Life as Art brings the resources of contemporary aesthetics since Nietzsche to bear on the problems of how one integrates the aesthetic emphases of meaning, liberation, and creativity into one’s daily life. By linking together the aesthetic and ethical accounts of critical theorists, phenomenologists, and existentialists into a coherent view on the artful life, Life as Art shows the ways in which much of contemporary Continental theory has been concerned with alternative ways of constructing one’s own life. Seen as a unified phenomenon, life as art signifies an active attempt to create a life which bears the resistance, openness, and creativity found in artworks.

Simpson argues persuasively that the concept of “life as art” offers a “coherent ethical position” responsive to the ethical challenges of the contemporary situation. By presenting an original reading of the history of modern thought and developing a theoretical understanding of its conceptual framework, Simpson demonstrates how life as art strives to affirm the beauty, meaning, and value of life after the “death of God.” And he shows that by “intensifying the relationship between thinking and aesthetics” life as art can function as a form of resistance to the forces of domination and normalization that threaten freedom and solidarity in contemporary societies. This book makes an original contribution to our understanding of the history of modern and post-modern philosophy and it is a valuable addition to the growing field of works that seek to locate the point of intersection between philosophical thinking and life as it is, or could be, lived. -- Edward McGushin, Stonehill College

Zachary Simpson has a B.A. in biology from Colorado College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy of religion from Claremont Graduate University. He also completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University in the Evolution and Theology of Cooperation Project, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. Zachary has worked in an editorial capacity on seven different volumes, including The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science (associate editor; Oxford University Press, 2006) and Adventures in the Spirit: New Forays in Philosophical Theology (Fortress Press, 2008). He has published articles related to phenomenology, deconstruction, and science and religion.