The Phoenix Complex

An innovative, wide-ranging consideration of the global ecological crisis and its deep philosophical and theological roots.

Global crises, from melting Arctic ice to ecosystem collapse and the sixth mass extinction, challenge our age-old belief in nature as a phoenix with an infinite ability to regenerate itself from the ashes of destruction. Moving from antiquity to the present and back, Michael Marder provides an integrated examination of philosophies of nature drawn from traditions around the world to illuminate the theological, mythical, and philosophical origins of the contemporary environmental emergency. From there, he probes the contradictions and deadlocks of our current predicament to propose a philosophy of nature for the twenty-first century.

As Marder analyzes our reliance on the image and idea of the phoenix to organize our thoughts about the natural world, he outlines the obstacles in the path of formulating a revitalized philosophy of nature. His critical exposition of the phoenix complex draws on Chinese, Indian, Russian, European, and North African traditions. Throughout, Marder lets the figure of the phoenix guide readers through theories of immortality, intergenerational and interspecies relations, infinity compatible with finitude, resurrection, reincarnation, and a possibility of liberation from cycles of rebirth. His concluding remarks on a phoenix-suffused philosophy of nature and political thought extend from the Roman era to the writings of Hannah Arendt.Preface: Is a Philosophy of Nature Still Tenable? xi
1 The Phoenix Complex 1
2 Philosophy's Third Path: Plato/Levinas 29
3 On Physiopsychology-Life and Energy: Aristotle/Hegel 59
4 Unity and Universality: Plotinus/Schelling 89
5 The Phoenix Acts: Hildegard/Spinoza 127
6 Death, Rebirth, and Beyond in Hindu Traditions 149
7 Generativity and Generationality in Confucianism 175
8 Universal Resurrection in Russian Cosmism 197
9 Political Renaissance from the Roman Empire to the Thought of Hannah Arendt 219
Afterword: Ashes to Ashes... 241
Notes 247
Index 279“With his usual wit and insight, Michael Marder weaves a vibrant intellectual history of the relationship between nature and rebirth out of a tapestry of diverse traditions and disciplines. From these various threads, a stunning pattern emerges—what Marder calls the phoenix complex.”
—Kelly Oliver, author of Earth and World: Philosophy after the Apollo Missions
 
“Michael Marder invites us to meet the world as it is, with its diversity and limits, while elucidating the dynamics of birthing, the beginning and the rebeginning of life, in perpetuity. Marder’s The Phoenix Complex is vital reading for all who care about life on earth.”
—Vandana Shiva, activist and ecofeminist
 
“The Phoenix Complex is a book about the present, a book for everyone who wants to understand the ongoing ecological crisis and act accordingly.”
—Slavoj Žižek, author of Hegel in a Wired Brain and Sex and the Failed AbsoluteMichael Marder is IKERBASQUE Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU). His books include Philosophy for Passengers (MIT Press, 2022); Hegel’s Energy: A Reading of The Phenomenology of Spirit; and Dump Philosophy: A Phenomenology of Devastation.