John Armitage employing the perspective of continental philosophy across a careful, always enlightening, discussion of key thinkers dismantles the taken-for-granted ideas about luxury within contemporary Western societies. This is a powerful counterpoint to theorists in the analytic tradition and to those who uncritically accept the place of luxury today.

Christopher J. Berry, Author of Idea of Luxury (2011)

Luxury triumphed in ancient civilizations and has been democratized in our times. It was understood and criticized, denounced, and espoused in different ways by the seven thinkers since the eighteenth century that this book studies. They motivate us today to focus the methods of contemporary philosophers on this dominant thrust in our political economies. Luxury Philosophy is an important contribution.

Alphonso Lingis, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Pennsylvania State university, USA