Search results for ""Author Phillip Hansen""

The new study provides a fresh and timely reassessment of the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt. While analysing the central themes of Arendt's work, Phillip Hansen also shows that her work makes a significant contribution to contemporary debates. Specifically, Hansen argues that Arendt provides a powerful account of what it means to think and act politically. This account can establish the grounds for a contemporary citizen rationality in the face of threat to a genuine politics. Amoung other issues, Hansen discusses Arendt's conception of history and historical action; her account of politics and of the distinction between public and private; her analysis of totalitarianism as the most ominous form of 'false ' politics; and her treatment of revolution. The book is a balanced and opportune reappraisal of Arendt's contributions to social and political theory. It will be welcomed by students and scholars in politics, sociology and philosophy.

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With a few exceptions, critical theorists have been late to provide a comprehensive diagnosis of neoliberalism comparable in scope to their extensive analyses of advanced welfare state capitalism. Instead, the main lines of critical theory have focused on questions of international justice which, while no doubt significant, restrict the scope of critical theory by deemphasizing linkages to larger political and economic conditions. Providing a critique of the Frankfurt School, Brian Caterino and Phillip Hansen move beyond its foundations, and call for a rethinking of the bases of critical theory as a practical, freedom-creating project. Outlining a resurgence of neoliberalism, the authors encourage a fresh, nuanced analysis that elucidates its political and economic structures and demonstrates the threats to freedom and democracy that neoliberalism poses. They propose the reformulation of a radical democratic alternative to neoliberalism, one that critically addresses its limitations while promoting an enhancement of communicative and social freedom.

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