تورستن بوتز- بورنشتاين ▪トルステン ボッツ-ボーンシュタイン ▪ 德思腾 博茨-博恩施坦
Béla Tarr
「思惟」の目的は「真理の究明」にあり. 西田幾多郎
Thorsten Botz-Bornstein is a philosopher working on continental philosophy, aesthetics, intercultural philosophy, and comparative philosophy. He holds a Maîtrise from the Sorbonne, a Ph.D. from Oxford University (1993) and a habilitation from the EHESS in Paris (2000). He is Professor of Philosophy at the Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) in Kuwait, the director of the Global Studies Center (GSC), and the editor of the GSC Newsletter. He is also Editor-in-Chief and founder of the Brill book series “Philosophy of Film” and of the Online Dictionary of Intercultural Philosophy (ODIP). He is also on the editorial board of the Brill Studies in Intercultural Philosophy series. BOTZWANA is the official website of Thorsten Botz-Bornstein.
Call for contributions: The Ethics and Aesthetics of the Toxic
PUBLICATIONS
I. Authored books:
Forthcoming with Springer on Dec. 1, 2025:
How to Deal with Fake Necessities
What do baseless conspiracy theories, algorithms, and meritocracies have in common? All three avoid contingency and frantically look for necessities. An analysis of the conspiratorial mind.
More
"This fascinating book offers a philosophical perspective on the nature, origins and functions of conspiratorial thinking, a growing problem in our increasingly fragmented and impersonal mass societies." -- Joseph Paul Forgas, Scientia Professor, UNSW, Sydney.
SUNY Press 2023 ("Translating China" Series), 226 p.
"Intriguing, thought-provoking, and engaging, this book conducts a philosophical analysis of a sensitive political issue. It not only promotes a textual study of Daoist philosophy, but, more importantly, shows how Daoist philosophy can be relevant to understanding the vast ‘language correction project’ of the present moment.”
— Robin R. Wang, author of Yinyang: The Way of Heaven and Earth in Chinese Thought and Culture
THE "ALTERLIBERALISM" TRILOGY:
Foreword by Olivier Roy. Bloomsbury July 2019, xiii + 234 pp.
"This bold and laudably readable defense of the humanities links both the market worship of the neoliberal right and the empty relativism of the left to the abandonment of culture in kitsch. Even more, it offers clever and detailed analyses of a full range of contemporary sensibilities.” Gary Cross, author of The Cute and the Cool
“The book is both an ardent and well–argued defense for the leading role of the humanities in contemporary world and academia—the only reliable way to reculturation.” Mikhail Epstein
"Botz-Bornstein shows that everything is kitsch, from art to ethics or knowledge because everything is the hazardous recomposition of signifiers that refer only to themselves and to the gaze of the spectator who looks for what he has already found: a narcissistic evidence. " Olivier Roy
Rowman & Littlefield, 2019, xv + 201 pp.
“Joyfully tearing down the compartment walls that conventionally separate fascist studies from research into jihadism and gleefully crossing the boundaries between aesthetics and politics, Thorsten Botz-Bornstein challenges—or, rather, provokes—the reader to reconfigure the space that fascist and terrorist destructiveness occupy in the contemporary media, party-political, and historical imaginations." Roger Griffin, Oxford Brookes University
Brill 2020 (VIBS 353), 201 pp.
What role can philosophy play in a world dominated by neoliberalism and globalization? Must it join universalist ideologies as it did in past centuries? Or might it turn to ethnophilosophy and postmodern fragmentation? Micro and Macro Philosophy argues that universalist cosmopolitanism and egocentric culturalism are not the only alternatives. Western philosophy has created a false dichotomy. A better solution can be found in an organic philosophy that functions through micro–macro interactions. According to biologists, the twentieth century was the century of the gene, while the twenty-first century is destined to be the century of the organic. Micro and Macro Philosophy attempts to establish such a view in philosophy:
Film, Architecture, and the work of Béla Tarr
Berghahn, 2017, 221 pp.
“A magisterial, transdisciplinary contribution and brilliant comparative analysis of a major contemporary filmmaker” Catherine Portuges, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"... has the potential to create a new platform." Studies in Eastern European Cinema
"An impressive multidisciplinary examination of the concept of organicism ." Invisible Culture
"Organic Cinema is blowing new life in the philosophical considerations of contemplation and nature that were once thought to be outdated." Aesthetic Investigations
"A non-standard piece on film with a new suggestions and new readings" The Art(s) of Slow Cinema
Transcultural Architecture:
The Limits and Opportunities of Critical Regionalism
Ashgate/Routledge 2015, xviii, 202 pp.
More about the book
Read review in Fusion Journal
Films and Dreams
Tarkovsky, Bergman, Sokurov, Kubrik and Wong Kar-Wai
Lexington 2007, xi + 169 pp.
"Films and Dreams contains a great deal of vital argument which ... should provide a great deal of impetus for much needed discussion" Screening the Past
"Botz-Bornstein's cosmopolitanism is not just a matter of research agenda and academic affiliations, but it is what might be called a 'philosophical cosmopolitanism'... Parallax Read review
"A candidate for being your bedside book" Kultur Mafia Video in Spanish
More about the book Download Chapter 1
Veils, Nudity, and Tattoos
The New Feminine Aesthetics
"A unique and seminal work of extraordinary scholarship. ... Very highly recommended for both community and academic library Feminist Studies and Islamic Culture collections." Midwest Book Review
"...an entertaining, informative, unusual, current and well-written book." The Journal of Gender Studies. Read Review
Read review in Corpus Mundi (the book actually has 214 pages though the reviewer says it has only 92)
The Cool-Kawaii
Afro-Japanese Aesthetics and New World Modernity
Lexington 2011, xxii + 184 pp.
"How Afro-Japanese Aesthetics conquers the world..."
"By investigating the rich manifestations of two globalizing aesthetics—cuteness and coolness—Thorsten Botz-Bornstein offers a subtle interpretation that explores the nexus of consumerism, virtual reality, and ethics." — Brian J. McVeigh, University of Arizona.
