Overview

Numbers and politics are inter-related at almost every level be it the abstract geometry of understandings of territory, the explosion of population statistics and measures of economic standards, the popularity of Utilitarianism, Rawlsian notions of justice, the notion of value, or simply the very idea of political science. Time and space are reduced to co-ordinates, illustrating a very real take on the political: a way of measuring and controlling it.This book engages with the relation between politics and number through a reading, exegesis and critique of the work of Martin Heidegger. The importance of mathematics and the role played by the understandings of calculation is a recurrent concern in his writing and is regularly contrasted with understandings of speech and language. This book provides the most detailed analysis of the relation between language, politics and mathematics in Heidegger's work. It insists that questions of language and calculation in Heidegger are inherently political, and that a far broader range of his work is concerned with politics than is usually admitted.Key Features:*A unique introduction to the political dimension of Heidegger's work, opening it up to a wider audience*Offers an original exploration of the relationship between language, mathematics and politics in Heidegger's thinking*Shows how questions of politics and calculation are inter-related in modern conceptions of the politicalBooks in the series are...Valentine and Arditi Polemicization Shapiro Cinematic Political ThoughtChambers Untimely PoliticsElden Speaking Against NumberBowman Post-Marxism Versus Cultural StudiesMarchart Post-Foundational Political ThoughtLittle Democratic Piety

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Elden should be applauded for writing with such sharp focus, while simultaneously never reducing the genuine complexity of Heidegger's thought. Contemporary Political Theory Elden is a careful scholar, who writes in a clear, accessible prose. He has identified all the important texts germane to his argument and provides a good rationale to the volume as proposed. -- Dr Laurence Hemming, Heythrop College, University of London I wholeheartedly recommend this book with its rich lode of expositions of Heidegger's texts on the political in its ancient, modern and postmodern manifestations. -- Professor Theodore Kisiel, Northern Illinois University Stuart Elden's Speaking Against Number takes full advantage of the most recent volumes of Heidegger's previously unpublished lectures and manuscripts to develop a rich new approach to his political thought. The resulting book should be widely read, especially by everyone who thinks they already know all there is to know about this topic. -- Professor Robert Bernasconi, University of Memphis This volume shows wide-ranging and sound scholarship. Elden has done a superior job of weaving together many important strands of Heidegger's thought. -- Richard Polt Continental Philosophy Review Elden's book manages to reinvigorate a seemingly tired debate regarding Heidegger's political engagement. This is a unique achievement in that he succeeds in re-opening a question that continues to haunt readers of Heidegger: to what extent can we separate the man from his thought? -- Paul Ennis, UCD Borderlands e-journal An importantly original contribution to the question of Heidegger and the political. -- Babette E. Babich, Fordham University, New York Political Theory Elden should be applauded for writing with such sharp focus, while simultaneously never reducing the genuine complexity of Heidegger's thought. Elden is a careful scholar, who writes in a clear, accessible prose. He has identified all the important texts germane to his argument and provides a good rationale to the volume as proposed. I wholeheartedly recommend this book with its rich lode of expositions of Heidegger's texts on the political in its ancient, modern and postmodern manifestations. Stuart Elden's Speaking Against Number takes full advantage of the most recent volumes of Heidegger's previously unpublished lectures and manuscripts to develop a rich new approach to his political thought. The resulting book should be widely read, especially by everyone who thinks they already know all there is to know about this topic. This volume shows wide-ranging and sound scholarship. Elden has done a superior job of weaving together many important strands of Heidegger's thought. Elden's book manages to reinvigorate a seemingly tired debate regarding Heidegger's political engagement. This is a unique achievement in that he succeeds in re-opening a question that continues to haunt readers of Heidegger: to what extent can we separate the man from his thought? An importantly original contribution to the question of Heidegger and the political.

Elden should be applauded for writing with such sharp focus, while simultaneously never reducing the genuine complexity of Heidegger's thought. Contemporary Political Theory Elden is a careful scholar, who writes in a clear, accessible prose. He has identified all the important texts germane to his argument and provides a good rationale to the volume as proposed. -- Dr Laurence Hemming, Heythrop College, University of London I wholeheartedly recommend this book with its rich lode of expositions of Heidegger's texts on the political in its ancient, modern and postmodern manifestations. -- Professor Theodore Kisiel, Northern Illinois University Stuart Elden's Speaking Against Number takes full advantage of the most recent volumes of Heidegger's previously unpublished lectures and manuscripts to develop a rich new approach to his political thought. The resulting book should be widely read, especially by everyone who thinks they already know all there is to know about this topic. -- Professor Robert Bernasconi, University of Memphis This volume shows wide-ranging and sound scholarship. Elden has done a superior job of weaving together many important strands of Heidegger's thought. -- Richard Polt Continental Philosophy Review Elden's book manages to reinvigorate a seemingly tired debate regarding Heidegger's political engagement. This is a unique achievement in that he succeeds in re-opening a question that continues to haunt readers of Heidegger: to what extent can we separate the man from his thought? -- Paul Ennis, UCD Borderlands e-journal An importantly original contribution to the question of Heidegger and the political. -- Babette E. Babich, Fordham University, New York Political Theory Such problems are the exception in Speaking Against Number. On the whole, this volume shows wide-ranging and sound scholarship. Elden has done a superior job of weaving together many important strands of Heidegger's thought. -- Stuart Elden Journal of Language and Politics Elden should be applauded for writing with such sharp focus, while simultaneously never reducing the genuine complexity of Heidegger's thought. Elden is a careful scholar, who writes in a clear, accessible prose. He has identified all the important texts germane to his argument and provides a good rationale to the volume as proposed. I wholeheartedly recommend this book with its rich lode of expositions of Heidegger's texts on the political in its ancient, modern and postmodern manifestations. Stuart Elden's Speaking Against Number takes full advantage of the most recent volumes of Heidegger's previously unpublished lectures and manuscripts to develop a rich new approach to his political thought. The resulting book should be widely read, especially by everyone who thinks they already know all there is to know about this topic. This volume shows wide-ranging and sound scholarship. Elden has done a superior job of weaving together many important strands of Heidegger's thought. Elden's book manages to reinvigorate a seemingly tired debate regarding Heidegger's political engagement. This is a unique achievement in that he succeeds in re-opening a question that continues to haunt readers of Heidegger: to what extent can we separate the man from his thought? An importantly original contribution to the question of Heidegger and the political. Such problems are the exception in Speaking Against Number. On the whole, this volume shows wide-ranging and sound scholarship. Elden has done a superior job of weaving together many important strands of Heidegger's thought.

Author Information

Stuart Elden is a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Durham. He is author of Mapping the Present: Heidegger, Foucault and the Project of a Spatial History (2001) and Understanding Henri Lefebvre: Theory and the Possible (2004).

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