Social and political philosophy Books

Book SynopsisPresents a new way of thinking about fundamental political concepts such as freedom, justice, and the common good.In an age of rising groupthink, reactionary populism, social conformity, and democratic deficit, political judgment in modern society has reached a state of crisis. In The Specter of Babel, Michael J. Thompson offers a critical reconstruction of the concept of political judgment that can help resuscitate critical citizenship and democratic life. At the center of the book are two arguments. The first is that modern practical and political philosophy has made a postmetaphysical turn that is unable to guard against the effects of social power on consciousness and the deliberative powers of citizens. The second is that an alternative path toward a critical social ontology can provide a framework for a new theory of ethics and politics. This critical social ontology looks at human sociality not as mere intersubjectivity or communication, but rather as constituted by the shapes that our social-relational structures take as well as the kinds of purposes and ends toward which our social lives are organized. Only by calling these into question, Thompson boldly argues, can we once again attempt to revitalize social critique and democratic politics.

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Book SynopsisMeditation on the character of the Eleatic Stranger in Plato''s late dialogues, arguing that the prominent place afforded to this foreigner?the other?represents an important philosophical and political legacy regarding the way thought, and life in the community, is understood.The dramatic introduction in two of Plato''s late dialogues-the Sophist and the Statesman, both part of a trilogy that also includes the Theaetetus-of a stranger, the Eleatic Stranger, who replaces Socrates, is a consequential move, especially since it occurs in the context of decidedly new insights into the philosophical logos and life together in a community. The introduction of a radical stranger, a stranger to all native identity, has theoretical implications, and, rather than a rhetorical or merely literary device, is of the order of an argument. Plato''s Stranger argues that in these late dialogues, Plato bestows on the West a philosophical and political legacy at the core of which the stranger holds a prominent place because it provides the foreigner-the other-with a previously unheard-of constitutive role in the way thinking, as well as life in community, is understood. What is to be learned from these late dialogues is that, without a constitutive relation to otherness, discursive and political life in a community-in other words, also of the way one relates to oneself-remain lacking.

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Book SynopsisExplores the importance of political judgment in the work of Bernard Stiegler, and argues his approach to judgment marks an important break with continental political thought.Returning to Judgment provides the first extensive treatment of political judgment in the work of Bernard Stiegler and the first account of his significance for contemporary continental political thought. Ben Turner argues that Stiegler breaks with his predecessors in continental philosophy by advocating for, rather than retreating from, the task of proposing totalizing judgments on political problems that extend beyond the local and the particular. He shows that the reconciliation of judgment with continental political thought''s commitment to anti-totalization structures the entirety of Stiegler''s philosophy and demonstrates that this theory of the political decision highlights the difficulties that contemporary political ontology faces when addressing global and large-scale political problems. The book provides an overview of Stiegler''s philosophy useful for those unfamiliar with his thought, shows how he draws on key influences including Deleuze, Derrida, Freud, and Simondon to develop his conception of judgment, and considers the challenges and consequences of his embrace of totalizing political decisions.

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Book SynopsisDissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics brings together some of Jacques Rancière''s most recent writings on art and politics to show the critical potential of two of his most important concepts: the aesthetics of politics and the politics of aesthetics. In this fascinating collection, Rancière engages in a radical critique of some of his major contemporaries on questions of art and politics: Gilles Deleuze, Antonio Negri, Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou and Jacques Derrida. The essays show how Rancière''s ideas can be used to analyse contemporary trends in both art and politics, including the events surrounding 9/11, war in the contemporary consensual age, and the ethical turn of aesthetics and politics. Rancière elaborates new directions for the concepts of politics and communism, as well as the notion of what a ''politics of art'' might be. This important collection includes several essays that have never previously been published in English, as well as a brand new afterword. TogeTrade ReviewRewarding in its scholarly engagement with Derrida, Arendt, Lyotard et al ... [Rancière] has a certain sardonic precision. -- The GuardianAn accessible introduction to Rancière's thought and an essential collection of his essays. -- Marx & Philosophy Review of BooksSteven Corcoran has provided a timely and coherently organized collection of Rancière's short writings, one that can stand as a solid introduction to the author's thought...There is a distinct shift of emphasis that occurs in Rancière's writings around the late 1990's, however, and the task of a good collection would be to capture both periods and the thematic interaction between them. The writings gathered here, which date from 1996 to 2004, perform both tasks admirably...For those who seek to get a sense of both the richness and the breadth of the work of one of the most significant thinkers of our time, Dissensus provides a valuable resource. I can think of no better starting point than this collection. -- Todd May, Notre Dame Philosophical ReviewsTitle mention in Times Higher Education, January 2010Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Editor's Introduction Part I: The Aesthetics of Politics 1. Ten Theses on Politics 2. Does Democracy Mean Something? 3. Who is the Subject of the Rights of Man? 4. Communism: From Actuality to Inactuality 5. The People or the Multitudes? 6. Biopolitics or Politics? 7. September 11 and Afterwards: A Rupture in the Symbolic Order? 8. Of War as the Supreme Form of Advanced Plutocratic Consensus Part II: The Politics of Aesthetics 9. The Aesthetic Revolution and its Outcomes 10. The Paradoxes of Political Art 11. The Politics of Literature 12. The Monument and its Confidences; or Deleuze and Art's Capacity of 'Resistance' 13. The Ethical Turn of Aesthetics and Politics Part III: Response to Critics 14. The Use of Distinctions Notes Index

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Book SynopsisIn the 21st century, the old colonial attitude of terra nullius, meaning a vacant place free for the taking, still lurks behind the global economic expropriation of peoples'' lands and bodies. Today, that theft is rationalised internationally by ecomodernist policy. This book engages with the patriarchal-colonial-capitalist mindset of the contemporary Androcene and its threats to Life-on-Earth, including global warming and nuclear risks, mining and the gene trade, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digital coloniality.Ariel Salleh spells out the social and ecological contradictions set in motion by neocolonialism. Inspired by decolonial thinkers from Arturo Escobar to Tyson Yunkaporta, and critics of technology like Vandana Shiva and Shoshana Zuboff, she argues that dispossession of First Nation peoples'' livelihoods is not healed by consumerism in the name of ''development''. Breaking with ecomodernist policy such as ''the tech fix'' of mainstream environmentalists, Salleh contests the patriarchal-colonial-capitalist imperium and its advocacy of Green New Deals, Earth Governance, Sustainable Development Goals, and Smart Futures.Worldwide many decolonial activists see through the zero-sum imagination and its Earth Summits. Youth too, is defying the capitalist ruling class extinction trajectory, and some even challenge the fashionable post-human ideology circulating in high-tech quarters. Beyond ''exchange value'', these Others of the Androcene are calling for self-governing bioregional futures, respectful of indigenous skills; they want local food sovereign economies, which meet people''s needs while protecting nature''s ''metabolic value''.Spelling out the biopolitical violence of digitalization and genetic engineering, this book traces two decades of creative defiance by global peoples'' movements against the contradictions of ecomodernist development and its ongoing imposition by nation states and international agencies.