Vasily Sesemann: Experience, Formalism
and the Question of Being
Author: Thorsten Botz-Bornstein
Rodopi 2006, 144 pp.
"A competent and enlightening description of the complicated philosophical milieu which provided the background to Sesemann's philosophical endeavours. ... Botz-Bornstein's study disentangles the strands with both historical competence and sensitivity." Lithuanian Papers
Aesthetics and Politics of Space in Russia and Japan:
A Comparative Philosophical Study
Lexington 2009, 169 pp.
"An intellectual tour-de-force..." — Michael F. Marra, University of California-Los Angeles.
More about the book
"This erudite, expansive book undertakes a study of convergences between the aesthetic manifestations and political implications of Russian and Japanese philosophies of space." Slavic and East European Journal Read review
Place and Dream:
Japan and the Virtual
Rodopi 2004
E-book from Fachinformationsdienst (FID) and Specialised Information Service (SIS)
II. Edited Volumes:
Parasite: A Philosophical Exploration
(On the film Parasite by Bong Joon-Ho)
Brill 2022
Coedited with Giannis Stamatellos
Go to the Brill "Philosophy of Film" Series
봉준호
기생충
Plotinus and the Moving Image:
Co-edited with Giannis Stamatellos. Brill 2017.
"A truly Plotinian attempt to philosophize about cinema." The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition
Preface by Nathan Andersen
The Philosophy of Viagra
Bioethical Responses to the Viagrification of the Modern World
Editor, Rodopi 2011
"It helped me understand how humanities professors have an important place in sexuality studies..." Leonore Tiefer, Clinical Psychologist and Activist. Read review
"Believe it or not, a burgeoning world of Viagra scholarship awaits us out there." The Chronicle of Higher Education Read review
Special Journal Issues:
In preparation:
The Aesthetics and Ethics
of the Toxic
Culture and Dialogue (Brill)
The Polish Journal of Aesthetics
Special issue on a not very new phenomenon. Issue 63: 4, 2022.
Edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein and Adrian Mróz
Daruma
Revue international d'etudes japonaises
No 14, 2007-2008
Special issue on Japanese architecture (in French)
Edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein
Download PDF
III. Fiction:
2019. 100 pages. ISBN: 9781704928814. $8 on Amazon.
We are in the year 2059. Boubyan Island, which is situated three kilometers off the north shore of Kuwait, is inhabited by five million Chinese. After the slow decline of oil prices, the Kuwaiti and Chinese governments signed contracts assigning the urban development as well as the cyber development of this small oil nation to Chinese companies. China invested massively in real estate but also sold large software packages to all sectors of the Kuwaiti economy. Provocative, funny. A dystopian satire. More
2021. 133 pages. ISBN-13 : 979-8508445263. $9 on Amazon
Basil Hallward, a computer game designer, has incorporated Dorian Gray into a video game playing his own life. Neural implants permit an interconnectivity that confuse dream and reality. Sybil Vane, though dead in reality, continues to live in the game. In Dubai in 2121, all people are interconnected. Dorian assumes his new life as a stockbroker and creates virtual financial empires because his clients’ trust in his innocent face is unlimited. The money is not real, but what is real anyway? Everything is a matter of perception. Can the game go on forever? More
Dorian Gray transferred to Dubai of 2121
See also:
CULTURAL CRITICISM
1. ' Woke against Woke?' in Tracking Global Wokeism (ed. Botz-Bornstein, Brill 2025), 1–16. Italian version: 'Woke contro Woke?' in Rivista italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio 18, 1/2024, 64–71.
2. ‘In Praise of Industry: On David Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs’ in Philosophy Now 137, 2020.
3. ‘Kuwait: Japanophilia and Beyond: How far does International Culture Penetrate?' in S. Holland and K. Spracklen (eds.), Alternativity and Marginalisation: Essays on Subcultures, Bodies and Spaces. Bingley: Emerald, 2018. 43–60. Preview.
4. ‘Japanese/Korean Popular Culture in Kuwait and Singapore: Resistance and Conservatism’ in the East Asian Journal of Popular Culture 9:1, Jan. 2023, 45–63.
5. ‘A Hermeneutic Answer to the Crisis of the Universities: Reflections on Bureaucracy, Business Culture and the Global University’ in K. Gray, S. Keck and H. Bachir (eds.), Eastward Bound: The Politics, Economics and Pedagogy of Western Higher Education in Asia and the Middle East (Lanham: Lexington, 2016), 243–263.
6. 'Science, Culture, and the University' in T. Botz-Bornstein (ed.), The Crisis of the Human Sciences: False Objectivity and the Decline of Creativity (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2012), 3–10.
7. 'America against China: Civilization without Culture against Culture without Civilization?' in Culture and Dialogue 2, Sept. 2011, 1–30. Short version: 'America and China as Hyperreal: Jean Baudrillard and Bo Yang' in Baudrillard Now 2 Nov. 2020.
ON INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
8. 'What is the Difference between Culture and Civilization? Two Hundred Fifty Years of Confusion' in Comparative Civilizations Review 66, Spring 2012, pp. 10–28.
9. 'The Conscious and the Unconscious in History: Lévi-Strauss, Collingwood, Bally, Barthes' in Journal of the Philosophy of History 6, 2012, pp. 151–172.
ON VIRTUAL REALITY
10. 'What Would Nietzsche Have Said About Virtual Reality? Dionysus and Cyberpunk' in Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 25:1, Feb 2011, pp. 99–109.
11. 'All-Unity Seen Through Perspective or the Narrative of Virtual Cosmology' [on Berdiaev, Gebser and Perspectivism] in Seeking Wisdom 2, 2005 (online).
12. 'From Civilization to Culture: About the Dreamlike Character of Global Civilization' in Sura P. Rath (ed.): Dialogics of Cultural Encounters: New Conversation Among Nations and Nationalities (Delhi: Pencraft International, 2005).
