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In capitalism human beings act as if they are mere animals. So we
hear repeatedly in the history of modern philosophy. Indifference
and Repetition examines how modern philosophy, largely coextensive
with a particular boost in capitalism’s development, registers
the reductive and regressive tendencies produced by capitalism’s
effect on individuals and society. Ruda examines a problem that has
invisibly been shaping the history of modern, especially
rationalist philosophical thought, a problem of misunderstanding
freedom. Thinkers like Descartes, Kant, Hegel, and Marx claim that
there are conceptions and interpretations of freedom that lead the
subjects of these interpretations to no longer act and think
freely. They are often unwillingly led into unfreedom. It is thus
possible that even “freedom” enslaves. Modern philosophical
rationalism, whose conceptual genealogy the books traces and
unfolds, assigns a name to this peculiar form of domination by
means of freedom: indifference. Indifference is a name for the
assumption that freedom is something that human beings have: a
given, a natural possession. When we think freedom is natural or a
possession we lose freedom. Modern philosophy, Ruda shows, takes
its shape through repeated attacks on freedom as indifference; it
is the owl that begins its flight, so that the days of unfreedom
will turn to dusk.
In capitalism human beings act as if they are mere animals. So we
hear repeatedly in the history of modern philosophy. Indifference
and Repetition examines how modern philosophy, largely coextensive
with a particular boost in capitalism’s development, registers
the reductive and regressive tendencies produced by capitalism’s
effect on individuals and society. Ruda examines a problem that has
invisibly been shaping the history of modern, especially
rationalist philosophical thought, a problem of misunderstanding
freedom. Thinkers like Descartes, Kant, Hegel, and Marx claim that
there are conceptions and interpretations of freedom that lead the
subjects of these interpretations to no longer act and think
freely. They are often unwillingly led into unfreedom. It is thus
possible that even “freedom” enslaves. Modern philosophical
rationalism, whose conceptual genealogy the books traces and
unfolds, assigns a name to this peculiar form of domination by
means of freedom: indifference. Indifference is a name for the
assumption that freedom is something that human beings have: a
given, a natural possession. When we think freedom is natural or a
possession we lose freedom. Modern philosophy, Ruda shows, takes
its shape through repeated attacks on freedom as indifference; it
is the owl that begins its flight, so that the days of unfreedom
will turn to dusk.
This book is the first volume to bring together the most prominent
scholars who work on Slavoj i ek's philosophy, examining and
interrogating his understanding of dialectical materialism. It
deserves to be thoroughly and systematically elaborated because it
attempts to propose a new foundation for dialectical materialism.
The first volume of "The Idea of Communism" followed the 2009
London conference called in response to Alain Badiou's 'communist
hypothesis', where an all-star cast of radical intellectuals put
the idea of communism back on the map.
This volume brings together papers from the subsequent 2011 New
York conference organized by Verso and continues this critical
discussion, highlighting the philosophical and political importance
of the communist idea, in a world of financial and social turmoil.
Contributors include Alain Badiou, Etienne Balibar, Bruno Bosteels,
Susan Buck-Morss, Jodi Dean, Adrian Johnston, Francois Nicolas,
Frank Ruda, Emmanuel Terray and Slavoj iek.
Pushing back against the contemporary myth that freedom from
oppression is freedom of choice, Frank Ruda resuscitates a
fundamental lesson from the history of philosophical rationalism: a
proper concept of freedom can arise only from a defense of absolute
necessity, utter determinism, and predestination. Abolishing
Freedom demonstrates how the greatest philosophers of the
rationalist tradition and even their theological
predecessors-Luther, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Freud-defended not
only freedom but also predestination and divine providence. By
systematically investigating this mostly overlooked and seemingly
paradoxical fact, Ruda demonstrates how real freedom conceptually
presupposes the assumption that the worst has always already
happened; in short, fatalism. In this brisk and witty interrogation
of freedom, Ruda argues that only rationalist fatalism can cure the
contemporary sickness whose paradoxical name today is freedom.
Art is often said to be timeless, but specific works of art always
take place within time and maintain a dynamic balance between their
conditions of production and reception. Art and Contemporaneity
features contributions from leading scholars, including Alain
Badiou and Alexander Garcia Duttmann, who bring theories of
aesthetic philosophy to bear on one of the most crucial questions
about contemporary art: how do works of art come to exist within
and in relation to time? A specific temporality of an artwork
emerges from the material and political conditions of its
production. But works of art also forge new relationships to time
in their reception, which are continually superimposed upon layers
of history. With a broad range of perspectives, Art and
Contemporaneity offers a sustained reflection on the relationship
between art and time, and it will appeal to those interested in
both the theory and practice of contemporary art.
Badiou and Hegel: Infinity, Dialectics, Subjectivity offers
critical appraisals of two of the dominant figures of the
Continental tradition of philosophy, Alain Badiou and G.W.F. Hegel.
