The Philosophy of Improvisation

Improvisation Is Usually Either Lionized As An Ecstatic Experience Of Being In The Moment Or Disparaged As The Thoughtless Recycling Of Cliches. Eschewing Both Of These Orthodoxies, The Philosophy Of Improvisation Ranges Across The Arts - From Music To Theater, Dance To Comedy - And Considers The Improvised Dimension Of Philosophy Itself In Order To Elaborate An Innovative Concept Of Improvisation. Gary Peters Turns To Many Of The Major Thinkers Within Continental Philosophy - Including Heidegger, Nietzsche, Adorno, Kant, Benjamin, And Deleuze - Offering Readings Of Their Reflections On Improvisation And Exploring Improvisational Elements Within Their Thinking.--jacket. Introduction : The Sense Of A Beginning -- Scrap Yard Challenge : Junkyard Wars -- Freedom, Origination, And Irony -- Mimesis And Cruelty -- Improvisation, Origination, And Re-novation -- Conclusion : Improvisation, Thinking, Writing. Gary Peters. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [181]-186) And Index.