Cover of Richard Gunn & Adrian Wilding, Revolutionary Recognition, Bloomsbury, published January ... more Cover of Richard Gunn & Adrian Wilding, Revolutionary Recognition, Bloomsbury, published January 2021. Paperback due July 2022.
The publication of the first three volumes of Open Marxism in the 1990s has had a transformative ... more The publication of the first three volumes of Open Marxism in the 1990s has had a transformative impact on how we think about Marxism in the twenty-first century.
'Open Marxism' aims to think of Marxism as a theory of struggle, not as an objective analysis of capitalist domination, arguing that money, capital and the state are forms of struggle from above and therefore open to resistance and rebellion. As critical thought is squeezed out of universities and geographical shifts shape the terrain of theoretical discussion, the editors argue now is the time for a new volume that reflects the work that has been carried out during the past decade. Emphasising the contemporary relevance of 'open Marxism' in our moment of political and economic uncertainty, the collection shines a light on its significance for activists and academics today.
In this paper, we explore some of the political implications of the ‘left-Hegelian’ revival set o... more In this paper, we explore some of the political implications of the ‘left-Hegelian’ revival set out in our book Revolutionary Recognition. We do so by addressing a topical theme, namely ‘abolitionism’, much discussed in recent social and political theory, where it is understood not just as referring to the 19th century campaign against black slavery, but as encapsulating contemporary struggles against the institutions of racial domination. We argue here that philosophical resources for understanding the radicality of today’s ‘abolitionist’ movement can be found in what for some people will be an unlikely place – namely in the work of Hegel. Hegel may seem an unlikely resource for thinking about abolitionism for one simple reason: the undeniably Eurocentric and arguably racist statements that appear in his (late) philosophy of history. We agree that these statements must be unequivocally condemned, but deny that this entails jettisoning Hegel’s political thought altogether. Indeed to do so would be misguided, since in Hegel’s (early) Phenomenology of Spirit we find a far-reaching and still relevant critique of slavery and – by implication – the institutions of today’s racial domination.
Keywords: Hegel, abolitionism, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, Black Lives Matter, recognition, institutions
En el presente breve artículo, comentamos Revolutionary Recognition, escrito conjuntamente por Ri... more En el presente breve artículo, comentamos Revolutionary Recognition, escrito conjuntamente por Richard Gunn y Adrian Wilding y publicado por Bloomsbury Press of London el 14 de enero de 2021. El objetivo de nuestro libro es articular las afirmaciones de la izquierda radical en los últimos años.
English version. German translation will appear in Festschrift für Günter Gersting (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2022), 2022
The article offers a series of reflections on Adorno’s aesthetics by means of a discussion of his... more The article offers a series of reflections on Adorno’s aesthetics by means of a discussion of his treatment of two writers: Beckett and Proust. For Adorno these two writers give aesthetic expression to the poles of human experience under modern capitalism. In the contrast between their works, Adorno finds expression of an experience that stretches between its telos and its negation – between experience that is emphatic, coherent and integral, and experience that is empty, homogeneous and ‘damaged’. In Beckett’s and Proust’s experiments with form, Adorno sees aesthetic manifestation of capitalism’s negation of experience and the possibility of transcending this negation. Yet neither writer strictly portrays a ‘right’ or a ‘false’ life; rather, each contains a moment of the other. The article concludes with some comments on the relation between form and critique, and on the debate over whether Adorno is obligated – against his express intent – to a normative vision of ‘the right life’.
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Der Artikel bietet eine Reihe von Reflexionen über Adornos Ästhetik vermittels einer Diskussion über seine Behandlung von zwei Schriftstellern: Beckett und Proust. Für Adorno bringen diese beiden Schriftsteller die Grundbausteine menschlicher Erfahrung im modernen Kapitalismus ästhetisch zum Ausdruck. Im Gegensatz dieser beiden Werke bringt Adorno eine Erfahrung zum Ausdruck, die sich zwischen ihrem Telos und ihrer Verneinung erstreckt – zwischen einer Erfahrung, die emphatisch, kohärent und integral ist, und einer Erfahrung, die leer, homogen und „beschädigt“ ist. Adorno erkennt in Becketts und Prousts Experimenten mit der Form eine ästhetische Manifestation der kapitalistischen Negation von Erfahrung und zugleich die Möglichkeit, diese Negation zu überwinden. Dennoch portraitiert keiner der beiden Autoren grundsätzlich ein „richtiges“ oder „falsches“ Leben; vielmehr enthält jeder von ihnen ein Moment des anderen. Der Artikel schließt mit einigen Kommentaren zum Verhältnis von Form und Kritik sowie zur Debatte darüber, ob Adorno – entgegen seiner ausdrücklichen Absicht – einer normativen Vision vom „richtigen Leben“ verpflichtet sein sollte.
