Butler and Ethics

Butler and Ethics

Author: Moya Lloyd

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2015-06-03

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0748678875

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Bringing together a group of internationally renowned theorists, these 9 essays asks whether there has been an 'ethical turn' in Butler's work, exploring how ethics relate to politics and how they connect to her increasing concern with violence,


Book Synopsis Butler and Ethics by : Moya Lloyd

Download or read book Butler and Ethics written by Moya Lloyd and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-03 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together a group of internationally renowned theorists, these 9 essays asks whether there has been an 'ethical turn' in Butler's work, exploring how ethics relate to politics and how they connect to her increasing concern with violence,


Giving an Account of Oneself

Giving an Account of Oneself

Author: Judith P. Butler

Publisher: Fordham Univ Press

Published: 2009-08-25

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 0823225054

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What does it mean to lead a moral life? In her first extended study of moral philosophy, Judith Butler offers a provocative outline for a new ethical practice—one responsive to the need for critical autonomy and grounded in a new sense of the human subject. Butler takes as her starting point one’s ability to answer the questions “What have I done?” and “What ought I to do?” She shows that these question can be answered only by asking a prior question, “Who is this ‘I’ who is under an obligation to give an account of itself and to act in certain ways?” Because I find that I cannot give an account of myself without accounting for the social conditions under which I emerge, ethical reflection requires a turn to social theory. In three powerfully crafted and lucidly written chapters, Butler demonstrates how difficult it is to give an account of oneself, and how this lack of self-transparency and narratibility is crucial to an ethical understanding of the human. In brilliant dialogue with Adorno, Levinas, Foucault, and other thinkers, she eloquently argues the limits, possibilities, and dangers of contemporary ethical thought. Butler offers a critique of the moral self, arguing that the transparent, rational, and continuous ethical subject is an impossible construct that seeks to deny the specificity of what it is to be human. We can know ourselves only incompletely, and only in relation to a broader social world that has always preceded us and already shaped us in ways we cannot grasp. If inevitably we are partially opaque to ourselves, how can giving an account of ourselves define the ethical act? And doesn’t an ethical system that holds us impossibly accountable for full self-knowledge and self-consistency inflict a kind of psychic violence, leading to a culture of self-beratement and cruelty? How does the turn to social theory offer us a chance to understand the specifically social character of our own unknowingness about ourselves? In this invaluable book, by recasting ethics as a project in which being ethical means becoming critical of norms under which we are asked to act, but which we can never fully choose, Butler illuminates what it means for us as “fallible creatures” to create and share an ethics of vulnerability, humility, and ethical responsiveness.


Book Synopsis Giving an Account of Oneself by : Judith P. Butler

Download or read book Giving an Account of Oneself written by Judith P. Butler and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2009-08-25 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does it mean to lead a moral life? In her first extended study of moral philosophy, Judith Butler offers a provocative outline for a new ethical practice—one responsive to the need for critical autonomy and grounded in a new sense of the human subject. Butler takes as her starting point one’s ability to answer the questions “What have I done?” and “What ought I to do?” She shows that these question can be answered only by asking a prior question, “Who is this ‘I’ who is under an obligation to give an account of itself and to act in certain ways?” Because I find that I cannot give an account of myself without accounting for the social conditions under which I emerge, ethical reflection requires a turn to social theory. In three powerfully crafted and lucidly written chapters, Butler demonstrates how difficult it is to give an account of oneself, and how this lack of self-transparency and narratibility is crucial to an ethical understanding of the human. In brilliant dialogue with Adorno, Levinas, Foucault, and other thinkers, she eloquently argues the limits, possibilities, and dangers of contemporary ethical thought. Butler offers a critique of the moral self, arguing that the transparent, rational, and continuous ethical subject is an impossible construct that seeks to deny the specificity of what it is to be human. We can know ourselves only incompletely, and only in relation to a broader social world that has always preceded us and already shaped us in ways we cannot grasp. If inevitably we are partially opaque to ourselves, how can giving an account of ourselves define the ethical act? And doesn’t an ethical system that holds us impossibly accountable for full self-knowledge and self-consistency inflict a kind of psychic violence, leading to a culture of self-beratement and cruelty? How does the turn to social theory offer us a chance to understand the specifically social character of our own unknowingness about ourselves? In this invaluable book, by recasting ethics as a project in which being ethical means becoming critical of norms under which we are asked to act, but which we can never fully choose, Butler illuminates what it means for us as “fallible creatures” to create and share an ethics of vulnerability, humility, and ethical responsiveness.


