How Deep Is Your Love or, How Thinking as Such Defies the Weight(s) of Imperialism

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Elemental-Embodied Thinking for a New Era

Abstract

Elemental and embodied thinking disrupts the master–slave template by formulating thinking in such a way that it does not require an object. In fact, it is the only way to think at all. Elemental thinking allows humans to respect the voices and subjectivities of all the planet’s inhabitants and to apply this relational posture to interactions between the various races that constitute our species. The rise of fascisms planet-wide is, like the growl of an injured predator, a signal of the imminent collapse of the master–slave template as the dominant format, one which also stands-in for other toxic binaries such as active–passive and human–animal. Imagining thought without this template is ecologically vital. We find a paradigm for this new thinking in what some might consider an unlikely place: conventional (that is to say, non-Gnostic) forms of Christianity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free ship** worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Graham Harman, Heidegger Explained: From Phenomenon to Thing (Chicago: Open Court, 2007).

  2. 2.

    Graham Harman, Tool-Being: Heidegger and the Metaphysics of Objects (Peru, IL: Open Court, 2002).

  3. 3.

    Timothy Morton, “Elementality,” in Elemental Ecocriticism: Thinking with Earth, Air, Water and Fire, eds. Jeffrey Cohen and Lowell Duckert (University of Minnesota Press, 2015), 271–285.

  4. 4.

    Edmund Husserl, “Prolegomena to All Logic,” in Logical Investigations, trans. J.N. Findlay, ed. Dermot Moran (London: Routledge, 2008), 1.1–161.

  5. 5.

    Denise Ferreira da Silva, Toward a Global Idea of Race (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007).

  6. 6.

    Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, tr. and ed. Paul Guyer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 143.

  7. 7.

    Sarah Hart, “The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature,” New York Times, April 7, 2023, accessed April 14, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/opinion/the-wondrous-connections-between-mathematics-and-literature.html?searchResultPosition=1

  8. 8.

    Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment (**).

  9. 9.

    Henry James, “Preface,” in The Spoils of Poynton, ed. David Lodge and Patricia Quick (New York: Heinemann, 1908), 126.

  10. 10.

    Douglas Smith, Maurice Eggen and Richard St. Andre, A Transition to Advanced Mathematics, 5th edition (Boston: Brooks/Cole, 2005), 32.

  11. 11.

    Martin Heidegger, What Is a Thing? (**).

  12. 12.

    “Supplication to the Takpo Kagyü,” tr. Nalanda Translation Committee (Halifax, Vajradhatu, 2011).

  13. 13.

    Edward Casey, “By Way of Body,” in The Fate of Place: A Philosophical History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 202–242 (203–207).

  14. 14.

    Bible, King James Version.

  15. 15.

    Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, ed. Gillian Beer (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 12, 18, 19–27.

  16. 16.

    Richard Dawkins, The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 30.s.

  17. 17.

    Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, in Coleridge’s Poetry and Prose, ed. Nicholas Halmi, Paul Magnuson and Raimonda Modiano (New York: Norton, 2004), lines 292–300.

  18. 18.

    Oxford English Dictionary, “silly,” adj. n. and adv., A. I and II, accessed April 13, 2023, oed.com

  19. 19.

    Jon Gnarr, private communication.

  20. 20.

    Aaron Earls, “Half of U.S. Protestant Pastors Hear Conspiracy Theories in Their Churches,” Lifeway Research, January 26, 2021, accessed April 14, 2023, https://research.lifeway.com/2021/01/26/half-of-u-s-protestant-pastors-hear-conspiracy-theories-in-their-churches/. Sophia Ankel, “Pastors Are Leaving Their Congregations after Losing Their Churchgoers to QAnon,” Business Insider, March 14, 2021, accessed April 14, 2023, https://www.businessinsider.com/pastors-quit-after-qanon-radicalize-congregation-2021-3

  21. 21.