Published in South Atlantic Quarterly, May 4, 2014
The eruption of global struggles in 2010 calls for theoretical reflection. What distinguishes the... more The eruption of global struggles in 2010 calls for theoretical reflection. What distinguishes the new movements is not only their refusal of the existing socioeconomic order but their conscious experiments in alternative forms of social organisation, interaction and self-determination. This article argues that the movements' inspiring mix of 'refusal' and 'alternatives' can be understood within a theoretical framework which foregrounds the concepts of contradiction and recognition. In this context, we present Marcuse and Žižek as theorists who, in different fashions, turn away from contradictions that an alienated world contains. Self-determination exists -but in a self-contradictory way. We argue thus that recognition is a fundamental category of revolution.
In 2012, a series of lectures in Weimar explored the legacy of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. ... more In 2012, a series of lectures in Weimar explored the legacy of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. The lecture series took its title from a concept of Walter Benjamin's recently revived by Giorgio Agamben, Ausnahmezustand als Regel (The State of Exception as Rule), and gathered together such figures as Oskar Negt, Albrecht Wellmer, Martin Jay, Christoph Menke, Sigrid Weigel and Alfred Schmidt. Axel Honneth's contribution to the series, 'Herausforderungen der Freiheit. Die Aktualität der Kritischen Theorie' ('Challenges of Freedom: the Actuality of Critical Theory') saw him attempt to highlight and defend one particular legacy of first generation Frankfurt School thinking, namely their emphasis on ‘social freedom’. The present short paper supports Honneth's turn to the notion of social freedom but poses questions of the way Honneth construes this concept. Specifically, I argue that in tying social freedom to the method of ‘normative reconstruction’, and to a politics drawn from Hegel’s Rechtsphilosophie, Honneth misses its true critical and political potential.
In the course of the last twenty years, the term recognition has entered the lexicon of mainstrea... more In the course of the last twenty years, the term recognition has entered the lexicon of mainstream political theory. The present paper takes issue with accounts of recognition which have become influential in these decades. Our criticism of such accounts is twofold: themes explored in Hegel's pioneering account of recognition have been downplayed and, at the same time, the notion of recognition has been prised away from its revolutionary implications.
Discussion in our paper falls into three section. In the first, influential accounts of recognition given in the last twenty years are considered: more specifically, a brief comment on Charles Taylor's attempt to link the notion of recognition with multicultutalism is followed by a more extensive treatment of themes in Axel Honneth's work. In the second, aspects of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit are sketched. Our aim is to present the Phenomenology as a work whose conception of recognition differs markedly from that of discussions which have gone forward in recent years. In the third section, recognition's claims to be a notion that has revolutionary implications are explored – albeit in a sketchy and programmatic way.
The standpoint from which the present paper is written can be briefly indicated. During the twenty years of political theory with which our article has been concerned, Left Hegelianism (Marxism included) has undergone a period of eclipse. As part of this eclipse, recognition has been understood in less-than-revolutionary ways. Our article contributes to a Left-Hegelian resurgence. It does so by recollecting a perspective on recognition that was available before theory entered a period of politically darkened skies.
Published in Cosmos and History, Vol 6, no. 1 (2010).
Bruno Latour’s work, today becoming increa... more Published in Cosmos and History, Vol 6, no. 1 (2010).