The Force of Nonviolence

The Force of Nonviolence

Author: Judith Butler

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2021-02-09

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1788732774

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“The most creative and courageous social theorist working today” examines the ethical binds that emerge within the force field of violence (Cornel West). “ . . . nonviolence is often seen as passive and resolutely individual. Butler’s philosophical inquiry argues that it is in fact a shrewd and even aggressive collective political tactic.” —New York Times Judith Butler shows how an ethic of nonviolence must be connected to a broader political struggle for social equality. While many think of nonviolence as passive or individualist, Butler argues nonviolence is an ethical position found in the midst of the political field. She champions an ‘aggressive’ nonviolence, which accepts hostility as part of our psychic constitution—but values ambivalence as a way of checking the conversion of aggression into violence. Some challengers say a politics of nonviolence is subjective: What qualifies as violence versus nonviolence? This distinction is often mobilized in the service of ratifying the state’s monopoly on violence. Considering nonviolence as an ethical problem within a political philosophy requires two things: a critique of individualism and an understanding of the psychosocial dimensions of violence. Butler draws upon Foucault, Fanon, Freud, and Benjamin to consider how the interdiction against violence fails to include lives regarded as ‘ungrievable’. By considering how “racial phantasms” inform justifications of state and administrative violence, Butler tracks how violence is often attributed to those who are most severely exposed to its lethal effects. Ultimately, the struggle for nonviolence is found in modes of resistance and social movements that separate aggression from its destructive aims to affirm the living potentials of radical egalitarian politics.


Book Synopsis The Force of Nonviolence by : Judith Butler

Download or read book The Force of Nonviolence written by Judith Butler and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2021-02-09 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The most creative and courageous social theorist working today” examines the ethical binds that emerge within the force field of violence (Cornel West). “ . . . nonviolence is often seen as passive and resolutely individual. Butler’s philosophical inquiry argues that it is in fact a shrewd and even aggressive collective political tactic.” —New York Times Judith Butler shows how an ethic of nonviolence must be connected to a broader political struggle for social equality. While many think of nonviolence as passive or individualist, Butler argues nonviolence is an ethical position found in the midst of the political field. She champions an ‘aggressive’ nonviolence, which accepts hostility as part of our psychic constitution—but values ambivalence as a way of checking the conversion of aggression into violence. Some challengers say a politics of nonviolence is subjective: What qualifies as violence versus nonviolence? This distinction is often mobilized in the service of ratifying the state’s monopoly on violence. Considering nonviolence as an ethical problem within a political philosophy requires two things: a critique of individualism and an understanding of the psychosocial dimensions of violence. Butler draws upon Foucault, Fanon, Freud, and Benjamin to consider how the interdiction against violence fails to include lives regarded as ‘ungrievable’. By considering how “racial phantasms” inform justifications of state and administrative violence, Butler tracks how violence is often attributed to those who are most severely exposed to its lethal effects. Ultimately, the struggle for nonviolence is found in modes of resistance and social movements that separate aggression from its destructive aims to affirm the living potentials of radical egalitarian politics.


Unbecoming Subjects

Unbecoming Subjects

Author: Annika Thiem

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9780823293476

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Moral philosophy and poststructuralism have long been considered two antithetical enterprises. Moral philosophy is invested in securing norms, whereas poststructuralism attempts to unclench the grip of norms on our lives. Moreover, poststructuralism is often suspected of undoing the possibility of ethical knowledge by emphasizing the unstable, socially constructed nature of our practices and knowledge. In Unbecoming Subjects, Annika Thiem argues that Judith Butler's work makes possible a productive encounter between moral philosophy and poststructuralism, rethinking responsibility and critique as key concepts at the juncture of ethics and politics. Putting into conversation Butler's earlier and most recent work, Unbecoming Subjects begins by examining how Butler's critique of the subject as nontransparent to itself, formed thoroughly through relations of power and in subjection to norms and social practices, poses a challenge to ethics and ethical agency. The book argues, in conversation with Butler, Levinas, and Laplanche, that responsibility becomes possible only when we do not know what to do or how to respond, yet find ourselves under a demand to respond, and even more, to respond well to others. Drawing on the work of Butler, Adorno, and Foucault, Unbecoming Subjects examines critique as a central practice for moral philosophy. It interrogates the limits of moral and political knowledge and probes methods of social criticism to uncover and oppose injustices.