13. 'Virtual Reality and Dream: Towards the Autistic Condition?' in Philosophy in the Contemporary World 11:2, 2004, 43–49.
14. 'The Clony-Virtual Dreamsphere' in CTheory: An International Journal of Theory, Technology and Culture, Nov. 2003 (online).
ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPACE
15. ‘From Expansion to Network: Some Reflections on a New Geography in Eastern Europe’ in Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal 105: 3, 2023, 105: 3, 235–258.
16. 'A Tale of Two Cities: Hong Kong and Dubai, Celebration of Disappearance and the Pretension of Becoming' in Transcience: A Journal of Global Studies 3: 2, 2012. See abstract.
17. 'European Transfigurations: Eurafrica and Eurasia. Coudenhove-Kalergi and N.S. Trubetzkoy re-visited' in The European Legacy 12:5, 2007.
18. 'Philosophy as Space: Goethe’s Weltliteratur and a Potential "Worldphilosophy"' in T.B.B. (ed.), Re-ethnicizing the Minds? Tendencies of Cultural Revival in Contemporary Philosophy (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006).
19. 'Europe: Space, Spirit, Style' in The European Legacy 8: 2, 2003, 179–187.
20. 'Khora or Idyll: The Space of the Dream' in The Philosophical Forum 33:2 Summer 2002.
ON RELIGION
21. ‘How Would You Dress in Utopia? Raëlism and the Aesthetics of Genes. A Philosophical Analysis’ in Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review (ASRR) 8: 1, 2017, 101–125.
22. ‘Believers and Secularists: “Postmodernism,” Relativism, and Fake Reasoning’ in Cultura: International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology 11: 2, 2014, 183–198.
23. 'Kawaii and Kenosis: A Reading of Kawaii through Vattimo's Weak Thought and Feminist Theology' in the East Asian Journal of Popular Culture 2:1 (special Issue on "Cute Studies" ed. by Joshua. P. Dale) 2016, 111–124.
24. 'Revelation and Seduction: Baudrillard, Tillich, and Muslim Punk' in the International Journal of Baudrillard Studies 11:1, Jan 2014.
25. 'Thoughts on Religion, Culture and Civilization: Can Religion be "Interesting"?' in Comparative Civilizations Review 71, Fall 2014.
ON WOMEN / FEMINISM
26.'Veils and Sunglasses' in the Journal of Aesthetics and Culture 5, 2013.
27. 'From the Stigmatized Tattoo to the Graffitied Body: Femininity in the Tattoo Renaissance' in Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography 2012, pp. 1-17.
28. 'Barbie and the Power of Negative Thinking: Of Barbies, Eve-Barbies, and I-Barbies' in Kritikos: Journal of Postmodern Cultural Sound, Text and Image 9, 2012.
29. 'Can the Veil be Cool?' in the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 25:2, 2013, pp. 249-263.
30. 'Baudrillard on Cuteness' in International Journal of Baudrillard Studies 7:1, 2010.
ON FILM
31. ‘Aesthetics and Film’ forthcoming in Zoltán Somhegyi and Max Ryynänen (eds.), Aesthetics as a Companion Discipline Vol. 2 (Lexington/Bloomsbury, 2025).
32. ‘Parasitism beyond Ethics’ in T. Botz-Bornstein and G. Stamatellos (eds.), Parasite: A Philosophical Exploration (Leiden: Brill, 2022), pp. 7–17.
33. 'Film Style and Film Dream'. Conference presentation for NECS (European Network for Cinema and Media Studies) 2021.
34. ‘Blade Runner 2049: Reproduction, the Human, and the Organic’ in Film and Philosophy 25, 2021, 69–84.
35. ‘“Cut Away Excess and Straighten the Crooked:” The Simplicity of Contemplative Cinema in the Light of Plotinus’ Philosophy’ in T. Botz-Bornstein & Stamatellos (eds.), Plotinus and the Moving Image: Neoplatonism and Film Studies (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 8–27.
36. 'Introduction' (with Giannis Stamatellos) to Plotinus and the Moving Image: Neoplatonism and Film Studies (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 1–7.
37. 'Metonymy, Mneme and Anamnesis in Wong Kar-wai' in R. Nochimson (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Wong Kar-wai (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), 397– 417. Watch video
38. '"Film Thinks!" What about Dreams? A Reading of Daniel Frampton’s Filmosophy’ in Film and Philosophy 17, 2012, 192–203.
39. 'The Movie as a Thinking Machine: Second Life and Third World' in Inception and Philosophy: Ideas to Die For (Chicago: Open Court, 2011), ed. T. Botz-Bornstein, 203–216.
40. 'Philosophy of Film (Continental)'. Encyclopaedia entry, The Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, May 2011 (30 pages). In Turkish
41. 'Anti-Freudianism Korean Style: Kim Kiduk's Film "Dream"' in the Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 2:1, 2010, 52–61.
42. 'Identity and Otherness in the Films of Kim Kiduk' in Asian Cinema 20:2, 2009 (online), 83–97.
43. 'Would You Accept a Politics of "Multi-Realism?" Comparing The Matrix with Tarkovsky’s Stalker and Solaris' in Cinemascope 10, special issue on “Falsehood and Cinema” Jan.-June 2008 (archived here).
44. '"My" vs. "Architect."' On My Architect: A Son's Journey by Nathaniel Kahn (USA 2003) Film Review in Kritikos 3, Feb. 2006.
45. 'Doors and Dreams.' On My Blueberry Dreams Dreams by Wong Kar-wai (USA 2007) Film Review on the Rowman and Littlefield website.
46. 'Wong Kar-Wai and the Culture of the Kawaii' in SubStance 116, 37:2, 2008, 94–109.
47. 'From “Ethno-Dream” to Hollywood: Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle, Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and the Problem of “Deterritorialisation”' in Consciousness, Literature and the Arts 8:2, August 2007 (online).
48. 'Tarkovsky and Benjamin: Image, Allegory, and Einfühlung' in Film and Philosophy 11, 2006, 15–28.