Bruno Latour’s work, today becoming increasingly influential in philosophical circles, represents a clear challenge to prevailing philosophical accounts of the relation between human subjectivity and the natural world. The ‘political ecology’ which Latour sets out in works such as We Have Never Been Modern (1991) and more extensively in The Politics of Nature (1999) is a call to arms to rethink concepts of nature taken for granted ever since the time of Kant. Yet despite its apparent novelty, and despite its apparent break with post-Kantian continental philosophy, Latour’s thinking often unwittingly reworks philosophical moves made within that tradition, even during Kant’s lifetime, specifically in the movement known as Naturphilosophie. Bringing to light the elective affinities between Latour’s ideas and those of Naturphilosophie, this article suggests that the former unconsciously rehearses key tenets of the latter, in particular the claims made by Schelling against Kant. Moreover, Latour will be seen to succumb to the problems which a subsequent developer of Naturphilosophie – Hegel – would identify in Schelling’s own conception of nature. Finally, whilst Latour offers an apparently compelling alternative to notions of subject and object, free-will and mechanism, along with the conceptual separation of humans from the natural world, his thought often fails to achieve the genuine critique that would be adequate to comprehending these oppositions, and to explaining the ecological crisis in which both humans and nonhumans are caught up.
Published in Philosophy & Social Criticism, Jan 1, 2005
In a radio broadcast from 1933, Martin Heidegger explains his decision to refuse a Professorship ... more In a radio broadcast from 1933, Martin Heidegger explains his decision to refuse a Professorship at the University of Berlin by defending a philosophy which he says is rooted in the 'provinces'. The broadcast -entitled 'Creative Landscape' -sees Heidegger on the cusp of the 'turn' in his thought from the existentialism of Being and Time (1927) to the 'poetic thinking' of his work from the mid-1930s onwards. It is a fascinating yet neglected snapshot of his thought at a crucial historical moment, and also reveals some of the deeper problems raised by his philosophy -his rejection of epistemology, his anti-modernism, and the contradictions of fundamental ontology itself. The present paper argues that Heidegger's refusal of the Professorship reveals a deep antagonism between his philosophy of Being and the public sphere of the city, and highlights the weakness of Heidegger's thinking when faced with some of the central problems of modernity.
Cover of Richard Gunn & Adrian Wilding, Revolutionary Recognition, Bloomsbury, published January ... more Cover of Richard Gunn & Adrian Wilding, Revolutionary Recognition, Bloomsbury, published January 2021. Paperback due July 2022.
The publication of the first three volumes of Open Marxism in the 1990s has had a transformative ... more The publication of the first three volumes of Open Marxism in the 1990s has had a transformative impact on how we think about Marxism in the twenty-first century.
'Open Marxism' aims to think of Marxism as a theory of struggle, not as an objective analysis of capitalist domination, arguing that money, capital and the state are forms of struggle from above and therefore open to resistance and rebellion. As critical thought is squeezed out of universities and geographical shifts shape the terrain of theoretical discussion, the editors argue now is the time for a new volume that reflects the work that has been carried out during the past decade. Emphasising the contemporary relevance of 'open Marxism' in our moment of political and economic uncertainty, the collection shines a light on its significance for activists and academics today.
In this paper, we explore some of the political implications of the ‘left-Hegelian’ revival set o... more In this paper, we explore some of the political implications of the ‘left-Hegelian’ revival set out in our book Revolutionary Recognition. We do so by addressing a topical theme, namely ‘abolitionism’, much discussed in recent social and political theory, where it is understood not just as referring to the 19th century campaign against black slavery, but as encapsulating contemporary struggles against the institutions of racial domination. We argue here that philosophical resources for understanding the radicality of today’s ‘abolitionist’ movement can be found in what for some people will be an unlikely place – namely in the work of Hegel. Hegel may seem an unlikely resource for thinking about abolitionism for one simple reason: the undeniably Eurocentric and arguably racist statements that appear in his (late) philosophy of history. We agree that these statements must be unequivocally condemned, but deny that this entails jettisoning Hegel’s political thought altogether. Indeed to do so would be misguided, since in Hegel’s (early) Phenomenology of Spirit we find a far-reaching and still relevant critique of slavery and – by implication – the institutions of today’s racial domination.
Keywords: Hegel, abolitionism, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, Black Lives Matter, recognition, institutions
En el presente breve artículo, comentamos Revolutionary Recognition, escrito conjuntamente por Ri... more En el presente breve artículo, comentamos Revolutionary Recognition, escrito conjuntamente por Richard Gunn y Adrian Wilding y publicado por Bloomsbury Press of London el 14 de enero de 2021. El objetivo de nuestro libro es articular las afirmaciones de la izquierda radical en los últimos años.