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Book SynopsisAccording to Michel Henry, no thinker has been more influential than Marx, and no one has been more misunderstood. With his characteristic clarity and elegance, Henry seeks to pull out the philosophical heart of Marx''s work and the reasons this complex philosophy has so often been simplified, distorted and obscured.Marx: An Introduction is not just a recovery of the theoretical centre of Marx''s thinking, but also a brilliant introduction to the work of Marx in general; concise and punchy without glossing over the difficult material, it provides a totally fresh reading of Marx''s corpus.Michel Henry shares with Marx a concern for the living work and the living individual and this shared preoccupation is brilliantly conveyed throughout the book. An essential read for those wrestling with Marx for the first time, and those looking for a new way to approach well-trodden territory.Trade ReviewGiven its brevity, this is a remarkable introduction to Marx’s thought. But more importantly, It is a great introduction to Henry’s philosophy of life. Rejecting the then contemporary readings of Marx (Althusser in particular), rejecting the legacy of Marxism, Henry argues that economic structures are not the foundation for human life. For Marx, the concrete, living individual grounds economic structures. Life is the foundation. Therefore, as Henry concludes, “Marx’s thought confronts us with the abyss of the question: what is life?” * Leonard Lawlor, Sparks Professor of Philosophy and Director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy, Penn State University, USA *In this highly accessible work, we are introduced not only to Marx but to Henry’s vitalisation of Marx, one where the subject is immanent to the world through its living labour, and where Henry concludes that Marx’s thought puts us before the ‘abyss of the question: What is life?’ In Henry’s Introduction, Marx’s thought lives on in every sense * John Ó Maoilearca, Professor of Film, Kingston University, London, UK *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Thinking about Marx Marx and the Marxist Productive Forces and Subjectivity Translator's Afterword (Kristien Justaert) Index

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Book SynopsisThese 12 essays give you new perspectives on Agamben s recent work on government and his relationship to the revolutionary tradition, opening up new ways of thinking about politics and critical theory in the post-financial crisis world.

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Book SynopsisOliver Marchart presents the main features of Ernesto Laclau's ontology and tracks the development of antagonism from German Idealism via Marx to today's post-Marxism. In doing so, he demonstrates Laclau's significant contribution to the current 'ontological turn' in political thought.

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Book SynopsisThis sympathetic critical analysis corrects some popular myths about Kropotkin's thought, highlights the important and unique contribution he made to the history of socialist ideas and sheds new light on the nature of anarchist ideology.

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Book SynopsisRuth Abbey assumes no knowledge of the text or of Nietzsche. She maps her chapters onto those of Nietzsche's text, allowing you to read the guide alongside the book. Altogether, she opens up Human, All Too Human for new readers, while more experienced Nietzsche scholars will appreciate the new perspective.

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Book SynopsisZbigniew Kotowicz gives us the first English language, in-depth presentation of the entire spectrum of Bachelard's work: epistemology, poetic imagination and temporality. And he explores an old philosophical tradition that Bachelard's thought opens up atomism a doctrine that has been almost forgotten and is much misunderstood.

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Book SynopsisRevisiting the generally accepted notion of psycho-physical parallelism in Spinoza, Chantal Jaquet offers a new analysis of the relation between body and mind. Looking at a range of Spinoza's texts, and using an original methodology, she analyses their unity in action through affects, actions and passions.

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Book SynopsisStarting from Deleuze's brief but influential work on control, the 11 essays in this book questions how contemporary control mechanisms influence, and are influenced by, cultural expression. They also collectively revaluate Foucault and Deleuze's theories of discipline and control in light of the continued development of biopolitics

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Book SynopsisThis collection of 13 essays addresses and explores Deleuze and Guattari's relationship to the notion of anarchism: in the diverse ways that they conceived of and referred to it throughout their work, and also expands it in terms of the spirit of their philosophy and in their critique of capitalism and the State.

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Book SynopsisOffers a forceful encounter between Deleuze's work and contemporary queer thought to provide both critical and practical means to re-evaluate and rework key concepts and methods, especially sexuality.

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Book SynopsisCombining her expertise in legal theory and judicial practice in a continental-European civil-law system, Jeanne Gaakeer explores the intertwinement of legal theory and practice to develop a humanities-inspired methodology for both the academic interdisciplinary study of law and literature and for legal practice.

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Book SynopsisRobert Miner attends closely to the rhymes and aphorisms that make up The Gay Science and make it so quotable yet so frequently misunderstood. Tracking Nietzsche's mixture of subtle argumentation, memorable images and provocative rhetoric, he opens up multiple ways of interpreting the text and applying it to our own circumstances.

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Book SynopsisGavin Rae shows that the problematic status of agency caused by the poststructuralist decentring of the subject is a central concern for poststructuralist thinkers. He shows how this plays out in the thinking of Deleuze, Derrida and Foucault, and find the best explanation of agency for the founded subject in the work of Castoriadis.

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Book SynopsisOpens a window on the ways in which Russian thinkers have historically considered the political

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Book SynopsisFor the first time, Vernon W. Cisney brings you a scholarly analysis of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze's contrasting concepts of difference. He distinguishes their responses to Hegel and Nietzsche. He finds that Deleuze formulates an affirmative conception of difference, while Derrida's differance amounts to an irresolvable negativity.

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Book SynopsisLemm offers an original reading of Nietzsche's enigmatic term homo natura that brings back the ancient Greek idea of nature and sexuality as creative chaos and of the philosophical life as outspoken and embodied truth, perhaps best exemplified by the cynics' embrace of social and cultural transformation.

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Book SynopsisVittorio Morfino draws out the implications of the dynamic Spinoza Machiavelli encounter by focusing on the concepts of causality, temporality and politics. This allows him to think through the relationship between ontology and politics, leading to an understanding of history as a complex and plural interweaving of different rhythms.

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Book SynopsisThe book shows how Agamben's political concerns emerged and evolved as Agamben responded to contemporary events and new intellectual influences while striving to remain true to his deepest intuitions. Kotsko reveals the trajectory of Agamben's work and shows us what it means to practice philosophy as a living, responsive discipline.

