, Portuguese and Polish. His most recent book, Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography, won the Association of American Publishers 2010 PROSE Award for philosophy and was selected by Choice as an 'Outstanding Academic Title' of 2010. Young has written for the Guardian, New York Times and Harper's Magazine and has appeared on radio and TV in New Zealand, Ireland and the United States. In addition to more than fifty articles in philosophy journals and collections, he has published in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience and the Journal of the Royal Musical Association.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets

Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.

Laptops and computers

You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.

eReaders and other devices

To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.