Lambert Zuidervaart

Lambert Zuidervaart challenges current intellectual trends by proposing a new hermeneutic theory of artistic truth, engaging with both analytic and continental philosophies and clarifying the contemporary cultural scene. Although it is unfashionable to talk about artistic truth, its issues have not disappeared. Indeed, questions concerning the role of the artist in society, the relationship between art and knowledge, and the validity of cultural interpretation have actually intensified.

Aesthetics, Discourse, and Imaginative Disclosure

Artistic Truth

Henry Luttikhuizen

Produced in honor of Calvin G. Seerveld, this volume highlights Seerveld's legacy as a scholar, teacher, and cultural leader even as it breaks new ground in the fields of cultural theory and aesthetics. The introduction discusses the importance of Seerveld's contributions to the study of the arts and culture, summarizes the essays in this collection, and relates them to themes in Seerveld's work. The volume's fourteen essays extend Seerveld's efforts to new areas and probe the traditions on which his efforts rely. An open letter from Nicholas Wolterstorff and a bibliography of Seerveld's writings begin and conclude the volume. The essays in Part I (Cultural Theory) test the fruitfulness of Seerveld's aesthetic theory for fields of study that have opened in recent years: popular culture, performance art, computer imagery, and the "new art history." The essays in Part II (Philosophical Dialogue) give testimony to the close and engaged reading of philosophical texts that characterizes Seerveld's teaching and scholarship. The essays in Part III (Cultural Critique) provide lively, focused, and reflective commentaries of the sort for which Seerveld is admired. The essays in Part IV (Religious Art) exemplify Seerveld's passion for renewing and reclaiming the artistic heritage of Christianity, especially within the Reformed tradition.

Essays on the Arts and Culture, in Honor of Calvin G. Seerveld

Pledges of Jubilee

Tom Huhn

Theodor W. Adorno died in 1969 and his last major work, Ästhetische Theorie, waspublished a year later. Only recently, however, have his aesthetic writings begun to receivesustained attention in the English-speaking world. This collection of essays is an importantcontribution to the discussion of Adorno's aesthetics in Anglo-American scholarship.The essays areorganized around the twin themes of semblance and subjectivity. Whereas the concept of semblance, orillusion, points to Adorno's links with Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud, the concept of subjectivityrecalls his lifelong struggle with a philosophy of consciousness stemming from Kant, Hegel, andLukács. Adorno's elaboration of the two concepts takes many dialectical twists. Art, despite thetaint of illusion that it has carried since Plato's Republic, turns out in Adorno's account ofmodernism to have a sophisticated capacity to critique illusion, including its own. Adorno'saesthetics emphasizes the connection between aesthetic theory and many other aspects of socialtheory. The paradoxical genius of Aesthetic Theory is that it turns traditional concepts into atheoretical cutting edge.

Essays in Adorno's Aesthetic Theory

The Semblance of Subjectivity

This book examines fundamental questions about funding for the arts: why should governments provide funding for the arts? What do the arts contribute to daily life? Do artists and their publics have a social responsibility? Challenging questionable assumptions about the state, the arts and a democratic society, Lambert Zuidervaart presents a vigorous case for government funding, based on crucial contributions the arts make to civil society. He argues that the arts contribute to democratic communication and a social economy, fostering the critical and creative dialogue that a democratic society needs. Informed by the author's experience leading a non-profit arts organisation as well as his expertise in the arts, humanities and social sciences, this book proposes an entirely new conception of the public role of art with wide-ranging implications for education, politics and cultural policy.

Politics, Economics, and a Democratic Culture

Art in Public

Roy M. Anker

Quentin James Schultze

James D. Bratt

Quentin Schultze

John Worst

Essays discuss youth culture, rock music, MTV, and the impact of television

Youth, Popular Culture, and the Electronic Media

Dancing in the Dark

How do we honor the dog friends who keep us company without complaint? How do we prepare when their all-too-short lives near an end? How do we grieve their passing and take joy in their memory? This memoir celebrates the life of a beautiful Golden Retriever named Hannah Estelle. It tells how, at a time of deep sadness, Hannah's puppy presence helped the author learn to sing again; how, as he became an accomplished vocalist, her faithful friendship brought grace and joy; and how, during the cancer-wracked months that ended her life, his singing to Hannah helped her departure. Woven around texts from poignant songs, the book speaks of loss and love, of sorrow and joy, of suffering and hope. Each chapter is a dog song, inspired by the canine companion it is about, and songlike in its own aspiration. Lambert Zuidervaart tells lyrical stories about a dear dog's life to thank her for helping him learn to sing once more.

Sorrow, Joy, and the Dog I Loved

To Sing Once More

It is 4:00 a.m. the day after Rosa died. I am wide-awake from a brief and troubled sleep. This book explores the loss of a dear friend and companion-a remarkable fifteen-year-old retriever named Rosa. Many people form deep attachments to their pets. Yet we wonder how to celebrate our friendships with them and how to grieve their death. Dog-Kissed Tears is a meditative memoir woven from life with Rosa. In stories that are funny, sad, moving, and honest, Lambert Zuidervaart links his attachment to his beloved dog and his love for human friends. Familiar songs help him trace his personal journey through the adoption, life, and death of a canine companion. As Lambert works through grief and longing for Rosa, he connects memories of childhood with self-discoveries in middle age. Dog-Kissed Tears weaves a lyrical narrative of friendship, loss, and healing. Its spiritual undercurrent is subtle but profound.

Songs of Friendship, Loss, and Healing

Dog-Kissed Tears

An innovative, ambitious, tradition-crossing study drawing on the work of Husserl, Heidegger, Horkheimer, Adorno, and Habermas to propose a new and transformative concept of truth. The idea of truth is a guiding theme for German continental philosophers from Husserl through Habermas. In this book, Lambert Zuidervaart examines debates surrounding the idea of truth in twentieth-century German continental philosophy. He argues that the Heideggerian and critical theory traditions have much in common—despite the miscommunication, opposition, and even outright hostility that have prevailed between them—including significant roots in the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl. Zuidervaart sees the tensions between Heideggerian thought and critical theory as potentially generative sources for a new approach to the idea of truth. He argues further that the “critical retrieval” of insights from German continental philosophy can shed light on current debates in analytic truth theory. Zuidervaart structures his account around three issues: the distinction between propositional truth and truth that is more than propositional (which he calls existential truth); the relationship between propositional truth and the discursive justification of propositional truth claims, framed in analytic philosophy by debates between epistemic and nonepistemic conceptions of truth; and the relationship between propositional truth and the objectivity of knowledge, often presented in analytic philosophy as a conflict between realists and antirealists over the relation between “truth bearers” and “truth makers.” In an innovative and ambitious argument, drawing on the work of Husserl, Heidegger, Horkheimer, Adorno, and Habermas, Zuidervaart proposes a new and transformative conception of truth.

Lambert Zuidervaart

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