49. 'Ingmar Bergman and Dream after Freud' in Journal of Symbolism 8, 2006, 29–50.
50. 'Aesthetics and Mysticism: Plotinus, Tarkovsky, and the Question of "Grace"' in Transcendent Philosophy 5:4, Dec. 2004, 219–236. French version: 'Esthetique et mysticisme'.
51. 'Semiotics of Strangeness and Andrei Tarkovsky's "Dream"' in Applied Semiotics 15, article 5, May 2005.
52. 'Realism, Dream, and "Strangeness" in Andrei Tarkovsky' in Film-Philosophy 8: 38, Nov. 2004.
53. 'On the Blurring of Lines: Some Thoughts on Alexander Sokurov' in Cinetext Sept. 2002.
54. 'The Overcoming of Paradigms: From Formalist Film Theory to Andrei Tarkovskij' in L. Moreva & I. Yevlampiev (eds.): Paradigms of Philosophizing (St. Petersburg: Eidos, 1995), 266-272.
55. 'Obituary of Ingmar Bergman' on the Rowman and Littlefield blog. August 2007.
On film see also book reviews [153] [153] [160] [162] [173]
ON ARCHITECTURE
See project on Japanese Brutalism
56. ‘Reima Pietilä Revisited’ in R. Fabbri, R. Camacho, S. Saragoça (eds.), Essays, Arguments. Interviews on Modern Architecture in Kuwait (Salenstein: Niggli, 2017), 37–44.
57. 'H-Sang Seung: Design is not Design' [on the Korean architect] in Journal of Aesthetic Education 48: 1, 2014, 109–123.
58. 'Hyperreal Monuments of the Mind: Traditional Chinese Architecture and Disneyland' in Traditional Dwelling and Settlements Review (TDSR) 22: 3 Spring 2012, 7–17.
59. 'WANG Shu and the Possibilities of Critical Regionalism in Chinese Architecture' in The Nordic Journal of Architectural Research, 1, 2009, 4–17. [Note: On Feb. 27, 2012 Wang Shu receives the Pritzker Prize. This is the arguably first academic article on Wang Shu.] Link to NJAR
60. 'Cardboard Houses with Wings: The Architecture of Samuel Mockbee' in The Journal of Aesthetic Education 44:3, 2010, 16–22.
61. 'Wittgenstein’s Stonborough House and the Architecture of Tadao Ando.' French version published in Daruma 14, Spring 2007. Engl. version published on the author’s website.
62. 'When the Monumental Becomes Decorative: Thoughts on Contemporary Chinese Architecture' published on the author’s website 2007.
63. '"Magic Internationalism" or the Paradox of Globalization: Louis Kahn’s National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh' in PTAH: Journal of the Alvar Aalto Academy 1: 5, 2005.
64. 'Between "Verfremdung" and "Entfremdung": The Architecture of Alvar Aalto and Reima Pietilä' in DATUTOP Journal of Architectural Theory 21: 2001.
65. 'Play, Dream, and the Search for the “Real” Form of Dwelling: From Aalto to Ando' in The Nordic Journal of Architectural Research 2, 2003: 1-5 (online).
66. 'Empathy, Alienation, Style, Non-Style: The Architecture of Reima Pietilä' in Le Carré bleu 1998: 1.
ON JAPANESE PHILOSOPHY / THE KYOTO SCHOOL
67. ‘Nishida Kitarō and Muhammad ‘Abduh on God and Reason: Towards a Theology of Place’ in Asian Philosophy 32: 1, 2022. Preview Listen to Podcast
68. ‘Kenosis, Dynamic Śūnyatā and Weak Thought: Abe Masao and Gianni Vattimo’ in Asian Philosophy 25.4, 2015, 358–383.
69. ‘Cool-Kawaii Aesthetics and New World Modernity’ in A. Minh Nguyen (ed.), New Essays in Japanese Aesthetics: Philosophy, Politics, Culture, Literature, and the Arts (Lanham: Lexington, 2015), 207-220.
70. 'Wabi and Kitsch: Two Japanese Paradigms' in Æ: Canadian Aesthetics Journal 15, 2008.
71. 'Iki, Style, Trace: Shuzo Kuki and the Spirit of Hermeneutics' in Philosophy East and West Vol. 47, Nr. 4, October 1997, p. 554-580.
72. 'Dreams in Buddhism and Western Aesthetics: Some Thoughts on Play, Style, and Space' in Asian Philosophy 17:1, 2007.
73. 'Nishida and Wittgenstein: From “Pure Experience” to Lebensform or New Perspectives for a Philosophy of Intercultural Communication' in Asian Philosophy 13:1, 2003, pp. 53-70.
74. 'Contingency and the “Time of the Dream:” Kuki Shuzo and French Prewar Philosophy' in Philosophy East and West 50:4, Oct. 2000.
ON RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHY
75. 'Vassilij Sesemann: Formalism, Neo-Kantianism, and the Question of Being' in Slavic and East European Journal 46:4, 2002, p. 511-549.
76. 'A New Approach to the Psychic Subject: Vassilij Sesemann, Bakhtin, Lacan' in Essays in Poetics: Journal of the Neo-Formalist Circle Oct. 2000, pp. 11-40. Finnish version in Synteesi 1998: 2.
77. 'A Mediator Between Russia and the West: V. Sesemann as a Philosopher and Semiotician' in E. Tarasti (ed.): The Finnish School of Semiotics (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999)
78. 'Empathy vs. Abstraction: 20th Century Interactions of German and Russian Aesthetics or Attempts to Retrieve the World' in CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 9:2, June 2007 (online).
79. 'The Structuralist as a Doctor: Thoughts on Lotman, Bakhtin and Gadamer' in Essays in Poetics: Journal of the Neo-Formalist Circle 21, 1996, p. 103-134.
ON JAPANESE AND RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHY
80. 'Philosophical Conceptions of Cultural Space in Russia and Japan: Comparing Nishida Kitaro and Semën Frank' in Society and Space 4, 2008, 842–859. Russian summary
81. 'Russian and Japanese Philosophies: A Comparative Study' in Philosophical Frontiers: A Journal of Emerging Thought 3:1, 2008, 65-85.