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Book SynopsisCombining careful historical and textual analysis with comparisons across past and present political theory, this book re-establishes Spinoza as a collectivist philosopher.Trade Review"The great merit of Dan Taylor is to have returned to Spinoza's conceptions of human servitude and the efficacy of the multitude as political actor, setting aside any notion that the work of the previous generation of scholars has somehow settled the conflicts that animate these conceptions in their textual existence. His book represents an extremely erudite and provocative reconsideration of some of the most important of Spinoza's philosophical discoveries. He has opened up new paths in Spinoza scholarship." -Warren Montag, Brown Family Professor of Literature at Occidental College, Los Angeles

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Book SynopsisExploring the question of human agency amidst a world teeming with powerful nonhuman influences, Jane Bennett draws upon Whitman, Thoreau, Caillois, Whitehead, and other poetic writers to link a non-anthropocentric model of self to a democratic pluralism and a syntax and style of writing appropriate to the entangled world in which we live.Trade Review“Jane Bennett has always been interested in reading the ecological from a political point of view and articulating an ecological politics. But this book will be a new moment in how we think about ecology and democracy. For it explains to us not only the possibility of ‘ecological democracy’ but also why a truly democratic personality must be ecological: open and attentive, susceptible to otherness, and welcoming influences. Influx & efflux is a wonderful achievement.” -- Branka Arsic, author of * Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau *“In this remarkable book Jane Bennett shows us just why a capacious sense of influence matters so much to our efforts to shape the circumstances we find ourselves in. Generous, surprising, and beautifully illustrated, influx & efflux resounds as a compelling affirmation of the value of drawing diverse elements and agencies into new lines of thinking and feeling. This book does nothing less than shift the tone and terms of political theory, offering us a vital poetic vocabulary for making more of the world's participation in the political and ecological stances we take.” -- Derek P. McCormack, author of * Atmospheric Things: On the Allure of Elemental Envelopment *"Arguing for an aspirational rather than a polemical Whitman, Bennett charts a body of work generous, egalitarian, and democratic 'wherein the forces of nonhuman agencies and the ubiquity of stupendous, ethereal influences are acknowledged' (p. 116). Ultimately, she concludes that Whitman’s 'I is creative in that it alters and inflects what is taken in, taken on, taken up' (p. 117). Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty." -- J. N. Barron * Choice *"Theorists who figure prominently in Bennett’s argument include Gilles Deleuze, Alfred North Whitehead, Harold Bloom, and Michel Serres. This amalgam of influences gives rise to a hybrid style of theorising that blends conventional literary analysis with philosophical and political argument. The result is an exciting and rich intervention in several fields at once." -- Sean Seeger * Green Letters *“Influx and Efflux is a welcome contribution to political theory, and the thoughtful, challenging, and charming approach to things here is one that will be of benefit to any reader.” -- Michael Epp * Political Theory *“Influx & Efflux is an excellent follow-up to Vibrant Matter.... Influx & Efflux manages no easy task: bringing out the vibrancy of Whitman’s poetry as a living political force that needs to be reckoned with in the present.” -- Christian P. Haines * ALH Online Review *“[Influx and Efflux] calls the reader to respond with distinctly spiritual and artistic gestures. . . . Bennett effectively exemplifies that democracy does not come from political policies alone, but from a community that prioritizes a porosity, that allows for an influx of the world into the self, and is committed to the efflux of speaking back out and into the world of human, animal, and vibrant matter.” -- Karah Lain * Religion and the Arts *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Prologue.Influx and efflux ix 1. Position and Disposition 1 2. Circuits of Sympathy 27 3. Solar Judgment 46 Refrain. The Alchemy of Affects 63 4. Bad Influence 75 5. Thoreau Experiments with Natural Influences 92 Epilogue. A Peculiar Efficacy 113 Notes 119 Bibliography 173 Index 189

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Book SynopsisThis book examines key twentieth-century philosophers, theologians, and social scientists who began their careers with commitments to the political left only later to reappraise or reject them. Their reevaluation of their own previous positions reveals not only the change in their own thought but also the societal changes in the culture, economics, and politics to which they were reacting. By exploring the evolution of the political thought of these philosophers, this book draws connections among these thinkers and schools and discovers the general trajectory of twentieth-century political thinking in the West.Trade ReviewThis is a fine collection of thoughtful, philosophically rigorous, and illuminating studies of major twentieth century leftist thinkers who journeyed rightward. We are offered fascinating and even riveting accounts of radicals coming to grips with and overcoming the dogmas in which they had become immersed. No one, left or right, is immune to the allure of dogma, and this book shows every intellectually serious person the challenge we all face in attaining a genuinely free soul. -- Luigi Bradizza, Salve Regina UniversityHavers and Trepanier have put together an eminently readable and illuminating volume on the philosophical and ideological exodus of leftist thinkers to the right during the 20th century. In addition to the perspective and clarity it provides regarding major 20th century events, it gives us an analytical framework to assess similar shifts in contemporary politics. Serious students of politics, from both the left and right, can learn from the valuable insights in this volume. -- David Whitney, Nicholl State UniversityThis volume reveals how, time and again, the experience of the soul has entailed consequential differences between progressive and conservative thinkers. A thorough and persuasive case is made in these pages - when leftist ideologues open themselves to the truth and the good of the order of being, a meaningful transition of political identity from left to right follows. A must-read for serious scholars of ideology and, perhaps especially, for left-leaning individuals who have begun to question their own ideology. -- Scott Robinson, Houston Baptist UniversityNietzsche in the Will to Power writes: “The charm that works for us, the Venus eye that fascinates even our foes and blinds them, is the magic of the extreme….” The contributors to this volume showcase twentieth-century thinkers who were not so easily charmed by the extreme of the leftist politics they once held. All drew the Aristotelian conclusion that any political form taken to its extreme results in tyranny. Some pragmatically turned to conservatism as the best defense against communism. Others leavened their leftism with traditionalism, religion, nationalism, or communitarianism as a way of moderating their progressivism. Still others suffered religious conversion upon beholding the “Venus eye” which represented for them the metaphysical rebellion grounding political extremism. In a time now characterized by what Pierre Manent calls the “fanaticism of the center,” this is volume provides welcome assistance for resisting the charm of the extreme. -- John von Heyking, University of LethbridgeTable of ContentsChapter 1: James Burnham: From Left to RightPaul GottfriedChapter 2: Pondering the People: Willmoore Kendall’s Intellectual Path From Progressive to Conservative PopulismChristopher H. OwenChapter 3: “Mugged by Reality”: The Neoconservative TurnLee TrepanierChapter 4: George Grant and Charles Taylor: Canadian Owls Ron DartChapter 5: Alasdair MacIntyre’s Revolutionary PeripateticismKelvin KnightChapter 6: Benedict Ashley’s Reappraisal of MarxismChristopher S. MorrisseyChapter 7: Christopher Lasch: A ReconsiderationJeremy BeerChapter 8: The Failure of Marxism through the Frankfurt School and Jürgen HabermasPedro Blas GonzálezChapter 9: Analytical Marxism and the Meaning of Historicism: Reflections on Kai Nielsen and G. A. CohenGrant Havers