English version. German translation will appear in Festschrift für Günter Gersting (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2022), 2022
The article offers a series of reflections on Adorno’s aesthetics by means of a discussion of his... more The article offers a series of reflections on Adorno’s aesthetics by means of a discussion of his treatment of two writers: Beckett and Proust. For Adorno these two writers give aesthetic expression to the poles of human experience under modern capitalism. In the contrast between their works, Adorno finds expression of an experience that stretches between its telos and its negation – between experience that is emphatic, coherent and integral, and experience that is empty, homogeneous and ‘damaged’. In Beckett’s and Proust’s experiments with form, Adorno sees aesthetic manifestation of capitalism’s negation of experience and the possibility of transcending this negation. Yet neither writer strictly portrays a ‘right’ or a ‘false’ life; rather, each contains a moment of the other. The article concludes with some comments on the relation between form and critique, and on the debate over whether Adorno is obligated – against his express intent – to a normative vision of ‘the right life’.
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Der Artikel bietet eine Reihe von Reflexionen über Adornos Ästhetik vermittels einer Diskussion über seine Behandlung von zwei Schriftstellern: Beckett und Proust. Für Adorno bringen diese beiden Schriftsteller die Grundbausteine menschlicher Erfahrung im modernen Kapitalismus ästhetisch zum Ausdruck. Im Gegensatz dieser beiden Werke bringt Adorno eine Erfahrung zum Ausdruck, die sich zwischen ihrem Telos und ihrer Verneinung erstreckt – zwischen einer Erfahrung, die emphatisch, kohärent und integral ist, und einer Erfahrung, die leer, homogen und „beschädigt“ ist. Adorno erkennt in Becketts und Prousts Experimenten mit der Form eine ästhetische Manifestation der kapitalistischen Negation von Erfahrung und zugleich die Möglichkeit, diese Negation zu überwinden. Dennoch portraitiert keiner der beiden Autoren grundsätzlich ein „richtiges“ oder „falsches“ Leben; vielmehr enthält jeder von ihnen ein Moment des anderen. Der Artikel schließt mit einigen Kommentaren zum Verhältnis von Form und Kritik sowie zur Debatte darüber, ob Adorno – entgegen seiner ausdrücklichen Absicht – einer normativen Vision vom „richtigen Leben“ verpflichtet sein sollte.
Published in South Atlantic Quarterly, May 4, 2014
The eruption of global struggles in 2010 calls for theoretical reflection. What distinguishes the... more The eruption of global struggles in 2010 calls for theoretical reflection. What distinguishes the new movements is not only their refusal of the existing socioeconomic order but their conscious experiments in alternative forms of social organisation, interaction and self-determination. This article argues that the movements' inspiring mix of 'refusal' and 'alternatives' can be understood within a theoretical framework which foregrounds the concepts of contradiction and recognition. In this context, we present Marcuse and Žižek as theorists who, in different fashions, turn away from contradictions that an alienated world contains. Self-determination exists -but in a self-contradictory way. We argue thus that recognition is a fundamental category of revolution.
In 2012, a series of lectures in Weimar explored the legacy of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. ... more In 2012, a series of lectures in Weimar explored the legacy of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. The lecture series took its title from a concept of Walter Benjamin's recently revived by Giorgio Agamben, Ausnahmezustand als Regel (The State of Exception as Rule), and gathered together such figures as Oskar Negt, Albrecht Wellmer, Martin Jay, Christoph Menke, Sigrid Weigel and Alfred Schmidt. Axel Honneth's contribution to the series, 'Herausforderungen der Freiheit. Die Aktualität der Kritischen Theorie' ('Challenges of Freedom: the Actuality of Critical Theory') saw him attempt to highlight and defend one particular legacy of first generation Frankfurt School thinking, namely their emphasis on ‘social freedom’. The present short paper supports Honneth's turn to the notion of social freedom but poses questions of the way Honneth construes this concept. Specifically, I argue that in tying social freedom to the method of ‘normative reconstruction’, and to a politics drawn from Hegel’s Rechtsphilosophie, Honneth misses its true critical and political potential.
In the course of the last twenty years, the term recognition has entered the lexicon of mainstrea... more In the course of the last twenty years, the term recognition has entered the lexicon of mainstream political theory. The present paper takes issue with accounts of recognition which have become influential in these decades. Our criticism of such accounts is twofold: themes explored in Hegel's pioneering account of recognition have been downplayed and, at the same time, the notion of recognition has been prised away from its revolutionary implications.
