Ben Dorfman – författare

This collection of essays addresses the ongoing problem of dissent from a broad range of disciplinary perspectives: political philosophy, intellectual history, literary studies, aesthetics, architectural history and conceptualizations of the political past. Taking a global perspective, the volume examines the history of dissent both inside and outside the West, through events in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries both nearer to our own times as well as more distant, and through a range of styles reflecting how contested and pressing the problem of dissent in fact is. Drawing on a range of authors and international problematics, the contributions discuss the multiple ways in which we refract memories of dissent in cultural, historical and aesthetic context. It also discusses the diverse ideas, images and phenomena we use to do so.

Constituted of a range of essays, the present volume addresses a variety of contemporary and historical events from human rights perspectives. Taking on issues from the American presidential election to North Korean missile tests to terrorism and «civilizational» conflict to Cold War history, the current collection seeks to speak plainly by combining academic convention with a «feuilleton» style. Aimed at students and the public as much as other academics, the essays in this book seek to make rights concepts concrete by speaking to the issues through which they become salient: international conflict, social justice problems and the historical scenes that ask us to realize all human beings’ equality and dignity – an equality and dignity this book seeks to promote.

As the second decade of the twenty-first century closes, challenges to human rights have deepened. Democracy is under stress, cultural battles within states have become heightened, and strongman politics are on the rise. Contemporary and historical reflections on rights are perhaps more pressing than ever.This work addresses ongoing rights issues as well as offers aesthetic and historical reflections on human rights scenes. It addresses rights as a matter of cultural thoughtways, political philosophy, and social norms. The work employs academic, journalistic, and commentary-based styles and is intended to engage both academic and non-academic audiences.

Written in an style intended to speak to both academics and a general audience, The Consequences of Rights addresses what it means to encounter the human rights concept and advocate for rights from the position of the university academic but in the face of the reality that rights are the ultimate The Consequences of Rights addresses three questions: how, in the face of the notion that all ideas are historical (and hence norms change), can one justify defending human rights, what governmental systems might be suggested by human rights conceptsThe Consequences of Rights takes on these topics, inviting the public and scholars alike to consider their views on such problems. Ben Dorfman’s new book offers plenty of insights in an excellent and thought-provoking contribution to the scholarship on human rights and philosophy, global governance, and aesthetics. It stands out with delightful prose, beyond the common academic style, ingeniously relating theory on those decisive issues to the threats and dilemmas of the present.Mats Andrén, Professor, Dept. of Literature, History of Ideas and Religion, University of Gothenburg (already solicited)

Culture, Media, Theory, Practice - Perspectives