Jim Vernon and Antonio Calcagno bring together established and
emerging authors in Continental philosophy to discuss the
relationship between the thinkers, creating a multifarious
collection of essays by Hegelians, Badiouans, and those sympathetic
to both. The text privileges neither thinker, nor any particular
topic shared between them; rather, this book lays a broad and sound
foundation for future scholarship on arguably two of the greatest
thinkers of infinity, universality, subjectivity, and the enduring
value of philosophy in the modern Western canon. Assuredly overdue,
this volume will attract Hegel and Badiou scholars, as well as
those interested in post-structuralism, political philosophy,
cultural studies, ontology, philosophy of mathematics, and
psychoanalysis.
In Hegel's Rabble, Frank Ruda identifies and explores a crucial
problem in the Hegelian philosophy of right that strikes at the
heart of Hegel's conception of the state. This singular problem,
which Ruda argues is the problem of Hegelian political thought,
appears in Hegel's text only in a seemingly marginal form under the
name of the "rabble": a particular side-effect of the dialectical
deduction of the necessity of the existence of state from the
contradictory constitution of civil society. Working out from a
thorough analysis of this problem and drawing on contemporary
discussions in the work of such thinkers as Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc
Nancy and Slavoj Zizek, the book proceeds to re-examine and
reconstruct Hegel's entire political project. Ruda goes on to argue
that only by re-thinking this problem of 'the rabble' in Hegel's
thought - the only problem Hegel is able neither to resolve nor to
sublate - can the early Marxian conception of 'the proletariat' be
properly understood. The book closes with an Afterword from Slavoj
Zizek.
Fredric Jameson's pathbreaking essay "An American Utopia" radically
questions standard leftist notions of what constitutes an
emancipated society. Advocated here are-among other
things-universal conscription, the full acknowledgment of envy and
resentment as a fundamental challenge to any communist society, and
the acceptance that the division between work and leisure cannot be
overcome. To create a new world, we must first change the way we
envision the world. Jameson's text is ideally placed to trigger a
debate on the alternatives to global capitalism. In addition to
Jameson's essay, the volume includes responses from philosophers
and political and cultural analysts, as well as an epilogue from
Jameson himself. Many will be appalled at what they will encounter
in these pages-there will be blood! But perhaps one has to spill
such (ideological) blood to give the Left a chance.
In Hegel's Rabble, Frank Ruda identifies and explores a crucial
problem in the Hegelian philosophy of right that strikes at the
heart of Hegel's conception of the state. This singular problem,
which Ruda argues is the problem of Hegelian political thought,
appears in Hegel's text only in a seemingly marginal form under the
name of the "rabble": a particular side-effect of the dialectical
deduction of the necessity of the existence of state from the
contradictory constitution of civil society. Working out from a
thorough analysis of this problem and drawing on contemporary
discussions in the work of such thinkers as Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc
Nancy and Slavoj Zizek, the book proceeds to re-examine and
reconstruct Hegel's entire political project. Ruda goes on to argue
that only by re-thinking this problem of the rabble' in Hegel's
thought the only problem Hegel is able neither to resolve nor to
sublate can the early Marxian conception of the proletariat' be
properly understood. The book closes with an Afterword from Slavoj
Zizek.
For Badiou serves both as an introduction to the influential French
philosopher Alain Badiou's thought and as an in-depth examination
of his work. Ruda begins with a thorough and clear outline of the
sometimes difficult main tenets of Badiou's philosophy. He then
traces the philosophers throughout Western thought who have
influenced Badiou's project-especially Plato, Descartes, Hegel, and
Marx-and on whose work Badiou has developed his provocative
philosophy. Ruda draws from Badiou's oeuvre a series of directives
with regard to renewing philosophy for the twenty-first century.
For Badiou continues the interrogations of its subject and raises
new materialistic and dialectical questions for the next generation
of engaged philosophers.
Badiou and Hegel: Infinity, Dialectics, Subjectivity offers
critical appraisals of two of the dominant figures of the
Continental tradition of philosophy, Alain Badiou and G.W.F. Hegel.
Jim Vernon and Antonio Calcagno bring together established and
emerging authors in Continental philosophy to discuss the
relationship between the thinkers, creating a multifarious
collection of essays by Hegelians, Badiouans, and those sympathetic
to both. The text privileges neither thinker, nor any particular
topic shared between them; rather, this book lays a broad and sound
foundation for future scholarship on arguably two of the greatest
thinkers of infinity, universality, subjectivity, and the enduring
value of philosophy in the modern Western canon. Assuredly overdue,
this volume will attract Hegel and Badiou scholars, as well as
those interested in post-structuralism, political philosophy,
cultural studies, ontology, philosophy of mathematics, and
psychoanalysis.
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