Discussion in our paper falls into three section. In the first, influential accounts of recognition given in the last twenty years are considered: more specifically, a brief comment on Charles Taylor's attempt to link the notion of recognition with multicultutalism is followed by a more extensive treatment of themes in Axel Honneth's work. In the second, aspects of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit are sketched. Our aim is to present the Phenomenology as a work whose conception of recognition differs markedly from that of discussions which have gone forward in recent years. In the third section, recognition's claims to be a notion that has revolutionary implications are explored – albeit in a sketchy and programmatic way.
The standpoint from which the present paper is written can be briefly indicated. During the twenty years of political theory with which our article has been concerned, Left Hegelianism (Marxism included) has undergone a period of eclipse. As part of this eclipse, recognition has been understood in less-than-revolutionary ways. Our article contributes to a Left-Hegelian resurgence. It does so by recollecting a perspective on recognition that was available before theory entered a period of politically darkened skies.
Published in Cosmos and History, Vol 6, no. 1 (2010).
Bruno Latour’s work, today becoming increa... more Published in Cosmos and History, Vol 6, no. 1 (2010).
Bruno Latour’s work, today becoming increasingly influential in philosophical circles, represents a clear challenge to prevailing philosophical accounts of the relation between human subjectivity and the natural world. The ‘political ecology’ which Latour sets out in works such as We Have Never Been Modern (1991) and more extensively in The Politics of Nature (1999) is a call to arms to rethink concepts of nature taken for granted ever since the time of Kant. Yet despite its apparent novelty, and despite its apparent break with post-Kantian continental philosophy, Latour’s thinking often unwittingly reworks philosophical moves made within that tradition, even during Kant’s lifetime, specifically in the movement known as Naturphilosophie. Bringing to light the elective affinities between Latour’s ideas and those of Naturphilosophie, this article suggests that the former unconsciously rehearses key tenets of the latter, in particular the claims made by Schelling against Kant. Moreover, Latour will be seen to succumb to the problems which a subsequent developer of Naturphilosophie – Hegel – would identify in Schelling’s own conception of nature. Finally, whilst Latour offers an apparently compelling alternative to notions of subject and object, free-will and mechanism, along with the conceptual separation of humans from the natural world, his thought often fails to achieve the genuine critique that would be adequate to comprehending these oppositions, and to explaining the ecological crisis in which both humans and nonhumans are caught up.
Published in Philosophy & Social Criticism, Jan 1, 2005
In a radio broadcast from 1933, Martin Heidegger explains his decision to refuse a Professorship ... more In a radio broadcast from 1933, Martin Heidegger explains his decision to refuse a Professorship at the University of Berlin by defending a philosophy which he says is rooted in the 'provinces'. The broadcast -entitled 'Creative Landscape' -sees Heidegger on the cusp of the 'turn' in his thought from the existentialism of Being and Time (1927) to the 'poetic thinking' of his work from the mid-1930s onwards. It is a fascinating yet neglected snapshot of his thought at a crucial historical moment, and also reveals some of the deeper problems raised by his philosophy -his rejection of epistemology, his anti-modernism, and the contradictions of fundamental ontology itself. The present paper argues that Heidegger's refusal of the Professorship reveals a deep antagonism between his philosophy of Being and the public sphere of the city, and highlights the weakness of Heidegger's thinking when faced with some of the central problems of modernity.
Alexander Kluge on Adorno, from an interview that appears in the 1989 documentary film Theodor W.... more Alexander Kluge on Adorno, from an interview that appears in the 1989 documentary film Theodor W. Adorno: Philosoph, Soziologe und Kritiker, by Henning Burk and Martin Lüdke (Hessischen Rundfunks & Westdeutschen Rundfunks). Translated by Adrian Wilding
Interview by Lars Langenau, first published in Süddeutsche Zeitung 2.6.2017, translated by Adrian... more Interview by Lars Langenau, first published in Süddeutsche Zeitung 2.6.2017, translated by Adrian Wilding
Question: Hate is a phenomenon, a fact, with which we are confronted -directly or indirectly -eve... more Question: Hate is a phenomenon, a fact, with which we are confronted -directly or indirectly -every day. Above all, I am thinking of that collective hate which one can exploit politically, manipulate. In our conversation I am particularly interested in how you judge racial hatred and class hatred. The motifs are different. But isn't the result -when considered -the same: the destruction of people?