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Book SynopsisBy both its supporters and detractors, neoliberalism is usually considered an economic policy agenda. Neoliberalism's Demons argues that it is much more than that: a complete worldview, neoliberalism presents the competitive marketplace as the model for true human flourishing. And it has enjoyed great success: from the struggle for "global competitiveness" on the world stage down to our individual practices of self-branding and social networking, neoliberalism has transformed every aspect of our shared social life. The book explores the sources of neoliberalism's remarkable success and the roots of its current decline. Neoliberalism's appeal is its promise of freedom in the form of unfettered free choice. But that freedom is a trap: we have just enough freedom to be accountable for our failings, but not enough to create genuine change. If we choose rightly, we ratify our own exploitation. And if we choose wrongly, we are consigned to the outer darkness—and then demonized as the cause of social ills. By tracing the political and theological roots of the neoliberal concept of freedom, Adam Kotsko offers a fresh perspective, one that emphasizes the dynamics of race, gender, and sexuality. More than that, he accounts for the rise of right-wing populism, arguing that, far from breaking with the neoliberal model, it actually doubles down on neoliberalism's most destructive features. Trade Review"In all of the hubbub about neoliberalism, one often feels that there is not much more to say. Adam Kotsko's premise—that the devil and the neoliberal subject can only ever choose their own damnation—is as original as it is breathtaking. Everyone should read this book." -- James Martel * San Francisco State University *"It's been a long time since I've read something so acutely in tune with its political moment. Both wide-ranging and impressively concise, this book offers one of the most compelling critical analyses of neoliberalism I've yet encountered, understood holistically as an economic agenda, a moral vision, and a state mission." -- Peter Hallward * Kingston University London *"[An] important book....Useful to scholars and students in subfields ranging from philosophy of religion and theology to contingently grounded studies of the politics and law....Critical analysis here lays the grounds for constructive work, with Kotsko gesturing toward an as-yet-unknown eschatological future." -- Spencer Dew * Religious Studies Review *"Neoliberalism's Demons is a concise and persuasive account of the political, economic, and moral universe we inhabit, and is therefore essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand their own condition." -- Jonathan Megerian * New Books Network *Table of ContentsContents and Abstracts1The Political Theology of Late Capital chapter abstractThis chapter begins by recognizing that pairing neoliberalism and political theology is counterintuitive. On the one hand, most accounts of neoliberalism leave little room for the conventional themes of political theology. On the other hand, Schmitt's initial formulation of political theology denigrates the economic concerns that are ostensibly the sole concern of neoliberalism. Hence this chapter shows that the conventional themes of political theology emerge persistently in the existing accounts of neoliberalism and provides grounds in Schmitt's text for a broader vision of the field that could include a phenomenon like neoliberalism. This more general political theology would ask about attempts to answer the ultimately unanswerable question that is expressed theologically as the problem of evil and politically as the problem of legitimacy. The chapter concludes by sketching a political theology of neoliberalism centered on the core legitimating principle of freedom. 2The Political and the Economic chapter abstractThis chapter makes the case for overcoming political theology's traditional hostility toward the economic realm. Drawing on the work of Wendy Brown, Giorgio Agamben, and Dotan Leshem, it traces this binary opposition back to the work of Hannah Arendt, who famously opposes the two realms and privileges the political over the economic. It then argues that "Arendt's axiom" is false: there is no pregiven distinction between the political and the economic; in fact, each political theological paradigm—very much including neoliberalism—reconfigures that binary for its own ends. Along the way the chapter holds up a variety of examples of alternative approaches to the relation of the political and the economic, including those of Marie-José Mondzain, Mark C. Taylor, Philip Goodchild, Joshua Ramey, and Eric Santner. 3Neoliberalism's Demons chapter abstractThis chapter provides an account of neoliberalism as a political-theological paradigm that governs every sphere of social life—not just the state and the economy but religion, family structure, sexual practice, gender relations, and racialization—by means of a logic of demonization. Drawing a parallel between the shift to neoliberalism and the origins of capitalism, it argues that capitalist ideologues have tended to find common cause with reactionary Christians because both adhere to a worldview centered on divine providence, which is in turn inextricably intertwined with demonization as a logic of moral entrapment. The difference between neoliberalism and neoconservatism is more often one of degree than of kind, with the former leaving more room for redemption and the latter opting more often for total, irreversible demonization for subject populations. 4This Present Darkness chapter abstractThe political theological account of neoliberalism developed in the previous chapter serves as the basis for an investigation of the reactionary populist wave represented by the Brexit vote and the Trump presidency. Rather than attempt to directly answer the question of whether it makes sense to view these phenomena as betokening the "end" of neoliberalism, the chapter begins by asking what the advent of the reactionary wave tells us about the intrinsic vulnerabilities of neoliberalism, focusing on the areas of electoral legitimation, the politicization of expertise, and the vision of society as a perpetual competition. It concludes by arguing that reactionary populism is a "heretical" version of the political theology of neoliberalism, which pushes core neoliberal values to near-parodic extremes. Conclusion: After Neoliberalism chapter abstractThis chapter begins by consolidating the new concept of political theology developed in the preceding chapters. It then asks what the general shape of a true break with neoliberalism might look like, drawing clues from the collapse of the Fordist regime that preceded it. It argues that Fordism's downfall came from its decision to preserve and tame capitalist structures—including structures of race, gender relations, and family—which were intended to legitimate the Fordist regime but were ultimately instrumental in its downfall. Any attempt to rebuild Fordist welfare state structures or even state-run industries would be vulnerable to a similar overthrow as long as the market economy remained the foundation of society. Hence, the only way to create a durable alternative to neoliberalism will require abolishing the "invisible hand" and taking control of the process of production through conscious, collective deliberation and decision making.

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Book SynopsisPossibility is a concept central to both philosophy and social theory. But in what philosophical soil, if any, does the possibility of a better society grow? At the intersection of metaphysics and social theory, What Would Be Different looks to Theodor W. Adorno to reflect on the relationship between the possible and the actual. In repeated allusions to utopia, redemption, and reconciliation, Adorno appears to reference a future that would break decisively with the social injustices that have characterized history. To this end, and though he never explains it in any detail—let alone in the form of a full-blown theory or metaphysics—he also makes extensive technical use of the concept of possibility. Taking Adorno's critical readings of other thinkers, especially Hegel and Heidegger, as his guiding thread, Iain Macdonald reflects on possibility as it relates to Adorno's own writings and offers answers to the question of how we are to articulate such possibilities without lapsing into a vague and naïve utopianism.Trade Review"This exemplary and highly original piece of philosophical scholarship precisely illuminates a central but hitherto unrecognized concern in Adorno's work—his notion of 'real but blocked possibility'—demonstrating how it operates throughout his writing. I know of no study similar to it."—Henry Pickford, Duke University"Macdonald is not only an authority on Adorno but also a deeply skilled philosopher. What Would Be Different deals with some ferociously difficult and abstract conceptual material while remaining lucid, careful, and thorough. Without question, it figures among the most genuinely pathbreaking recent work on Adorno."—Maxim Pensky, Binghamton University, the State University of New York"What is possible? With this question in mind, Macdonald sets out on a breathtaking intellectual journey. In a series of spectacularly powerful and compelling readings of such key thinkers as Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, Benjamin, Bloch, and Adorno, he throws new and much needed light on the post-Kantian philosophical tradition while offering resources for responding to our contemporary crisis."—Espen Hammer, Temple University"This much-needed book explores how possibility, for Adorno, can be thought beyond mere contingency or empty utopia. To ask 'what would be different' is as concrete as it is radical—and only radical insofar as it is concrete. Macdonald shows that the possible cannot be defined generally and ontologically but only historically and socially: as a world that could well be realized but that is blocked by the ruling powers."—Christoph Menke, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main"What Would Be Different presents readers with the results of years of fruitful effort....[It] takes an important stand in a debate that matters, not just to armchair academics, but to everybody on the planet."—Deborah Cook, Symposium"What Would Be Different provides us with an essential, long neglected, philosophical and biographical examination of Adorno and Heidegger's complicated relationship....[It offers] a valuable contribution to philosophy in that it provides a clear, non-partisan presentation of famously difficult thinkers from disparate traditions. Macdonald's synthesis and framing of these ideas is admirable."—Matthew Eckel, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books Table of Contents1. What Would Be Different 2. Hegel's Fallacy: Possibility and Actuality in Hegel and Adorno 3. Adorno: Nature–History–Possibility 4. Adorno and Heidegger: Possibility Read Backward and Forward 5. Adorno, Benjamin, and What Would Be Different

