General Theory of Victims

François Laruelle is Professor Emeritus of the University of Paris X (Nanterre) and former director of the International College of Philosophy. He is the author of many works including Principles of Non-Philosophy and Future Christ: A Lesson in Heresy. Translated by Alex Dubilet and Jessie Hock

"General Theory of Victims demonstrates the force and rigour of Laruelle’s most recent thinking. He has created something genuinely original: an ethical theory untied from worldly subject positions and identities, transforming the understanding of the victim in our political and intellectual culture and offering a radically new conception of justice."Ian James, University of Cambridge "The philosopher’s victim is an abstraction, a theoretical plaything (where the roles of ‘oppressor’ and ‘oppressed’ can be as easily reversed as maintained). In this excellent translation of Laruelle’s work, we glimpse the presence of another, radical form of victim, one who cannot be theorized through philosophical concepts: beyond the ‘victimology’ of philosophy lies the ‘victim-in-person’."John Ó Maoilearca, Kingston University, London

• PrefaceIntroductionChapter One. The Victim-in-personChapter Two. Media Intellectual and Generic IntellectualChapter Three. The Injustice Done to the VictimChapter Four. Deduction of Murder and PersecutionChapter Five. Insurrection and ResurrectionChapter Six. Our Ordinary Messiahs