Not the least virtue of the following 'position piece' is its brevity. The points we wish to make... more Not the least virtue of the following 'position piece' is its brevity. The points we wish to make can be stated within little more than a page. Two arguments are involved, both concerning common misunderstandings of Hegel. While they may appear merely terminological or textual, their ramifications are far-reaching.
In his 'Student Problems', written in 1964, Louis Althusser identifies what he sees as an asymmet... more In his 'Student Problems', written in 1964, Louis Althusser identifies what he sees as an asymmetry that lies at the centre of university-level teaching. 1 The asymmetry concerns the content of what is taught. In a situation where 'knowledge [savoir] … exists in a society', the 'pupil-teacher, lecturer-student, relationship' (p. 14) is afflicted by the asymmetry or imbalance that Althusser has in mind. Althusser's 'Student Problems' erects this point into a principle. 'No pedagogic questions, which all presuppose unequal knowledge between teachers and students', can be settled 'on the basis of pedagogic equality' (p. 14). With this principle in mind, Althusser declares against an '"anarchosyndicalist"' conception of pedagogy (p. 15) which, if carried through, condemns students to 'a long time in a half-knowledge' (p. 15). Althusser reports that 1960s radicals painted graffiti declaring that 'The Sorbonne is for the Students!'. He responds that the Sorbonne belongs to their teachers too (p. 14). Althusser was out of sympathy with the student movement of the 1960s which, as the world knows, stood establishments (educational amongst them) on their head. Why Althusser? We turn to 'Student Problems' not because it points to an esoteric or difficult-to-see issue. On the contrary, it is because the piece offers a succinct statement of a view of education that is, in effect, as old as the hills. 'Student Problems' predates the studies of Marx on which Althusser's fame rests. We may take it for granted that, in 'Student Problems', Althusser articulates long-standing and deeply-held views. 2 In a word, 'Student Problems' espouses a view of university education that Gunn and Wilding deplore.
For a considerable period of time, Silvia Federici's view of capitalism and neoliberalism in part... more For a considerable period of time, Silvia Federici's view of capitalism and neoliberalism in particular has struck us as coinciding with Marx's approach. Orthodox Marxism's conception of a heroic and mostly male proletariat is unwarranted by what Capital contains....
En la siguiente nota breve nos basamos en una charla dada por Michael Heinrich en Erfurt el 24 de... more En la siguiente nota breve nos basamos en una charla dada por Michael Heinrich en Erfurt el 24 de abril de 2018 y en su Karl Marx and the Birth of Modern Society: The Life of Marx and the Development of His Work, Volumen I: 1818-1841 (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2019).1 Los números de página sin referencia corresponden a este volumen.
In the following short note, we draw upon a talk given by Michael Heinrich in Erfurt on 24.4.2018... more In the following short note, we draw upon a talk given by Michael Heinrich in Erfurt on 24.4.2018 and on Heinrich’s Karl Marx and the Birth of Modern Society: The Life of Marx and the Development of His Work, Volume I: 1818-1841 (New York: Monthly Review Press 2019).
In a previous piece on the Heathwood website, we argued that Frankfurt School critical theory fal... more In a previous piece on the Heathwood website, we argued that Frankfurt School critical theory falls into two distinct periods. 1 In the first, which runs from the 1920s until the 1970s, the School's writings remain challenging and forward-looking and inspirational. In the second, during which Habermas and (following Habermas) Honneth are the main figures, Frankfurt School theorising loses its critical and revolutionary edge. In the present contribution, we add detail to these generalisations.
Two course curricula: "Critical Theory" and "Holocaust and Liberation Sociology", both offered as... more Two course curricula: "Critical Theory" and "Holocaust and Liberation Sociology", both offered as part of the MA in Social and Political Thought, University of Warwick, 1991-2. The second curriculum has my own annotations from Gillian's spoken introduction to the course (please excuse my handwriting).
