Publication Date: 4th February 2022
124 Pages
 
Over four issues to be published in 2022, The New Basics will consider 50 “keywords” on four themes: 1) Planet, 2) Society, 3) Person, and 4) Philosophy, providing a provocative introduction to central philosophical concepts, one that excavates the seismic intellectual and social changes of the past half-century. The keyword entries will emphasize the shifting and conditional nature of the vocabularies we are generating, eschewing the individualistic “brain in a vat” search for universal, ahistorical truths. They will retain the open-ended quest for meaning specific to the best of the philosophical tradition. 
 
This opening issue on “Planet” offers new possibilities for thinking about and living in the “Anthropocene” – the term that is increasingly used to define a new planetary era in which humans have become a planet-changing force through inflicting geologic intrusions, biological disturbances, or climatic alterations. Looking at planetary questions in terms of ontology, ethics, politics, economics, oppression, activism, and much more, the short and accessible essays in this issue offer powerful snapshots of what it means to live in a time of seismic change.   
 
Animal by Jeff Sebo
Capitalism by Alexander Douglas
Coloniality by Malcom Ferdinand
Connectedness by Michael Marder 
Disobedience by Erin Pineda
Livability by Simona Capisani
Movement by Thomas Nail 
Politics by Pierre Charbonnier
Racism by Romy Opperman
Sensibility by Nancy Tuana 
Toxicity by Simone Muller 
Weather by Travis Holloway 
 
Other highlights in this issue include: Jana Bacevic explores lived experience via Simone de Beauvoir and Sara Ahmed; Donovan Irven enters into the debate over free will from an Existentialist perspective; Tim Elmo Feiten explains Jakob von Uexküll’s concept of Umwelt; Paul C. Taylor discusses the evolution of race-thinking; and Jason Blakely is none too impressed by Steven’s Pinker’s Rationality.  
 
We are grateful to Blane de St. Croix for permission to use his stunning images in this issue.