    Eleuxis-web Greek lexicon, “timao,” https://outils.biblissima.fr/fr/eulexis-web/?lemma=timao&dict=Bailly, accessed April 11, 2023.

  22. 22.

    Robert Farris Thompson, Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy (New York: Vintage, 1984), 1–100 (6, 9, 12–21, 33, 37, 43, 47, 72–80).

  23. 23.

    The Bee Gees, “How Deep Is Your Love?” (RSO, 1977), lyrics reproduced by permission; Martin Buber, I and Thou, tr. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Touchstone, 1971).

Bibliography

  • Ankel, Sophia. 2021, March 14. Pastors Are Leaving Their Congregations after Losing Their Churchgoers to QAnon. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/pastors-quit-after-qanon-radicalize-congregation-2021-3. Accessed 14 Apr 2023.

  • Bee, Gees. 1977. “How Deep is Your Love?” Recorded in 1977. In On Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track. RSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bible. 1611. King James Version. London: Robert Barker.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buber, Martin. 1971. I and Thou. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Touchstone.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casey, Edward. 1997. By Way of Body. In The Fate of Place: A Philosophical History, 202–242 (203–207). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. 2004. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In Coleridge’s Poetry and Prose, ed. Nicholas Halmi, Paul Magnuson, and Raimonda Modiano, 292–300. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, Charles. 1996. In The Origin of Species, ed. Gillian Beer, vol. 12, 18, 19–27. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawkins, Richard. 1999. The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene, 30.s. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Earls, Aaron. 2021, January 26. Half of U.S. Protestant Pastors Hear Conspiracy Theories in Their Churches. Lifeway Research. https://research.lifeway.com/2021/01/26/half-of-u-s-protestant-pastors-hear-conspiracy-theories-in-their-churches/. Accessed 14 Apr 2023.

  • Ferreira da Silva, Denise. 2007. Toward a Global Idea of Race. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harman, Graham. 2007. Heidegger Explained: From Phenomenon to Thing. Chicago: Open Court.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002. Tool-Being: Heidegger and the Metaphysics of Objects. Peru: Open Court.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, Sarah. 2023, April 7. The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/opinion/the-wondrous-connections-between-mathematics-and-literature.html?searchResultPosition=1. Accessed 14 Apr 2023.

  • Husserl, Edmund. 2008. Prolegomena to All Logic. In Logical Investigations (Trans. J.N. Findlay and Ed. Dermot Moran), vol 1, 1–161. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • James, Henry. 1908. Preface. In The Spoils of Poynton, ed. David Lodge and Patricia Quick, 126. New York: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kant, Immanuel. 1999. Critique of Pure Reason (Translated and Edited by Paul Guyer), 143. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morton, Timothy. 2015. Elementality. In Elemental Ecocriticism: Thinking with Earth, Air, Water and Fire, ed. Jeffrey Cohen and Lowell Duckert. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • “’Silly,’ adj. n. and adv.” Oxford English Dictionary, A. I and II. Oed.com. Accessed 13 Apr 2023.

  • Smith, Douglas, Maurice Eggen, and Richard St. Andre. 2005. A Transition to Advanced Mathematics. 5th ed, 32. Boston: Brooks/Cole.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Supplication to the Takpo Kagyü.” 2011. Translated by Nalanda Translation Committee. Halifax: Vajradhatu.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, Robert Farris. 1984. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy, 1–100 (6, 9, 12–21, 33, 37, 43, 47, 72–80). New York: Vintage.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Timao.” Eleuxis-web Greek lexicon. https://outils.biblissima.fr/fr/eulexis-web/?lemma=timao&dict=Bailly. Accessed 11 Apr 2023.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Timothy Morton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Balds, T., Morton, T. (2024). How Deep Is Your Love or, How Thinking as Such Defies the Weight(s) of Imperialism. In: Škof, L., Sashinungla, Thorgeirsdottir, S. (eds) Elemental-Embodied Thinking for a New Era. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 42. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42119-8_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Navigation