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janthonytucson's review against another edition
5.0
The ending to this book written in 2004 pressages many of the things already come to pass in the 19 years since its completion. Rosa lays out 4 scenarios for how we can proceed in late modernity and concludes that we simply do not have it in us to disembed from the social acceleration mechanism driving late modernity and the only way we will get out of this ever increasing spiral is societal collapse - either the collapse of the ecosystem, or political upheaval leading to mass violence on multiple levels and global wars.
I agree with this, but what is interesting is a few pages before this sobering honest assessment of the current state of things, he cites Richard Rorty and his book Contigeniency, Irony, and Solidarity, as a method for coping with the inevitable collapse of modern society, and that is to have an orientation to the world in which we need to fundamentally appreciate that the universe is indifferent to us - the human project - and that we need to develop an ironic, playful relation to the uncontrollable vicissitudes of life.
There are a few books I have read that have fundamentally altered my relation to the world, that book by Richard Rorty is one of them. I am not sure how else you cope with a world on a collision course with annihilation within a generation or two except to develop and practice an ironic and playful relation to the vicissitudes of life.
I wondered why this book by Rosa is not more widely known and I believe it may have to do with the fact that this is an academic book through and through and not written for the general audience in mind. It may also have to do with the fact that Rosa has impressively articulated the end game for our civilization and no one really wants to read that. I for one am glad I took the time to work through this book and appreciate Rosa's dedication to this project.
I agree with this, but what is interesting is a few pages before this sobering honest assessment of the current state of things, he cites Richard Rorty and his book Contigeniency, Irony, and Solidarity, as a method for coping with the inevitable collapse of modern society, and that is to have an orientation to the world in which we need to fundamentally appreciate that the universe is indifferent to us - the human project - and that we need to develop an ironic, playful relation to the uncontrollable vicissitudes of life.
There are a few books I have read that have fundamentally altered my relation to the world, that book by Richard Rorty is one of them. I am not sure how else you cope with a world on a collision course with annihilation within a generation or two except to develop and practice an ironic and playful relation to the vicissitudes of life.
I wondered why this book by Rosa is not more widely known and I believe it may have to do with the fact that this is an academic book through and through and not written for the general audience in mind. It may also have to do with the fact that Rosa has impressively articulated the end game for our civilization and no one really wants to read that. I for one am glad I took the time to work through this book and appreciate Rosa's dedication to this project.
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