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Books by Adrian Wilding
'Open Marxism' aims to think of Marxism as a theory of struggle, not as an objective analysis of capitalist domination, arguing that money, capital and the state are forms of struggle from above and therefore open to resistance and rebellion. As critical thought is squeezed out of universities and geographical shifts shape the terrain of theoretical discussion, the editors argue now is the time for a new volume that reflects the work that has been carried out during the past decade. Emphasising the contemporary relevance of 'open Marxism' in our moment of political and economic uncertainty, the collection shines a light on its significance for activists and academics today.
Papers by Adrian Wilding
Keywords: Hegel, abolitionism, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, Black Lives Matter, recognition, institutions
Traducción al castellano: Rodrigo Pascual.
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Der Artikel bietet eine Reihe von Reflexionen über Adornos Ästhetik vermittels einer Diskussion über seine Behandlung von zwei Schriftstellern: Beckett und Proust. Für Adorno bringen diese beiden Schriftsteller die Grundbausteine menschlicher Erfahrung im modernen Kapitalismus ästhetisch zum Ausdruck. Im Gegensatz dieser beiden Werke bringt Adorno eine Erfahrung zum Ausdruck, die sich zwischen ihrem Telos und ihrer Verneinung erstreckt – zwischen einer Erfahrung, die emphatisch, kohärent und integral ist, und einer Erfahrung, die leer, homogen und „beschädigt“ ist. Adorno erkennt in Becketts und Prousts Experimenten mit der Form eine ästhetische Manifestation der kapitalistischen Negation von Erfahrung und zugleich die Möglichkeit, diese Negation zu überwinden. Dennoch portraitiert keiner der beiden Autoren grundsätzlich ein „richtiges“ oder „falsches“ Leben; vielmehr enthält jeder von ihnen ein Moment des anderen. Der Artikel schließt mit einigen Kommentaren zum Verhältnis von Form und Kritik sowie zur Debatte darüber, ob Adorno – entgegen seiner ausdrücklichen Absicht – einer normativen Vision vom „richtigen Leben“ verpflichtet sein sollte.
see
https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/the-sage-handbook-of-frankfurt-school-critical-theory/book248517#contents
Discussion in our paper falls into three section. In the first, influential accounts of recognition given in the last twenty years are considered: more specifically, a brief comment on Charles Taylor's attempt to link the notion of recognition with multicultutalism is followed by a more extensive treatment of themes in Axel Honneth's work. In the second, aspects of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit are sketched. Our aim is to present the Phenomenology as a work whose conception of recognition differs markedly from that of discussions which have gone forward in recent years. In the third section, recognition's claims to be a notion that has revolutionary implications are explored – albeit in a sketchy and programmatic way.
The standpoint from which the present paper is written can be briefly indicated. During the twenty years of political theory with which our article has been concerned, Left Hegelianism (Marxism included) has undergone a period of eclipse. As part of this eclipse, recognition has been understood in less-than-revolutionary ways. Our article contributes to a Left-Hegelian resurgence. It does so by recollecting a perspective on recognition that was available before theory entered a period of politically darkened skies.
Bruno Latour’s work, today becoming increasingly influential in philosophical circles, represents a clear challenge to prevailing philosophical accounts of the relation between human subjectivity and the natural world. The ‘political ecology’ which Latour sets out in works such as We Have Never Been Modern (1991) and more extensively in The Politics of Nature (1999) is a call to arms to rethink concepts of nature taken for granted ever since the time of Kant. Yet despite its apparent novelty, and despite its apparent break with post-Kantian continental philosophy, Latour’s thinking often unwittingly reworks philosophical moves made within that tradition, even during Kant’s lifetime, specifically in the movement known as Naturphilosophie. Bringing to light the elective affinities between Latour’s ideas and those of Naturphilosophie, this article suggests that the former unconsciously rehearses key tenets of the latter, in particular the claims made by Schelling against Kant. Moreover, Latour will be seen to succumb to the problems which a subsequent developer of Naturphilosophie – Hegel – would identify in Schelling’s own conception of nature. Finally, whilst Latour offers an apparently compelling alternative to notions of subject and object, free-will and mechanism, along with the conceptual separation of humans from the natural world, his thought often fails to achieve the genuine critique that would be adequate to comprehending these oppositions, and to explaining the ecological crisis in which both humans and nonhumans are caught up.
