What exactly does Nietzsche's famous attack on traditional morality consist in, and how successful was it? What are the elements of his controversial ethic of 'life-enhancement'? In this wide-ranging and provocative study, Simon May addresses these central questions, and illuminates both the greatness and the limitations of Nietzsche's ethics.
Simon May develops a radically new understanding of love as the emotion we feel towards those we experience as grounding our life-as offering us a promise of home-in a world that we supremely value. He also proposes that the child is supplanting the romantic partner as the supreme object of love.
A powerfully moving family memoir of loss, exile and self-concealment in Nazi Germany. The most familiar fate of Jews living in Hitler's Germany is either emigration or deportation to concentration camps. But there was another, much rarer, side to Jewish life at that time: denial of your origin to the point where you manage to erase almost all consciousness of it. You refuse to believe that you are Jewish. How to Be a Refugee is Simon May's gripping account of how three sisters--his mother and his two aunts--grappled with what they felt to be a lethal heritage. Their very different trajectories included conversion to Catholicism, marriage into the German aristocracy, securing "Aryan" status with high-ranking help from inside Hitler's regime, and engagement to a card-carrying Nazi. Even after his mother fled to London from Nazi Germany and Hitler had been defeated, her instinct for self-concealment didn't abate. Following the early death of his father, also a German-Jewish refugee, May was raised a Catholic and forbidden to identify as Jewish or German or British. In the face of these banned inheritances, May embarks on a quest to uncover the lives of the three sisters as well as the secrets of a grandfather he never knew. His haunting story forcefully illuminates questions of belonging and home--questions that continue to press in on us today.
Cuteness is examined as a pervasive cultural phenomenon, extending beyond mere innocence to reveal its complex and sometimes unsettling nature. Simon May explores various representations of cuteness, from beloved characters like Mickey Mouse to more ambiguous figures, arguing that it embodies a playful yet powerful distortion of traditional qualities. The book addresses cuteness's role as an antidote to societal pressures, reflecting our uncertainties about identity, control, and power dynamics. It offers a nuanced perspective on how this aesthetic influences contemporary life and relationships.
„Iubirea este fascinatia pe care o simtim fata de oameni si lucruri care trezesc in noi speranta ca astfel am gasit un temei durabil pentru viata noastra.“ - Simon May Dragostea: neconditionala, altruista, neschimbata si sincera, este vazuta in lumea occidentala ca si „crezul universal“. Filosoful Simon May reuseste in aceasta carte revolutionara si atent scrisa sa disece ideile aparute de-a lungul vremii despre dragoste si sa arate ca sunt de fapt produsul unei puternici mosteniri culturale. Mergand de-a lungul a peste 2500 de ani de-a lungul istoriei, May arata cum idealul nostru despre dragoste s-a dezvoltat din originile sale ebraice si grecesti, ulterior alaturi de valorile crestine, pana in urma cu doua secole sintagma „Dumnezeu este dragoste“ s-a transformat in „Dragostea este Dumnezeu“.