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Book SynopsisWestern culture is infatuated with the dream of going beyond, even as it is increasingly haunted by the specter of apocalypse: drought, famine, nuclear winter. How did we come to think of the planet and its limits as we do? This book reclaims, redefines, and makes an impassioned plea for limits—a notion central to environmentalism—clearing them from their association with Malthusianism and the ideology and politics that go along with it. Giorgos Kallis rereads reverend-economist Thomas Robert Malthus and his legacy, separating limits and scarcity, two notions that have long been conflated in both environmental and economic thought. Limits are not something out there, a property of nature to be deciphered by scientists, but a choice that confronts us, one that, paradoxically, is part and parcel of the pursuit of freedom. Taking us from ancient Greece to Malthus, from hunter-gatherers to the Romantics, from anarchist feminists to 1970s radical environmentalists, Limits shows us how an institutionalized culture of sharing can make possible the collective self-limitation we so urgently need.Trade Review"Malthus is a key figure for understanding how to survive the twenty-first century, yet Kallis shows we have spent the last two hundred years misunderstanding him. Quirky, provocative, and engaging, Limits is a must-read book for environmentalists and anti-environmentalists alike."—Bill Adams, University of Cambridge"In an era addicted to endless growth, Giorgos Kallis artfully explores the power of limits and the surprising freedom that they can unleash. A compelling—and fittingly concise—read for our times."—Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics"Every so often a book comes along that can cut through fruitless debates and reveal a new way of thinking about a complex problem. Limits is such a book. Giorgos Kallis shows that by rejecting scarcity thinking, we can find the right questions and answers for our ecological and social crises."—Juliet Schor, Boston College"In this timely and essential book, Giorgos Kallis makes a compelling argument for autonomy and freedom from the unfulfillable promise of limitless growth under consumer capitalism. He shows how democratic, egalitarian self-limitation can combat the dominant but unsustainable imperative to constantly produce and acquire more."—Nicholas Xenos, University of Massachusetts, Amherst"[The] popular understanding of Malthus comes from a mis- or half-reading, Kallis finds....[A] reconsideration of Malthus, like recent ones of Adam Smith, is a welcome part of the assault, across many fronts, on the neoliberal order."—Anthony Chaney, U.S. Intellectual History Blog"[A] welcome expansion of the English-language degrowth literature away from its usual technocratic or homespun focus on economic and environmental concerns, and into the humanities....[This] book is a very fine example of the sort of depth the environmental humanities can bring to an issue."—Andrew J. Sutter, Brave New Europe"Kallis's take on [Malthus's] work was an eye-opener for me....Whether you are interested in Malthus, growth and its limits, or issues of sustainability, I recommend Limits as a pleasantly concise and thought-provoking book that is sure to stimulate discussion."—The Inquisitive Biologist"[How] did the idea of limits get such a bad rap? Well, the great virtue of Giorgos Kallis's fine book,Limits, is in pointing this out by showing how the idea of limits got conflated with the spectral notion of 'scarcity' and in revealing a host of problems which followed from that unholy union....Kallis undertakes something of a phenomenology and anthropology of limits, which is an enjoyable and eminently humane ride."—Michael J. Sauter, Front Porch Republic

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Book SynopsisWhat unites Google and Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, Siemens and GE, Uber and Airbnb? Across a wide range of sectors, these firms are transforming themselves into platforms: businesses that provide the hardware and software foundation for others to operate on. This transformation signals a major shift in how capitalist firms operate and how they interact with the rest of the economy: the emergence of �platform capitalism�. This book critically examines these new business forms, tracing their genesis from the long downturn of the 1970s to the boom and bust of the 1990s and the aftershocks of the 2008 crisis. It shows how the fundamental foundations of the economy are rapidly being carved up among a small number of monopolistic platforms, and how the platform introduces new tendencies within capitalism that pose significant challenges to any vision of a post-capitalist future. This book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how the most powerful tech companies of our time are transforming the global economy."Trade Review‘Platform Capitalism is a high definition snapshot of the current political economic situation than manages to get a lot of detail into a tight frame. It offers a convincing image of the current stage of capitalist development as a series of variations on the theme of the platform as a means of consolidating or seizing a kind of monopoly leverage over not only distribution but also production. Srnicek gives good reasons for thinking the platform moment in capital accumulation might be less all-conquering than it looks.’ McKenzie Wark, author of Telethesia: Communication, Culture and Class"Probe the slithering, creeping collusion between public and private, work and exhaustion, capitalism and death. As cars transform into terrorist devices and public housing explodes into flame through neglectful policies, planning and practices, we require books to understand the loss of agency, the loss of choice and the permanent revolution of fear, confusion and ignorance."Times Higher Education Supplement"…Srnicek builds an illuminating 120-page dissertation on where the platform came from, and where it might take us."Literary Review of Canada"It’s one of those books that so neatly gets to the heart of how modern society in the 21st century functions."PajibaTable of ContentsAcknowledgements vi Introduction 1 1 The Long Downturn 9 2 Platform Capitalism 36 3 Great Platform Wars 93 Notes 130 References 141

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Book SynopsisWhat do the invention of anaesthetics in the middle of the nineteenth century, the Nazis' use of cocaine, and the development of Prozac have in common? The answer is that they're all products of the same logic that defines our contemporary era: 'the age of anaesthesia'. Laurent de Sutter shows how large aspects of our lives are now characterised by the management of our emotions through drugs, ranging from the everyday use of sleeping pills to hard narcotics. Chemistry has become so much a part of us that we can’t even see how much it has changed us. In this era, being a subject doesn't simply mean being subjected to powers that decide our lives: it means that our very emotions have been outsourced to chemical stimulation. Yet we don't understand why the drugs that we take are unable to free us from fatigue and depression, and from the absence of desire that now characterizes our psychopolitical condition. We have forgotten what it means to be excited because our only excitement has become drug-induced. We have to abandon the narcotic stimulation that we’ve come to rely on and find a way back to the collective excitement that is narcocapitalism’s greatest fear.Trade Review"This fascinating book can be read in many ways: as a short history of modern psycho-pharmacology, as a theory of contemporary politics as anaesthesia of the social body, as a philosophical breakthrough on the ontological dimension of depression. It should be on the must-read list of every philosopher, psychoanalyst or social activist interested in experiencing the excitement of a true intellectual adventure."Franco Berardi, author of The Uprising and HeroesTable of ContentsThanks Prologue: Goin' Down Chapter 1 - Welcome to Prozacland Chapter 2 - Narcocapitalism Unlimited Chapter 3 - Day Without End Chapter 4 - Swallowing the Pill Chapter 5 - The Politics of Overexcitement Epilogue: Getting' Up Endnotes