82. 'Russia, Japan, China, and the Resistance to Modernity: Eurasianism and Pan-Asianism Revisited' in The International Journal of the Asian Philosophical Association (IJAPA) 1:3, 2008.
83. 'From Community to Time-Space-Development: Trubetzkoy, Nishida, Watsuji' in Asian Philosophy 17:3, 2007.
84. 'Virtual Reality and Virtual Irreality: On Noh-Plays and Icons' in Theandros: The Online Journal of Orthodox Christian Theology and Philosophy 2:2, 2004 (short version online). Long version in TBB: Aesthetics and Politics of Space in Russia and Japan).
85. 'The I and the Thou: A Dialogue between Nishida Kitaro and Mikhail Bakhtin' in Japan Review 16, 2004, pp. 251-275.
ON CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
86. 'Genes, Memes, and the Chinese Concept of Wen (文): Towards a Nature/Culture Model of Genetics' in Philosophy East and West 60:2 April 2010.
87. 'Confucianism, Puritanism, and the Transcendental: China and America' in ProtoSociology 28, 2011. [Special issue: China’s Modernization 1]
ON AFRICAN AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
88. 'Coolness between Virtue Ethics and Aesthetics' (Chapter 5 of The Cool Kawaii)
ON THE DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY / METAPHILOSOPHY
89. ‘A Corpus-Based Computational Analysis of Philosophical Texts: Comparing Analytic and Continental Philosophy’ (with Mohamed M. Mostafa) in the International Journal of Social and Humanistic Computing (IJSHC) 2: 3–4, 2017, 230–246.
90. 'The Heated French Debate on Comparative Philosophy Continues: Philosophy vs. Philology' [on the Jullien-Billeter debate] in Philosophy East & West 64:1, Jan. 2014, 218-28. See discussion here: Comment by Ralph Weber.
91. 'Reply by Botz-B. to Weber [on the Jullien-Billeter debate] in Philosophy East & West 64:1, 2014, 237
92. 'Is Critical Regionalist Philosophy Possible? Some Meta-Philosophical Considerations' in Comparative and Continental Philosophy 2:1, April 2010.
93. 'Ethnophilosophy, Comparative Philosophy, Pragmatism: Towards a Philosophy of Ethnoscapes' in Philosophy East and West 56:1, Jan. 2006. Reprinted in T.B.B. (ed.), Re-ethnicizing the Minds? Tendencies of Cultural Revival in Contemporary Philosophy (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006).
See also: 'An Interview with Thorsten Botz-Bornstein: Philosophy and Culture' in Transcultural Studies: A Series in Interdisciplinary Research 10:1, 2014.
ON BIOETHICS
94. 'America and Viagra: How the White Negro Became a Little Whiter' in T. Botz-Bornstein (ed.) The Philosophy of Viagra (New York, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011).
95. 'Genes and Pixels: Bio-Genetics' Virtual Aesthetics' in Angelaki 11: 2, 2006.
96. 'Red Pill of Blue Pill? Viagra and the Virtual' in T. Botz-Bornstein (ed.) The Philosophy of Viagra: Bioethical Responses to the Viagrification of the Modern World (New York, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011).
97. 'Critical Posthumanism' in Pensamiento y Cultura 15: 1, 2012.
ON HERMENEUTICS / INTERPRETATION THEORY
98. 'Hermeneutics of Play – Hermeneutics of Place: On Play, Style, and Dream’ in B. Janz (ed.) Hermeneutics, Space, and Place (Springer Publishers, 2016).
99. '"Art", Habitus, and Style in Herder, Humboldt, Hamann, and Vossler: Hermeneutics and Linguistics' in Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations 13, 2014, 121-139.
100. 'Speech, Writing, and Play in Gadamer and Derrida' in Cosmos and History: The Journal of Social and Natural Philosophy 9:1, July 2013, 1-16.
101. 'Hermeneutics of Play: The Absent Structure' in Tropos: Journal of Hermeneutics and Philosophical Criticism 5: 1, 2012, 139-56.
ON AESTHETICS / STYLISTICS
102. NEW: ‘Aesthetics and Film’ forthcoming in Zoltán Somhegyi and Max Ryynänen (eds.), Aesthetics as a Companion Discipline Vol. 2 (Lexington/Bloomsbury, 2026).
103. ‘The Aesthetics of Contingency’ in Studi di estetica (Special Issue "Contingency in Global Aesthetic" 52, 4: 3, 2024, 23–43.
104. ‘Shame and Guilt: Ethics and Aesthetics’ (short version, 3000 words) in Proceedings of the European Society of Aesthetics 15, 2023, 84–93.
105. NEW: ‘Guilt is Ethical, Shame is Aesthetic’ in Critical Horizons in 2025 (long version, 12,300 words).
106. 'Do Computers Ruminate? On the Impossibility of “Thinking-Feeling” in AI Art’ in The Polish Journal of Aesthetics 71: 4, 2023, 1-16, Special Issue on AI Art. Click here for list of artists Watch video on Digital Art
107. ‘Morrissey and Daoism: The Art of Easy Wandering, Wuwei, and the Aesthetics of Awkwardness’ in the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 36: 3, Fall 2024, 119-133. Preview
108. ‘ISIS and Futurist Terrorism versus Cyberpunk’ in Contemporary Aesthetics 7, Special Volume on “Aesthetics and Terrorism” ed. by E. Aretoulakis, 2019.
109. ‘The “Futurist” Aesthetics of ISIS' in The Journal of Aesthetics and Culture 9:1, 2017, 1-13.
110. 'Can Memes Play Games? Memetics and the Problem of Space' in T. Botz-Bornstein (ed.): Culture, Nature, Memes: Dynamic Cognitive Theories (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2008)
111. 'The Dream of Language: Wittgenstein's Concept of Dream in the Context of "Style" and "Lebensform"' in The Philosophical Forum 34:1, 2003, 73-90.