Book Synopsis Unbecoming Subjects by : Annika Thiem

Download or read book Unbecoming Subjects written by Annika Thiem and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moral philosophy and poststructuralism have long been considered two antithetical enterprises. Moral philosophy is invested in securing norms, whereas poststructuralism attempts to unclench the grip of norms on our lives. Moreover, poststructuralism is often suspected of undoing the possibility of ethical knowledge by emphasizing the unstable, socially constructed nature of our practices and knowledge. In Unbecoming Subjects, Annika Thiem argues that Judith Butler's work makes possible a productive encounter between moral philosophy and poststructuralism, rethinking responsibility and critique as key concepts at the juncture of ethics and politics. Putting into conversation Butler's earlier and most recent work, Unbecoming Subjects begins by examining how Butler's critique of the subject as nontransparent to itself, formed thoroughly through relations of power and in subjection to norms and social practices, poses a challenge to ethics and ethical agency. The book argues, in conversation with Butler, Levinas, and Laplanche, that responsibility becomes possible only when we do not know what to do or how to respond, yet find ourselves under a demand to respond, and even more, to respond well to others. Drawing on the work of Butler, Adorno, and Foucault, Unbecoming Subjects examines critique as a central practice for moral philosophy. It interrogates the limits of moral and political knowledge and probes methods of social criticism to uncover and oppose injustices.


Judith Butler

Judith Butler

Author: Elena Loizidou

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-09

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9781845680633

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It is undisputed that Judith Butler is the philosopher who invited us to think and imagine the subject as the effect of gender processes and practices. Over the last twenty years critical legal scholarship engaged either overtly or covertly with the question of the legal subject. And in this book, Elena Loizidou takes up Judith Butler's work as a reading of how the legal subject is formed. The most dominant notion of the legal subject within critical legal studies is one that is primarily pre-political, a-historical and spirit. As Loizidou argues, however, Butler returns this notion of the legal subject to its materiality and its embodiment; challenging legal scholarship to re-think its understanding of the subject and of its effects.


Book Synopsis Judith Butler by : Elena Loizidou

Download or read book Judith Butler written by Elena Loizidou and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-09 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is undisputed that Judith Butler is the philosopher who invited us to think and imagine the subject as the effect of gender processes and practices. Over the last twenty years critical legal scholarship engaged either overtly or covertly with the question of the legal subject. And in this book, Elena Loizidou takes up Judith Butler's work as a reading of how the legal subject is formed. The most dominant notion of the legal subject within critical legal studies is one that is primarily pre-political, a-historical and spirit. As Loizidou argues, however, Butler returns this notion of the legal subject to its materiality and its embodiment; challenging legal scholarship to re-think its understanding of the subject and of its effects.


Butler and Ethics

Butler and Ethics

Author: Moya Lloyd

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2015-06-03

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0748678867

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Bringing together a group of internationally renowned theorists, these 9 essays asks whether there has been an 'ethical turn' in Butler's work, exploring how ethics relate to politics and how they connect to her increasing concern with violence, war and conflict.


Book Synopsis Butler and Ethics by : Moya Lloyd

Download or read book Butler and Ethics written by Moya Lloyd and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-03 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together a group of internationally renowned theorists, these 9 essays asks whether there has been an 'ethical turn' in Butler's work, exploring how ethics relate to politics and how they connect to her increasing concern with violence, war and conflict.


Conscience, Consciousness and Ethics in Joseph Butler's Philosophy and Ministry

Conscience, Consciousness and Ethics in Joseph Butler's Philosophy and Ministry

Author: Bob Tennant

Publisher: Boydell Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1843836122

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Offers a new interpretation of Butler's theology and suggests that exploration of his methods may contribute to modern thinking about ethics, language, the Church as well as religion and science.


Book Synopsis Conscience, Consciousness and Ethics in Joseph Butler's Philosophy and Ministry by : Bob Tennant

Download or read book Conscience, Consciousness and Ethics in Joseph Butler's Philosophy and Ministry written by Bob Tennant and published by Boydell Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers a new interpretation of Butler's theology and suggests that exploration of his methods may contribute to modern thinking about ethics, language, the Church as well as religion and science.


