Victor Jeleniewski Seidler – författare

Ethical Humans questions how philosophy and social theory can help us to engage the everyday moral realities of living, working, loving, learning and dying in new capitalism. It introduces sociology as an art of living and as a formative tradition of embodied radical eco post-humanism.Seeking to embody traditions of philosophy and social theory in everyday ethics, this book validates emotions and feelings as sources of knowledge and shows how the denigration of women has gone hand in hand with the denigration of nature. It queries post-structuralist traditions of anti-humanism that, for all their insights into the fragmentation of identities, often sustain a distinction between nature and culture. The author argues that in a crisis of global warming, we have to learn to listen to our bodies as part of nature and draws on Wittgenstein to shape embodied forms of philosophy and social theory that questions theologies that tacitly continue to shape philosophical traditions. In acknowledging our own vulnerabilities, we question the vision of the autonomous and independent rational self that often remains within the terms of dominant white masculinities. This book offers different modes of self-work, drawing on psychoanalysis and embodied post-analytic psychotherapies as part of a decolonising practice questioning Eurocentric colonising modernity. In doing so it challenges, with Simone Weil, Roman notions of power and greatness that have shaped visions of white supremacy and European colonial power and empire.This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental ethics, environmental philosophy, social theory and sociology, ethics and philosophy, cultural studies, future studies, gender studies, post-colonial studies, Marxism, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy and philosophy and sociology as arts of living.

Ethical Humans questions how philosophy and social theory can help us to engage the everyday moral realities of living, working, loving, learning and dying in new capitalism. It introduces sociology as an art of living and as a formative tradition of embodied radical eco post-humanism.Seeking to embody traditions of philosophy and social theory in everyday ethics, this book validates emotions and feelings as sources of knowledge and shows how the denigration of women has gone hand in hand with the denigration of nature. It queries post-structuralist traditions of anti-humanism that, for all their insights into the fragmentation of identities, often sustain a distinction between nature and culture. The author argues that in a crisis of global warming, we have to learn to listen to our bodies as part of nature and draws on Wittgenstein to shape embodied forms of philosophy and social theory that questions theologies that tacitly continue to shape philosophical traditions. In acknowledging our own vulnerabilities, we question the vision of the autonomous and independent rational self that often remains within the terms of dominant white masculinities. This book offers different modes of self-work, drawing on psychoanalysis and embodied post-analytic psychotherapies as part of a decolonising practice questioning Eurocentric colonising modernity. In doing so it challenges, with Simone Weil, Roman notions of power and greatness that have shaped visions of white supremacy and European colonial power and empire.This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental ethics, environmental philosophy, social theory and sociology, ethics and philosophy, cultural studies, future studies, gender studies, post-colonial studies, Marxism, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy and philosophy and sociology as arts of living.

This important book seeks to place questions of morality and justice at the heart of social theory.  By exploring the works of Marx, Durkheim and Weber it shows the hidden complexities of a modernity too often identified with a unified vision of the rational self later to fall apart into fragments within postmodernity.  Reinstating the body and emotional life, Seidler sets new terms for respect and equality showing ways the self is undermined in its sense of self-worth and adequacy through the workings of relationships of power and subordination. Drawing upon feminism and Critical Theory to question the allegedly straightforward opposition between "essentialism" and "social constructionism" Seidler places the issues of morality right into the centre of "the self problem". Through reinstating connections between the self and the historical adventures of socialism, feminism, masculinity, ethnicity, and - autobiographically - Jewish identity, he shows the intimate affinity between these different categories of experience.  Identities are not "freely chosen" but involve a coming to terms with histories of class, race and gender.  Critical of postmodern theories in which anyhting goes and in which everything you see is relative, this book is concerned with the reassertion of value and recovering a viable tradition in which we can again explore issues of freedom and social justice. Our discussions have turned increasingly esoteric as they have sheltered in an intellectual cage which has been difficult to enter.  This book seeks to open-up the cage and re-establish the suspended conversation between social theory and the concerns of everyday life.

