Enlightenment in an Age of Destruction

Intellectuals, World Disorder, and the Politics of Empire
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-3-319-70783-9
Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 171 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 358 g

Reihe: Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice

This book is about the ways in which modern enlightenment, rather than liberating humanity from tyranny, has subjected us to new servitude imposed by systems of mass manipulation, electronic vigilance, compulsive consumerism, and the horrors of a seemingly unending global war on terror. The main intellectual aims of this title are the following: the analysis of spectacle, the criticism of providential enlightenment, and the examination of positive dialectics. The spectacle, in this case, is the apotheosis of the culture industries, a total inversion of reality and of our existences. Providential enlightenment is not only a critique of the failure of enlightenment, but of the mutilation of historical enlightenments. Positive dialectics signal a new era of intellectual engagement in the construction of our historical future. During a time in which national democracies seem an imperial farce, it is not enough for intellectuals faced with all this destruction to blithely recommend resistance. The book thus ties American, British, French and German theoretical traditions into a reflexive challenge to the notion of intellectual as critic, and argues instead for a trespassive tradition of cultural leadership.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Britt, Christopher

Subirats, Eduardo

Fenn, Paul

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Redefining Enlightenment.- 2. Critique of Providential Enlightenment.- 3. Enlightenment and Power.- 4. Enlightenment in an Age of Destruction.

Über Autor(innen)

Christopher Britt is Associate Professor at The George Washington University, USA. He is the author of Quixotism: The Imaginative Denial of Spain’s Loss of Empire (2005) and of Imperial Idiocy: A Reflection on Forced Displacement in the Americas (Forthcoming: 2017).

Paul Fenn is the leader of the Community Choice Energy movement to localize energy in the United States. He is the author of several hallmark U.S. laws (California AB117, 2002; Massachusetts Chapter 164; San Francisco Charter Section 9.107.8, 2001; Oakland Measure X, 1998); primary architect of implemented policies to localize and democratize energy (San Francisco, 2013, Sonoma County, 2014); and author of numerous published essays.

Eduardo Subirats is Professor at New York University, USA. He is the author of some forty books in Spanish, as well as many articles in Spanish, German, English, and Portuguese. His main books deal with topics of aesthetics, cultural theory, colonialism, and literary theory.