Once upon a Time in the West

Essays on the Politics of Thought and Imagination

Jan Zwicky

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English

McGill-Queen's University Press
15 May 2023

Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge; Philosophy: logic; Popular philosophy; Environmentalist thought & ideology

Western civilization is over. So begins Jan Zwicky’s trenchant exploration of the root of global cultural and ecological collapse: a way of thinking that is also linked to some of the West’s most noted achievements.

The Renaissance merged imperial enterprise with Islamic algebra and recently recovered Greek mathematics to precipitate mechanized industry and resource extraction; these in turn made possible the growth of capitalism, the military-industrial complex, and Big Technology. Despite its self-image as objective, Zwicky argues, the West’s style of thought is not politically neutral, but intensely anthropocentric. It has led those who adopt it to regard the more-than-human world as nothing more than timber licences and drilling sites, where value is not recognized unless it is monetized. Oblivious to context and blind to big-picture thinking, it analyzes, mechanizes, digitizes, and systematizes, while rejecting empathy and compassion as distorting influences. Lyric comprehension, in Zwicky’s view, offers an alternative to this way of thinking, and she provides a wide range of examples.

Once upon a Time in the West documents how a narrow epistemological style has left Western thought blind to critical features of reality, and how the terrifying consequences of that blinkered vision are now beginning to unfold.

By: Jan Zwicky
Imprint: McGill-Queen's University Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780228017097
ISBN 10: 0228017092
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 15 May 2023
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jan Zwicky, an internationally recognized poet and scholar, has held appointments at numerous universities including Princeton, the University of Alberta, and the University of Victoria. She is the author of over twenty books, including The Experience of Meaning and Alkibiades’ Love: Essays in Philosophy.

Reviews for Once upon a Time in the West: Essays on the Politics of Thought and Imagination

Zwicky's distinctive voice - warm, wise, sometimes colloquial or cutting - brings together these essays on diverse topics. Her sensibility is of course poetic, but also critical in the best sense: rigorous, probing, and committed. This is an engaging and enlightening portrait of a fine thinker in action. Mark Kingwell, University of Toronto and author of Singular Creatures: Robots, Rights, and the Politics of Posthumanism Lyric philosophy of the highest calibre. Jan Zwicky addresses the dilemmas we as a species are faced with today with great lucidity, seamlessly weaving together a wide variety of themes from philosophy, poetry, and ecology. Anyone interested in understanding the more-than-human world and our place in it is bound to find food for thought in these beautifully written and provoking philosophical essays. Leonor Maria Martinez Serrano, University of Cordoba and author of Breathing Earth: The Polyphonic Lyric of Robert Bringhurst