112. 'Style and Anti-Style: A Modern Adventure' in International Yearbook of Aesthetics Vol. 9 (International Association for Aesthetics, 2006).
113. '"Ver-fremdung" against "Ent-fremdung": Stylistics against Post-Modernism?' in E. Oesch, T. Vadén & I. Koskinen (eds.) Methods of Reading (Tampere University Press, 1995), 223-236.
114. 'Dream, Style and Stylization: Reflections on Spinoza' in Copula 21, 2004.
See also: "Rhetoric and Anti-Rhetoric in Vico and Croce: From Rhetoric to Stylistics." Chapter from D.Phil Thesis, Oxford University, 1993.
ON KITSCH / BULLSHIT
115. 'The Aesthetic Experiences of Kitsch and Bullshit’ in Literature and Aesthetics 26, 2016, 1-22.
116. 'Kitsch and Bullshit' in Philosophy and Literature 39:2, October 2015, 305-321. Watch video on kitsch
117. 'Bullshit Art and NFTs' in The Polish Journal of Aesthetics Special issue on "Bullshit Art." 63: 4, 2022.
See also: [2] ‘In Praise of Industry: On David Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs’ (in Philosophy Now 137, 2020).
See also: [70'] 'Wabi and Kitsch: Two Japanese Paradigms' in Æ: Canadian Aesthetics Journal 15, 2008.
ON DANDYISM
118. 'Rulefollowing in Dandyism: Style as an Overcoming of Rule and Structure' in The Modern Language Review, 90, April 1995, p. 285-295.
119. 'If Barbey d’Aurevilly had known about Virtual Reality: Dandyism Revisited' in International Journal of Baudrillard Studies 6:1, 2009.
120. 'Comment of Christopher Fear's 'Perinde ac cadaver! The Philosophy of Dandyism' "Letter" published on Academia.edu in 2021.
[On dandyism see also above Daoism, Dandyism, and Political Correctness (book) and the novella Cyber Dorian]
ON ART / PAINTING Watch video on Digital Art
121. 'The Problem of the Double Ego in Paul Delvaux and Husserl' in Phenomenological Inquiry 33, 2009.
122. 'Frozen Dreams between East and West: Kitsch and Anti-Kitsch in Jeff Koons and Mariko Mori' in Art in Society 9, 2010.
123. 'The Transcendental Blandness of YAN Pei-Ming’s International Landscapes' in Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 8:4 July 2009. Download as pdf - Available in French
124. 'New Portraits of the Ugly Chinaman: The Art of LIU Xiaodong' in Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 7:2 March 2008.
125. 'Paul Delvaux: Dreams, Landscapes and "Double Egos".' Catalog Text for the exposition 'Paul Delvaux' at the Museum of Foreign Art, Helsinki Oct. 2000 (republished in French on this site).
V. Publications in French
126. 'Masques et niqabs' Cefas/CNRS blog 12 oct 2020.
127. 'Le harcèlement sexuel, conséquence d’une « mauvaise culture » ou de la « nature dangereuse » de l’homme' in The Conversation Feb. 22, 2018.
128. ‘Transfigurations Européennes: Eurafrique et Eurasie. Coudenhove-Kalergi et N.S. Trubetzkoy Revisités’ in Street Voice / Voces de la calle / Voix dans les rues, 6, 2015.
129. 'Recension de Claude-Raphaël Samama : L'Enchantement d'Uriel' in Europe no. 1014, Oct. 2013.
130. 'H–Sang Seung : Le design est non-design' dans Figures de l’art: Revue d’études estétiques 25, Nov. 2013 ("Philosophie du Design"), 161-176.
131. 'L'insipidité transcendentale des paysages internationaux de Yan Pei-Ming' published on the author's website.
132. 'New World Modernity Afro-Japonaise: De Cornel West à Kenzaburo Ôe' dans L’Art du Comprendre (Paris: Vrin) 19, 2010.
133. 'Shuzo Kuki et la "philosophie de la contingence" française. Une Communication unique entre l'Orient et l'Occident' in Revue Philosophique de Louvain fév. 1999.
134. 'Chôra: L'Espace du rêve et la question de l'authenticité' in A. Berque (ed.) Logique du lieu et dépassement de la modernité (Bruxelles: Ousia, 1999).
135. 'Le "je" et le "tu": un dialogue entre Nishida Kitaro et Mikhail Bakhtine in Jacynthe Tremblay (ed.) Enjeux de la philosophie japonaise du XXe siècle (Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 2007).
136. 'De Aalto à Ando ou la recherche de la "vraie" forme d'habitation' in L'Architecture Japonaise et l'Occident: De la communication interculturelle en architecture. Special issue of Daruma (Toulouse: 2006).
137. 'La Maison Stonborough de Wittgenstein et l'architecture de Tadao Ando: Deux approches exceptionelles vers la modernité' in L'Architecture Japonaise et l'Occident: De la communication interculturelle en architecture (Toulouse: Daruma, 2007).
138. 'Réalité virtuelle et rêve. Vers la condition autiste?' in L'Aleph 12, déc. 2003. Télécharger pdf.
139. 'De la pâte des rêves et du cinéma de la cruauté: Quelques pensées sur Andrei Tarkovski' dans Stalker.
See also: 'Ingmar Bergman: Rêve et narration.'
See also: Tarkovski: 'De l’Ostranenie à la logique du rêve' (version française du premier chapitre du livre Films and Dreams)
140. 'Interprétation nishidien d'une remarque de Sartre sur le style' in M. Sicard + L. Guillain (eds): Sartre et le Zen (Paris: M-Editer, 2005).
141. 'L'expérience pure et la conscience du jeu: Nishida Kitaro et William James' in L'Art du Comprendre (Paris) 16, 2007.
142. 'L’étrangeté contre l’exotisme. De la communication interculturelle en architecture.' Introduction à Daruma 14, 2007.