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Book SynopsisH.L.A. Hart is among the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, with an especially great influence on the philosophy of law. His 1961 book The Concept of Law has become an enduring classic of legal philosophy, and has also left a significant imprint on moral and political philosophy. In this volume, leading contemporary legal and political philosopher Matthew H. Kramer provides a crystal-clear analysis of Hart’s contributions to our understanding of the nature of law. He elucidates and scrutinizes every major aspect of Hart’s jurisprudential thinking, ranging from his general methodology to his defense of legal positivism. He shows how Hart’s achievement in The Concept of Law, despite the evolution of debates in subsequent decades, remains central to contemporary legal philosophy because it lends itself to being reinterpreted in light of new concerns and interests. Kramer therefore pays particular attention to the strength of Hart’s insights in the context of present-day disputes among philosophers over the reality of normative entities and properties and over the semantics of normative statements.This book is an invaluable guide to Hart’s thought for students and scholars of legal philosophy and jurisprudence, as well as moral and political philosophy.Trade Review"Matthew Kramer is one of the most important figures in legal theory today. His deep analysis of H.L.A. Hart's legal philosophy will be an invaluable resource for scholars and serious students of jurisprudence."—Brian Bix, University of Minnesota "Written with Kramer’s characteristic care and attention to detail, this marvelous book provides a sympathetic, yet critical, account of Hart's views on the nature of law and of legal reasoning. A valuable source of insight for student and seasoned scholar alike."—Wil Waluchow, McMaster UniversityTable of ContentsPreface vii 1 A Discourse on Method 1 1 Posing the questions 2 2 Elucidation of a concept 4 3 A method of central instances 5 4 A philosophical scope 8 5 Variations across societies 11 6 A descriptive-explanatory methodology 12 7 A reductionist ambition? 23 8 A naturalistic ambition? 28 2 Hart on Legal Powers and Law’s Normativity 32 1 The Austinian model of law 33 2 Power-conferring laws 36 3 Legislators bound 52 4 Custom-derived laws 53 5 Limits on sovereignty 56 3 The Components of Hart’s Jurisprudential Theory 60 1 The internal/external distinction 61 2 The simulative point of view 65 3 The blurring of distinctions between viewpoints 68 4 Primary norms and secondary norms: the general distinction 70 5 Primary norms and secondary norms: Hart’s thought-experiment 74 6 The Rule of Recognition: to whom is it addressed? 78 7 The Rule of Recognition: power-conferring and duty-imposing 81 8 The unity of the Rule of Recognition: disagreements over details 84 9 The unity of the Rule of Recognition: multiple criteria 85 10 The unity of the Rule of Recognition: institutional hierarchies 88 11 The ultimacy of the Rule of Recognition 91 12 The Rule of Recognition: the foundational level and the codified level 92 13 The intertwining of the Rule of Recognition and other secondary norms 97 14 Interdependent but distinct: a riposte to Shapiro 99 15 Interdependent but distinct: a riposte to Waldron 101 16 Interdependent but distinct: a riposte to MacCormick 103 17 The problem of circularity 105 18 Necessary and sufficient conditions 107 4 Hart on Legal Interpretation and Legal Reasoning 110 1 Crucial distinctions 112 2 Hart on formalism and rule-skepticism 133 5 Law and Morality 148 1 Separability theses 149 2 Hart on the minimum content of natural law 164 3 Inclusive versus Exclusive Positivism 173 4 Hart as an expressivist? 180 6 Conclusion 204 Notes 207 References 215 Index 222

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Book SynopsisSocieties around the world are struggling to think clearly about trans realities and understand trans identities.Real Genderis the first book to present acisdefence of what it means to be transgender. Moyal-Sharrock and Sandis delve into the various factors which make many trans people's experience of their gender (or lack thereof) as natural and unquestionable as that of cispeople. While recognising the undeniably social aspects of gender, they find that gender cannot be completely divorced from our biological underpinnings.Contrary to popular opinion, gender self-identification does not require the denial of either biology or sex. What is needed is a more liberal understanding of our gender concepts, which would prevent us from confusing diversity with pathology. Steeped in published and personal trans testimonials,RealGenderdoes not seek to provoke or attack, but to unequivocally defend trans realities. A powerful exploration of a divisive topic,this b

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Book SynopsisThe global triumph of democracy was announced thirty years ago, promising an age of consensus in which the dispassionate consideration of objective problems would give birth to a world at peace. Today, these grand hopes lie in ruins, and the era touted as new has turned out to be remarkably similar to the old order. To understand why this might be so, we need to examine the nature of the consensus itself, which is not the peace that it promised but rather the map of a territory on which new forms of warfare are being waged. The objective reality that imposed itself at the end of the 1990s was an absolutized and globalized capitalism which has produced ever more inequality, exclusion and hate. In this book Jacques Rancière delivers a frank and piercing critique of the globalized capitalist consensus. The invasion of Iraq, the riots on Capitol Hill and the rise of the European far right all attest to the true nature of this consensus, as does the current state-sanctioned racism which ex

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Book SynopsisAll human beings are born with equal dignity and possess equal rights.This statement appears normatively just as irrefutable as it is empirically refuted every day.But what are the grounds of this principle, and how should we think about its realization? Its philosophical truth can best be explained by going back to (and beyond) Kant's notion of a noumenal republic' in which every person is an equal co-author of the laws that bind all. At the same time, a critical analysis of society and politics must show the extent to which the reality of power and ideology makes a mockery of this constructivist conception of dignity. To bridge the gap between unworldly idealism and practical hopelessness, we need a critical theory after Kant. Rainer Forst, one of the world's most influential political philosophers, works to develop just such a theory in this powerful and illuminating volume. It contains no less than a new systematic account of concepts such as alienation, progress and regression, so

