Description
Book SynopsisIn the wake of the 9/11 attacks, after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and at the height of the "War on Terror", the controversial postmodernist thinker Jean Baudrillard wrote
The Intelligence of Evil. In tackling the rhetoric of the so-called "clash of civilizations" between a capitalist West and a fundamentalist religious Islam, the book also provides a summation of many of the most important themes of Baurdrillard's philosophical project. Baudrillard here explores how neoliberal political rhetoric has divided human cultures are divided into two antagonistic forces, one based on symbolic exchange, which is dual and reciprocal, and one based on money and sign exchange, which is totalising. Non-western societies can create genuinely symbolic, durable cultures. But the western world-system, based on a logic of empire, is designed to create an integrated and sealed reality, to snap tight around the world and its image. If the first is indestructible and the second is irresistible, who can win and what will victory look like?
Trade ReviewThe Intelligence of Evil presents us with a fascinating mental journey outside of what we have come to call “reality”, and makes us question the fundamental dichotomy between what is good and what is evil. It is highly recommendable for people with an interest in philosophy, or a lot of time on their hands. -- Johanna Fürst * Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies *
… one of Baudrillard’s last, and arguably best, books …
The Intelligence of Evil is perhaps Baudrillard’s most rigorous and certainly one of his more complex works. -- Jonathan Fardy * Foucault Studies *
Table of ContentsIntegral Reality At the Margins of the Real The World in its Deep Illusoriness The Easiest Solutions--Do you want to be free?--Do you want to be anyone else? The Murder of the Sign The Mental Diaspora of the Networks We are All Agnostics The Violence Done to the Image Contemporary Art Contemporary with Itself Virtuality and Events Evil and Misfortune The Intelligence of Evil For Whom does the Bell of Politics Toll? The Destruction of the Golden Pavilion Duality's Revenge Fracture Lines Parallel Universes--Existential Divide--Time Divide Anamnesis