Human Rights Ethics

Human Rights Ethics

Author: Clark Butler

Publisher: Purdue University Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9781557534804

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Human Rights Ethics makes an important contribution to contemporary philosophical and political debates concerning the advancement of global justice and human rights. Butler's book also lays claim to a significant place in both normative ethics and human rights studies in as much as it seeks to vindicate a universalistic, rational approach to human rights ethics. Butler's innovative approach is not based on murky claims to "natural rights" that supposedly hold wherever human beings exist; nor does it succumb to the traditional problems of justification associated with utilitarianism, Kantianism, and other procedural approaches to human rights studies. Instead, Butler proposes "a dialectical justification of human rights by indirect proof" that claims not to be question begging. Very much in the spirit of Hegel and Habermas, Butler proposes to vindicate a "totally rational account of human rights," but one that depends concretely and historically on a dialectically constructed "right to freedom of thought in its universal modes."


Book Synopsis Human Rights Ethics by : Clark Butler

Download or read book Human Rights Ethics written by Clark Butler and published by Purdue University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human Rights Ethics makes an important contribution to contemporary philosophical and political debates concerning the advancement of global justice and human rights. Butler's book also lays claim to a significant place in both normative ethics and human rights studies in as much as it seeks to vindicate a universalistic, rational approach to human rights ethics. Butler's innovative approach is not based on murky claims to "natural rights" that supposedly hold wherever human beings exist; nor does it succumb to the traditional problems of justification associated with utilitarianism, Kantianism, and other procedural approaches to human rights studies. Instead, Butler proposes "a dialectical justification of human rights by indirect proof" that claims not to be question begging. Very much in the spirit of Hegel and Habermas, Butler proposes to vindicate a "totally rational account of human rights," but one that depends concretely and historically on a dialectically constructed "right to freedom of thought in its universal modes."


Judith Butler and Subjectivity

Judith Butler and Subjectivity

Author: Parisa Shams

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-08-06

Total Pages: 85

ISBN-13: 981156051X

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This book contextualises philosophy by bringing Judith Butler’s critique of identity into dialogue with an analysis of the transgressive self in dramatic literature. The author draws on Butler’s reflections on human agency and subjectivity to offer a fresh perspective for understanding the political and ethical stakes of identity as formed within a complex web of relations with human and non-human others. The book first positions a detailed analysis of Butler’s theory of subject formation within a broader framework of feminist philosophy and then incorporates examples and case studies from dramatic literature to argue that the subject is formed in relation to external forces, yet within its formation lies a space for transgressing the same environments and relations that condition the subject’s existence. By virtue of a fundamental dependency on conditions and relations that bring human beings into existence, they emerge as political and ethical agents capable of resisting the formative forces of power and responding – ethically – to the call of others.


Book Synopsis Judith Butler and Subjectivity by : Parisa Shams

Download or read book Judith Butler and Subjectivity written by Parisa Shams and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-08-06 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contextualises philosophy by bringing Judith Butler’s critique of identity into dialogue with an analysis of the transgressive self in dramatic literature. The author draws on Butler’s reflections on human agency and subjectivity to offer a fresh perspective for understanding the political and ethical stakes of identity as formed within a complex web of relations with human and non-human others. The book first positions a detailed analysis of Butler’s theory of subject formation within a broader framework of feminist philosophy and then incorporates examples and case studies from dramatic literature to argue that the subject is formed in relation to external forces, yet within its formation lies a space for transgressing the same environments and relations that condition the subject’s existence. By virtue of a fundamental dependency on conditions and relations that bring human beings into existence, they emerge as political and ethical agents capable of resisting the formative forces of power and responding – ethically – to the call of others.


The Non-Sovereign Self, Responsibility, and Otherness

The Non-Sovereign Self, Responsibility, and Otherness

Author: Rosine Kelz

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-02-09

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1137508973

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Drawing on Hannah Arendt, Judith Butler and Stanley Cavell, this book addresses contemporary theoretical and political debates in a broader comparative perspective and rearticulates the relationship between ethics and politics by highlighting those who are currently excluded from our notions of political community.


Book Synopsis The Non-Sovereign Self, Responsibility, and Otherness by : Rosine Kelz

Download or read book The Non-Sovereign Self, Responsibility, and Otherness written by Rosine Kelz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-02-09 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on Hannah Arendt, Judith Butler and Stanley Cavell, this book addresses contemporary theoretical and political debates in a broader comparative perspective and rearticulates the relationship between ethics and politics by highlighting those who are currently excluded from our notions of political community.