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Book SynopsisAn intensely personal, and philosophical, account of why white America’s racial unconscious is not so unconsciousAn Essay for Ezra is a critique of terror that begins but by no means ends with the presidency of Donald J. Trump. A father addresses his son and a boy shares his observations in a dynamic dialogistic exchange that is a commentary of and for its time, taking the measure of racial terror and of white supremacy both in our moment and as a historical phenomenon.Framed through the experiences of the author’s biracial son, An Essay for Ezra is intensely personal while also powerfully universal. Drawing on the social and political thought of James Baldwin and Martin Luther King, Grant Farred examines the temptation and the perils of essentialism and the need to discriminate—to engage the black mind as much as the black body. With that dialectic as his starting point, Farred engages the ideas of Jameson, Barthes, Derrida, Adorno, Kant, and other thinkers to derive an ethics of being in our time of social peril. His antiessentialist racial analysis is salient, especially when he deploys Dave Chappelle as a counterpoint to Baldwin—and Chappelle’s brilliant comic philosophic voice jabs at both racial and gender identity.Standing apart for its willingness to explore terror in all its ambivalence, this theoretical reflection on racism, knowledge, ethics, and being in our neofascist present brings to bear the full weight of philosophical inquiry and popular cultural critique on black life in the United States.Trade Review"You can’t reassure the frightened child. Your letter must add to the child’s terror. Welcome to the world of racism in America. Brilliantly original, mixing Heidegger and Chappelle, Grant Farred proves that Baldwin’s genre has not exhausted its magical potential to provoke and instruct. By a mysterious dialectical legerdemain, he bestows on his son an unlikely endowment: a sort of Afro-optimism, both outraged and salvific."—Bruce Robbins, author of The Beneficiary"Phrased as an epistle to his young son, Grant Farred's An Essay for Ezra grapples with difficult loci of racial violence in U.S. culture and in various philosophical traditions, from the Black exile of Baldwin to Heideggerian questionability of self. He proposes new genealogies and new problems for struggles of becoming and judgment amid the perpetual crisis that is the American racial order."—Rei Terada, University of California, IrvineTable of ContentsContents1. November, 20162. Martin Luther King and White People3. The Farceur4. De-racializing MLK5. Haunting: It Takes You Where You Don’t Want to Go6. And So I Turn to James Baldwin7. Do Not a Tarantula Be: A Nietzschean Interlude8. “Bagger Vance”Postscript: November 7, 2020AcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book makes the case for an inclusive form of socialist feminism that puts women with multiple disadvantages at its heart. It moves feminism beyond contemporary disputes, including those between some feminists and some trans women. Combining academic rigour with accessibility, the book demystifies some key feminist terms, including patriarchy and intersectionality, and shows their relevance to feminist politics today. It argues that the analysis of gender cannot be isolated from that of class or race, and that the needs of most women will not be met in an economy based on the pursuit of profit. Throughout, the book asserts the social, economic and human importance of the unpaid caring and domestic work that has been traditionally done by women. It concludes that there are some grounds for optimism about a future that could be both more feminist and more socialist. Trade Review'Throughout the book, Bryson successfully makes difficult theoretical concepts more accessible, and she consistently points to further reading. Due to this, her book would serve as a useful introductory text for late high school and undergraduate students. Bryson’s analysis of feminist socialism and her call for more inclusive communities and policies that start with the most disadvantaged among us is a welcome and highly accessible addition to the literature; and should perhaps be required reading for policy-makers.'Professional Historians Association, Kirra Minton -- .Table of Contents1 The sex/gender distinction and the language of sexual violence2 Sexism and patriarchy3 Intersectionality: a dry word that can make a lot of sense4 Trans women and feminism: thinking beyond binaries5 We need to talk about capitalism6 Liberalism, neoliberalism and feminism: contradictions and concerns7 Marxist feminism: reframing the issues8 Why feminists should logically be socialists (and vice versa) ConclusionsIndex

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Book SynopsisIn popularising the term ‘speaking truth to power’, Michel Foucault established the basis upon which a new ethics can be constructed. This is the thesis that Mark Olssen advances in Constructing Foucault’s ethics. Olssen not only ‘speaks truth’ to existing moral and ethical theories that have dominated western philosophy since Plato, but also shows how an alternative ethical and moral theory can be established that avoids the pitfalls of postmodern relativism while grounding ethical, moral and political discourse for the present age. Taking the late ‘ethical turn’ in the philosopher’s thought as its starting point, this ambitious study seeks to construct an ethics beyond anything Foucault ever attempted while remaining consistent with his core postulates. It advances the concept of ‘life continuance’, which expresses a normative orientation to the future in terms of the quest for survival and well-being, giving rise to irreducible normative values as part of the discursive order of events. This approach is explored in contrast with a range of other, established systems, from the Kantian to the Marxist, contract ethics and utilitarianism.Trade Review'Fascinating... one of the best books on Foucault.'Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy at the Universities of Westminster and Hull and winner of the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for Political Philosophy in 2002'Mark Olssen’s book is both sympathetic and adventurous. It remains true to Foucault’s attitude and style but also moves beyond him to think about and explore what a set of foucauldian normative concepts might look like and how they might be made use of. This is very much the direction Foucault might have moved if he had lived longer. The book is a major contribution to foucauldian scholarship.'Stephen J. Ball, Emeritus Professor of Sociology of Education, University College London'This is a truly impressive and timely book that takes Foucault’s work as a starting point to develop an ethics founded on a "continuance" of life. There are clear implications for our age, especially in understanding how we should think about climate change. The book emphasises that Foucault was not a relativist in any crude sense. It builds on Mark Olssen’s previous work to make an important contribution.'Hugh Lauder, Professor of Education and Political Economy, University of Bath -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1 Foucault and normativity2 Life and error: Foucault, Canguilhem, Jacob3 Nietzsche’s life philosophy: naturalism, will to power, normativity4 Continuance ethics, objectivity, Kant5 Foucault, Hegel, Marx6 Hobbes, God, and modern social contract theory7 A politics of pluralism8 Democracy, education, global ethics9 Ethical comportmentIndex