Book Reviews by Adrian Wilding
'Open Marxism' aims to think of Marxism as a theory of struggle, not as an objective analysis of capitalist domination, arguing that money, capital and the state are forms of struggle from above and therefore open to resistance and rebellion. As critical thought is squeezed out of universities and geographical shifts shape the terrain of theoretical discussion, the editors argue now is the time for a new volume that reflects the work that has been carried out during the past decade. Emphasising the contemporary relevance of 'open Marxism' in our moment of political and economic uncertainty, the collection shines a light on its significance for activists and academics today.
Keywords: Hegel, abolitionism, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, Black Lives Matter, recognition, institutions
Traducción al castellano: Rodrigo Pascual.
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Der Artikel bietet eine Reihe von Reflexionen über Adornos Ästhetik vermittels einer Diskussion über seine Behandlung von zwei Schriftstellern: Beckett und Proust. Für Adorno bringen diese beiden Schriftsteller die Grundbausteine menschlicher Erfahrung im modernen Kapitalismus ästhetisch zum Ausdruck. Im Gegensatz dieser beiden Werke bringt Adorno eine Erfahrung zum Ausdruck, die sich zwischen ihrem Telos und ihrer Verneinung erstreckt – zwischen einer Erfahrung, die emphatisch, kohärent und integral ist, und einer Erfahrung, die leer, homogen und „beschädigt“ ist. Adorno erkennt in Becketts und Prousts Experimenten mit der Form eine ästhetische Manifestation der kapitalistischen Negation von Erfahrung und zugleich die Möglichkeit, diese Negation zu überwinden. Dennoch portraitiert keiner der beiden Autoren grundsätzlich ein „richtiges“ oder „falsches“ Leben; vielmehr enthält jeder von ihnen ein Moment des anderen. Der Artikel schließt mit einigen Kommentaren zum Verhältnis von Form und Kritik sowie zur Debatte darüber, ob Adorno – entgegen seiner ausdrücklichen Absicht – einer normativen Vision vom „richtigen Leben“ verpflichtet sein sollte.
see
https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/the-sage-handbook-of-frankfurt-school-critical-theory/book248517#contents
Discussion in our paper falls into three section. In the first, influential accounts of recognition given in the last twenty years are considered: more specifically, a brief comment on Charles Taylor's attempt to link the notion of recognition with multicultutalism is followed by a more extensive treatment of themes in Axel Honneth's work. In the second, aspects of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit are sketched. Our aim is to present the Phenomenology as a work whose conception of recognition differs markedly from that of discussions which have gone forward in recent years. In the third section, recognition's claims to be a notion that has revolutionary implications are explored – albeit in a sketchy and programmatic way.
The standpoint from which the present paper is written can be briefly indicated. During the twenty years of political theory with which our article has been concerned, Left Hegelianism (Marxism included) has undergone a period of eclipse. As part of this eclipse, recognition has been understood in less-than-revolutionary ways. Our article contributes to a Left-Hegelian resurgence. It does so by recollecting a perspective on recognition that was available before theory entered a period of politically darkened skies.
Bruno Latour’s work, today becoming increasingly influential in philosophical circles, represents a clear challenge to prevailing philosophical accounts of the relation between human subjectivity and the natural world. The ‘political ecology’ which Latour sets out in works such as We Have Never Been Modern (1991) and more extensively in The Politics of Nature (1999) is a call to arms to rethink concepts of nature taken for granted ever since the time of Kant. Yet despite its apparent novelty, and despite its apparent break with post-Kantian continental philosophy, Latour’s thinking often unwittingly reworks philosophical moves made within that tradition, even during Kant’s lifetime, specifically in the movement known as Naturphilosophie. Bringing to light the elective affinities between Latour’s ideas and those of Naturphilosophie, this article suggests that the former unconsciously rehearses key tenets of the latter, in particular the claims made by Schelling against Kant. Moreover, Latour will be seen to succumb to the problems which a subsequent developer of Naturphilosophie – Hegel – would identify in Schelling’s own conception of nature. Finally, whilst Latour offers an apparently compelling alternative to notions of subject and object, free-will and mechanism, along with the conceptual separation of humans from the natural world, his thought often fails to achieve the genuine critique that would be adequate to comprehending these oppositions, and to explaining the ecological crisis in which both humans and nonhumans are caught up.
Traducción del inglés: Alberto Bonnet