143. 'Résistants et esclaves: Le Japon, la Chine et le Pan-Asiatisme' (texte pour l'Atelier Asie, Paris 2007). Télécharger pdf.
144. 'Pan-asianisme et eurasianisme : développements philosophiques de l’espace culturel en Russie et au Japon 1900-1945' Paru dans Annuaire de l’EHESS, 2006.
145. 'Les rêves dans le Bouddhisme et dans l’esthétique occidentale: Questions de style, de jeu et d’espace' in Editions Léo Scheer m@nuscrits. Telecharger pdf
See also: "Historicisme, antihistoricisme, style." Chapitre dans l'Habilitation (EHESS), 2000. De même que "Logique tu rêve," "Verfremdung contre Entfremdung," et "Le Geist absolu et le style absolu."
VI. Book Reviews
146. NEW: ‘Max Ryynänen and Paco Barragán, The Changing Meaning of Kitsch: From Rejection to Acceptance’ in Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 83:1, 2025.
147. ‘Mark Sedgwick: Traditionalism: The Radical Project for Restoring Sacred Order’ in Teaching Philosophy 47: 2, 2024, 282–286.
148. 'John Arthos: Hermeneutics after Ricoeur', 2020.
149. ‘Bérénice Levet, Libérons-nous du féminisme’ [Let’s liberate ourselves from feminism/Let’s get rid of feminism] in Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography 27: 1, 24.12.2019.
150. 'David Wang, A Chinese Philosophy of Architecture: Past, Present, Future' in Architecture Philosophy 4: 1, 2019, 103-108.
151. 'The New French Right. Alexandre Devecchio's Les nouveaux enfants du siècle and Bérénice Levet's Crepuscules des idoles progressistes' in The Berlin Review of Books Dec. 31 2017.
152. ‘László Krasznahorkai: Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens’ in the Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe 25: 2 in 2017.
153. ‘The Dream of Algorithms: Our Calculated Existences.’ Review of Dominique Cardon's A quoi rêvent les algorithmes: Nos vies à l’heure des big data in The Berlin Review of Books, January 29, 2016.
154. ‘Ira Jaffe’s Slow Movies: Countering the Cinema of Action’’ in Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media 9, 2015.
155. ‘Close-up on Bergman: Review of John Orr, The Demons of Modernity: Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema’ in Film-Philosophy 19, 2015.
156. 'Le Spirituel et la psychanalyse' by Claude-Raphaël Samama in L'art du comprendre 24, 2015 (in French).
157. 'The Culture of the "As If".' Double Review of: Wolfgang Kraushaar: The Revolt of the Educated: From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Movement (Der Aufruhr der Ausgebildeten: Vom Arabischen Fühling zur Occupy Bewegung); Roland Gori: The Impostor Factory (La Fabrique des Imposteurs)’ in The Berlin Review of Books, July 20, 2013.
158. 'Jean Baudrillard: From the Ocean to the Desert,or the Poetics of Radicality by Gerry Coulter' in LSE Review of Books April 10, 2013.
159. ‘John R. Betz: After Enlightenment: The Post-Secular Vision of J. G. Hamann’ in the European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 5:3, 2013, 202-206.
160. 'Note de Lecture : L’Enchantement d’Uriel de Claude Raphael Samama’ in Europe: Revue littéraire mensuelle 1014, 2013. (In French)
161. 'Patricia Pisters: The Neuro-Image: A Deleuzian Film-Philosophy of Digital Screen Culture' in Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media 4, Dec. 2012.
162. 'Zona. A Book about a Film about a Journey to a Room by Geoff Dyer' in The Berlin Review of Books, Nov. 2012.
163. 'Frances McCall Rosenbluth's and Michael F. Thies's Japan Transformed: Political Change and Economic Restructuring' in The European Legacy 18:2, 2013.
164. 'Irving Singer's Ingmar Bergman, Cinematic Philosopher: Reflections on his Creativity' in Film-Philosophy 14:1, 2010.
165. 'A Dandy in Alabama: Allen Shelton, Dreamworlds of Alabama' in Consciousness, Literature and the Arts 9:3, 2008.
166. ‘Girl Heroes: The New Force in Popular Culture by Susan Hopkins’ in The Journal of Aesthetic Education 2010.
167. 'Costica Bradatan: The Other Bishop Berkeley' in The European Legacy 4:3 June 2009. PDF
168. 'Dwight N. Hopkins (ed.): Black Faith and Public Talk' in International Journal of Public Theology 4, 2010, pp. 373-381.
169. 'Mazhar Hussain & Robert Wilkinson: The Pursuit of Comparative Aesthetics: An Interface between East and West' in Philosophy in Review February 2008.
170. 'Stacy Gillis (ed.): The Matrix Trilogy: Cyberpunk Reloaded' in Film-Philosophy 12:1, 2008.
171. 'Rana Mitter: A Bitter Revolution: China’s Struggle with the Modern World' in The European Legacy 12:1, Jan. 2007. PDF
172. 'Takeuchi Yoshimi: What is Modernity?' in The European Legacy 11:1, 2006.
173. 'Richard F. Calichman: Contemporary Japanese Thought' in The European Legacy 11:5, 2006, pp. 558-559.
174. 'Sylvère Lotringer & Paul Virilio: The Accident of Art' in Consciousness, Literature and the Arts 2006.
175. ‘Dominique Château: Cinéma et philosophie’ in Film-Philosophy 10:2, 2009.
176. 'Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale. By Nagai Kafu, Translated by Stephen Snyder' in The European Legacy 19:3, 2014.
177. 'Sayo Matsuda: Autobiography of a Geisha' in The European Legacy 10: 7, 2005.
178. 'Dorothée Halcour: Wie wirkt Kunst: Zur Psychologie des ästhetischen Erlebens' in Consciousness, Literature and the Arts 4:3, Dec. 2003.
179. 'Ananta Ch. Sukla (ed.): Art and Experience' in Philosophy in Review 24:1, February 2004, 68-70.