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Book SynopsisThe philosopher Michel de Montaigne said that facing our mortality is the only way to learn the ‘art of living’. This book asks what we can learn from COVID-19, both as individuals and collectively as a society.Written during the first and second lockdowns, Everything must change offers philosophical perspectives on some of the most pressing issues raised by the pandemic. It argues that the pandemic is not a misfortune but an injustice; that it has exposed our society’s inadequate treatment of its most vulnerable members; that populist ideologies of post-truth are dangerous and potentially disastrous. In considering these issues and more, the book draws on a diverse range of philosophers, from Cicero, Hobbes and Arendt to prominent contemporary thinkers.At the heart of the book is a simple argument: politics can be the difference between life and death. With careful reflection we can avoid knee-jerk decision making and ensure that the right lessons are learned, so that this crisis ultimately changes our lives for the better, ushering in a society that is both more compassionate and more just.Trade Review‘The global pandemic has made us think about a lot of issues that we don’t normally pay much attention to. Are older people more expendable than younger people? When and why should we trust politicians or scientists? Is lockdown fair? Philosophy can’t cure COVID-19, but in this serious-minded yet accessible book, Vittorio Bufacchi shows how it can help us get our heads around the many issues the pandemic raises in our daily lives.’Helen Beebee, Samuel Hall Professor of Philosophy, University of Manchester‘This is a fine, sensitive and thought-provoking discussion, taking readers well beyond COVID-19 into deep concerns about current socio-political moral stances. The book deserves to be read by all those worried about the injustices, sufferings and misperceptions underlying our society; it deserves all the more to be read by those who complacently lack those worries.’Peter Cave, author of The Myths We Live By: A Contrarian's Guide to Democracy, Free Speech and Other Liberal Fictions'Timely and insightful, Bufacchi’s wonderfully written Everything must change is a testament to just how good (and important) public philosophy can be. Drawing from philosophy’s best minds (including his own), Bufacchi guides the reader through eight essential lessons from the coronavirus pandemic, with a strong emphasis on how the virus highlights entrenched social injustices. The book’s short chapters and accessible prose will be welcomed by readers of all backgrounds, particularly those who are new to the field. I wholeheartedly recommend Everything must change to anybody who is interested in bringing about a fairer world.'Jack Symes, The Panpsycast -- .Table of Contents1 Coronavirus and philosophy 2 COVID-19: injustice or misfortune? 3 Old age in the time of coronavirus 4 Life under lockdown: nasty, brutish and short?5 Is COVID-19 bad for populism? 6 COVID-19, fake news and post-truth 7 COVID-19, experts and trust 8 Normal People, normalised violence 9 Justice after COVID-19 Epilogue: a year of COVID-19Index

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive, rigorous, multidisciplinary analysis of privacy debates, organised around a framework for understanding the different questions and perspectives of antagonists. -- .

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Book SynopsisIn a world of deep political divisions and rising inequality, many of us feel the need for some form of collective resistance and transformative joint action. Calls for solidarity are heard everywhere. This book presents a critical proposal to guide our reflection on what solidarity is and why it matters. How is solidarity distinct from related ideas such as altruism, justice and fellow-feeling? What value does acting in solidarity with others have? In his lead essay, Andrea Sangiovanni offers compelling answers to these questions, arguing that solidarity is not just a fuzzy stand-in for feelings of togetherness but a distinctive social practice for an anxious age. His ideas are then put to the test in a series of responses from some of the world’s foremost philosophers and political theorists.Table of ContentsPart I: Lead essay 1 Solidarity: nature, grounds and value – Andrea Sangiovanni Part II: Responses 2 Solidarity is not joint action – Avery Kolers 3 The (anti)colonial limits of solidarity: history, theory, practice – Jared Holley 4 Collective transformative hope: on living in solidarity – Sally Scholz 5 The meaning(s) of solidarity – Rainer Forst 6 Solidarity and structural injustice – Catherine LuPart III: Reply7 Response to critics – Andrea SangiovanniIndex

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Book SynopsisIn popularising the term ‘speaking truth to power’, Michel Foucault established the basis upon which a new ethics can be constructed. This is the thesis that Mark Olssen advances in Constructing Foucault’s ethics. Olssen not only ‘speaks truth’ to existing moral and ethical theories that have dominated western philosophy since Plato, but also shows how an alternative ethical and moral theory can be established that avoids the pitfalls of postmodern relativism while grounding ethical, moral and political discourse for the present age. Taking the late ‘ethical turn’ in the philosopher’s thought as its starting point, this ambitious study seeks to construct an ethics beyond anything Foucault ever attempted while remaining consistent with his core postulates. It advances the concept of ‘life continuance’, which expresses a normative orientation to the future in terms of the quest for survival and well-being, giving rise to irreducible normative values as part of the discursive order of events. This approach is explored in contrast with a range of other, established systems, from the Kantian to the Marxist, contract ethics and utilitarianism.Trade Review'Fascinating... one of the best books on Foucault.'Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy at the Universities of Westminster and Hull and winner of the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for Political Philosophy in 2002'Mark Olssen’s book is both sympathetic and adventurous. It remains true to Foucault’s attitude and style but also moves beyond him to think about and explore what a set of foucauldian normative concepts might look like and how they might be made use of. This is very much the direction Foucault might have moved if he had lived longer. The book is a major contribution to foucauldian scholarship.'Stephen J. Ball, Emeritus Professor of Sociology of Education, University College London'This is a truly impressive and timely book that takes Foucault’s work as a starting point to develop an ethics founded on a "continuance" of life. There are clear implications for our age, especially in understanding how we should think about climate change. The book emphasises that Foucault was not a relativist in any crude sense. It builds on Mark Olssen’s previous work to make an important contribution.'Hugh Lauder, Professor of Education and Political Economy, University of Bath -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1 Foucault and normativity2 Life and error: Foucault, Canguilhem, Jacob3 Nietzsche’s life philosophy: naturalism, will to power, normativity4 Continuance ethics, objectivity, Kant5 Foucault, Hegel, Marx6 Hobbes, God, and modern social contract theory7 A politics of pluralism8 Democracy, education, global ethics9 Ethical comportmentIndex

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Book SynopsisThis illuminating, entertaining book offers philosophical and personal reflections on twinhood and how it can help us imagine the possibility of a more interconnected human future. -- .

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Book SynopsisHow do we rein in the power of Big Tech?How do we tackle the climate crisis? How can all of us play a part in making change happen? For the past four years, Ed Miliband has been discovering and interviewing brilliant people all around the world who are successfully tackling the biggest problems we face, transforming communities and pioneering global movements. Go Big draws on the most imaginative and ambitious of these ideas to provide a vision for the kind of society we need. A better world is possible; the solutions are out there. We can all make a difference. We just need to know where to look - and have the courage to think big.Go Big shows us how.'Enthralling' PHILIP PULLMAN'Such a hopeful book' ELIZABETH DAY'Should be the rallying cry of progressives around the world' RUTGER BREGMANTrade ReviewA new book by Mr Miliband is an important political event ... mounts a coherent challenge to orthodox views, encouraging his audience to think differently and laying the foundations of where the country needs to go ... Miliband is clear that we live in an age where it is movements of people, not politicians, that change the world * Guardian *Full of ambitious ideas about how to solve gigantic social issues such as working life, childcare and climate change ... This flawed, funny Miliband sparkles with an Alan Partridge-like flourish through Go Big ... Miliband never sounds angry. He doesn't even seem to get annoyed when the Tories steal his ideas * GQ *At a time when our problems seem insurmountable and our disagreements intractable, Ed Miliband gives us reasons to be hopeful. This book makes a compelling case we need to hear: if we are willing to think big, politics can be a force for change and a force for good -- MICHAEL J. SANDEL, author of The Tyranny of MeritThere's a lot of good stuff in here ... flashes of insight ... neat observations ... it is hard to disagree with much of what [he says] ... charmingly self-deprecating -- David Goodhart * Sunday Times *By turns bouncy, chatty and confidential, and above all relentlessly upbeat ... fully of ideas, nifty schemes for solving the climate crisis, sound stratagems for encouraging more and better housing, for revitalising public transport, for loosening the stranglehold of the market and a whole lot more besides * Private Eye *

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