Modern epistemology and modern society have separated subject from object, defined economy as industrialization, structured politics into the formations of nation-states, and institutionalized social practices. These 'philosophical and social designs of separations' have given birth to physical and symbolic violence at various levels. This volume presents original writings and interviews with prominent thinkers on the front lines of an international intellectual effort to reconsider the fundamental terms of modernity and promote a philosophical design that reconsiders the significance of modernity itself. Through transdisciplinary 'thinking technologies' drawing on fields such as philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, contemporary social research, women's studies, architecture and urban studies, contributors rethink the modern in all its depth, draw forth a critical affirmation of modernity, and seek new ways of deploying the intelligence of West and East.