180. 'Leslie Pincus: Authenticating Culture in Imperial Japan: Kuki Shuzo and the Rise of National Aesthetics' in Annales (Paris: EHESS, March 1999)
VII. Popular Articles, Opinion Pieces
181. NEW: 'Trump and Musk: Bullshit and Anti-Bullshit' on Substack April 17, 2025.
182. ‘Why I am a Cultural Non-Christian’ in The Freethinker September 18, 2024.
183. ‘Morrissey’s Post-Punk Daoism’ in J. Heter & R. Green (eds.), Post-Punk and Philosophy (Chicago: Carus, 2024), 115-123.
184. 'Is Putin’s War in Ukraine a Civilizational War or a Cultural War?' in ABC Religion and Ethics Nov6
ember 22, 2022. Long version available.
185. 'Zhuangzi, Language & Gender: What Would the Philosophers of Ancient China have Thought about Political Correctness?’ in Philosophy Now 150, June 2022.
186. 'Is Valdimir Putin a Eurasianist or a Slavophile?' on Medium, May 21 2022.
188. 'Why Woke is not the New Cool' in ABC Religion and Ethics March 2021.
189. ‘Ideas of the “Holy”: Conflict in France Reflects a Communication Breakdown between Muslims and non-Muslims’ in ABC Religion and Ethics Nov. 16 2020.
190. ‘Face Masks and Niqabs – What’s the Difference?’ in ABC Religion and Ethics Oct. 26 2020.
191. 'The New Geography of Eastern Europe' in Peace Magazine July 2020.
192. ‘In Praise of Industry. Post-industrial society has lost the ideal of the industrial’ in Philosophy Now 2020.
193. 'Why are there so Many Cute cats on the Internet? The World is Driven by a Cute-Excellence Syndrome' on the Los Angeles Review of Books Blog Dec. 2017.
194. Why I think Westerners are Joining the Islamic State (former blogpost, very provocative) 2016.
195. 'How Kitsch Consumed the World' in The Conversation Sept. 2017
196. 'Can Refugees be Nietzscheans?' post on The Partially Examined Life in Jan. 2017.
197. ‘The Trouble with Excellence’ [on "administrative Salafism"] in the Los Angeles Review of Books Apr. 29, 2016.
198. ‘You Don't Have to Be Stupid to be Cool’ in Ted Ammon (ed.) David Bowie and Philosophy (Chicago: Open Court, 2016), 9-18.
199. Donald Trump and the Veil. (blogpost)
200. ‘Bowie and the Cool of Kitsch’ in Kritikos: Journal of Postmodern Cultural Sound, Text and Image 20, April 2012 (online).
201. ‘A Place in the Making’ [on Maidan] in the Los Angeles Review of Books Oct. 30, 2014.
202. ‘Shades of Cool – Degrees of Kawaii’ in the Los Angeles Review of Books Nov. 12, 2013.
203. ‘Kuwait Cyberpunk – Kuwait Oilpunk’ on Botzwana 2012.
204. ‘Female Tattoos and Graffiti’ in Robert Arp (ed.) Tattoos – Philosophy for Everyone: I Ink, Therefore I Am (Oxford: Blackwell-Wiley, 2012), pp. 53–64.
205. ‘Being Cool and Cute’ in A. Barkman & J. Steiff (eds.) Manga and Philosophy (Chicago: Open Court, 2010).
206. ‘What does it Mean to be Cool?’ in Philosophy Now September 2010 (Lead story of the Human Condition issue). Arabic version in Al Alwan 27, 2011. Also reprinted in the Pearson Textbook Compose, Design, Advocate ed. by A. F. Wysocki & D. Lynch (2nd ed., 2012).
207. ‘The New Mini and Japanese Pottery. Of Pasts and Pastes’ (published on the author’s website).
208. Spotlights on Japan: 1. ‘Your Face is a Scape: Exercise in Facial Geomorphology’; 2. ‘In Praise of Blandness: Some Thoughts on Japanese Television’ (published on the author’s website).
209. ‘Overcoming the Logos, Overcoming Lego: From Imagined Space to the Spatial Imagination of the Bionicle World’ in Kritikos: Journal of Postmodern Cultural Sound, Text and Image 2, 2005 (online).
210. ‘The New Surrealism: Loft Stories, Reality Television, and Amateur Dream-Censors’ in Janus Head: Journal of Interdisciplinary Study in Literature and Continental Philosophy 9:1, 2006 (online). PRJ Reprinted in: Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India [Icfai] (eds): Reality Television: How Real Does it Get? (Bangalore: Icfai University Press, 2008).
211. ‘Liquid Grammar, Liquid Style: On the East Asian Way of Using English or Reflections on the Linguistic Air-Guitar’ in CTheory: An International Journal of Theory, Technology and Culture April 2006 (online). PRJ Reprinted in: I. El-Sherif & Piers Smith (eds.), Adventuring in the Englishes: Language and Literature in a Postcolonial Globalized World (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2013).
VIII. Translations by T. Botz-Bornstein
V. Sesemann: ‘Сократ и проблема самопознания’ ['Socates and the Problem of Self-Knowledge' from Evraziiskii Vremennik 4:2, 1925, extracts] in: Vassilij Sesemann: Experience, Formalism and the Question of Being.
V. Sesemann: 'О природе поэтического образа’ ['The Nature of the Poetic Image,' 1925] in: Vassilij Sesemann: Experience, Formalism and the Question of Being.
L. P. Karsawin: 'Основы политики’ ['The Foundations of Politics' from Evraziiskii Vremennik 5 1927] in: Vassilij Sesemann: Experience, Formalism and the Question of Being.
Japanophilia in Kuwait
America against China
Fulla; Shanghai Barbie Store, closed in 2011
Metso Library, Tampere, Finland
Chinese Academy of Art , Hangzhou, China
Music Man House, Alabama
Nishida Kitaro, 1870-1945
S.L. Frank, 1877-1950.
François Jullien and François Billeter
"Crossroad" NFT by Beeple
Liu Xiaodong, Fat Grandson
Yan Pei-Ming, Mao
Paul Delvaux, Solitude
