Description
Book SynopsisBrian Price theorizes regret as an important political emotion that allows us to understand our convictions as habits of perception rather than as the signs of moral courage, teaches us to give up our expectations of what might appear, and prepares us to realize the steps toward changing institutions.
Trade Review"I marvel at the argument and the intricate conceptual architecture of the book. This is an incisive, exciting, and very welcome meditation on the power of regret to make us more thoughtful human beings." -- Katherine Goktepe * Contemporary Political Theory *
"[
A Theory of Regret] is navigating one of the most fraught questions of our current scholarly moment, in which theory is being surpassed, elegized, ignored, and derided, and yet so very many of us still crave its appearance, its surprises, and its speculations. Thus, among the many other things it is,
A Theory of Regret is also a powerful model for how to write a theory of anything whatsoever." -- Eugenie Brinkema * Journal of Cinema and Media Studies *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. What is Regret? 31
The Habit of Virtue 32
Nonvoluntary and Involuntary Relations 36
Stupidity and Akrasia 42
When to Speak? 35
2. Impossible Advice 60
The Postman Always Rings Twice 61
Possible Advice 71
The Gift of Advice 82
Economy, Economics 90
Sameness and Trust 93
3. The Problem of Withdrawal 103
The Trouble with Agonism 106
Keeping Up Appearances 110
Appearance and Withdrawal 117
Hypocristy and Regret 127
Afterthoughts 133
Notes 141
Bibliography 155
Index 161