This important book seeks to place questions of morality and justice at the heart of social theory.  By exploring the works of Marx, Durkheim and Weber it shows the hidden complexities of a modernity too often identified with a unified vision of the rational self later to fall apart into fragments within postmodernity.  Reinstating the body and emotional life, Seidler sets new terms for respect and equality showing ways the self is undermined in its sense of self-worth and adequacy through the workings of relationships of power and subordination. Drawing upon feminism and Critical Theory to question the allegedly straightforward opposition between "essentialism" and "social constructionism" Seidler places the issues of morality right into the centre of "the self problem". Through reinstating connections between the self and the historical adventures of socialism, feminism, masculinity, ethnicity, and - autobiographically - Jewish identity, he shows the intimate affinity between these different categories of experience.  Identities are not "freely chosen" but involve a coming to terms with histories of class, race and gender.  Critical of postmodern theories in which anyhting goes and in which everything you see is relative, this book is concerned with the reassertion of value and recovering a viable tradition in which we can again explore issues of freedom and social justice. Our discussions have turned increasingly esoteric as they have sheltered in an intellectual cage which has been difficult to enter.  This book seeks to open-up the cage and re-establish the suspended conversation between social theory and the concerns of everyday life.

Urban Fears and Global Terrors After 7/7 explores the disruption around that day, taking people back to the events and the sense of loss, fear and mourning that followed. By framing a new landscape of urban fear Victor Seidler shows how new technologies helped to shape responses to a global terror that had been anticipated but was dreadful in its reality. By listening to the narratives people shaped for themselves Seidler shows the need for new forms of social theory that can come to terms with the contemporary realities of urban fear, complex identities and belongings. This book: explores the relationship of Islam to the West and ways in which this has been forgotten within traditional forms of social theory engages with a crisis of masculinities and the particular histories of migration and diaspora from the sub-continent follows the discussions around citizenship, identity and difference and the possibilities of belonging that were being fought out through different visions of multi-culture and integration that followed.This book will prove an incredibly useful resource for students and researchers of Political Sociology and Citizenship, Diaspora Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Cultural Theory, Ethics and Philosophy.

Urban Fears and Global Terrors After 7/7 explores the disruption around that day, taking people back to the events and the sense of loss, fear and mourning that followed. By framing a new landscape of urban fear Victor Seidler shows how new technologies helped to shape responses to a global terror that had been anticipated but was dreadful in its reality. By listening to the narratives people shaped for themselves Seidler shows the need for new forms of social theory that can come to terms with the contemporary realities of urban fear, complex identities and belongings. This book: explores the relationship of Islam to the West and ways in which this has been forgotten within traditional forms of social theory engages with a crisis of masculinities and the particular histories of migration and diaspora from the sub-continent follows the discussions around citizenship, identity and difference and the possibilities of belonging that were being fought out through different visions of multi-culture and integration that followed.This book will prove an incredibly useful resource for students and researchers of Political Sociology and Citizenship, Diaspora Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Cultural Theory, Ethics and Philosophy.

This timely and powerful autoethnography traces the spread of and responses to Covid-19: from the uncertainty surrounding its outbreak, to its devastating and continued aftermath. Following the virus in real time, it explores the fears, risks and responses to the global pandemic, and how it has shaped our everyday lives against the backdrop of social and political upheaval, and the looming climate crisis.Social theorist and moral philosopher, Victor Jeleniewski Seidler, discusses fundamental questions of inequality and injustice regarding race, class and gender brought to the fore by the visibility of varying risk levels, vulnerabilities and protections provided by legislative measures against the virus. This interdisciplinary analysis scrutinises values, ethics, responsibilities and uncertain futures formed by the global health crisis, and evaluates media and communications strategies, government responses and political communications at domestic and international levels. Seidler shares critical insights into the cultural history of pandemics, highlighting lessons to be learned from anticipating, preparing for and enduring moments of crisis. Perceiving how the pandemic and climate emergency are interwoven, the book concludes with an urgent call to rebuild sustainable economic, political and ecological imaginations.This wide-reaching volume will appeal to a broad academic readership in environmental studies, sociology, philosophy, health studies, cultural studies, gender studies, media and communication.

This timely and powerful autoethnography traces the spread of and responses to Covid-19: from the uncertainty surrounding its outbreak, to its devastating and continued aftermath. Following the virus in real time, it explores the fears, risks and responses to the global pandemic, and how it has shaped our everyday lives against the backdrop of social and political upheaval, and the looming climate crisis.Social theorist and moral philosopher, Victor Jeleniewski Seidler, discusses fundamental questions of inequality and injustice regarding race, class and gender brought to the fore by the visibility of varying risk levels, vulnerabilities and protections provided by legislative measures against the virus. This interdisciplinary analysis scrutinises values, ethics, responsibilities and uncertain futures formed by the global health crisis, and evaluates media and communications strategies, government responses and political communications at domestic and international levels. Seidler shares critical insights into the cultural history of pandemics, highlighting lessons to be learned from anticipating, preparing for and enduring moments of crisis. Perceiving how the pandemic and climate emergency are interwoven, the book concludes with an urgent call to rebuild sustainable economic, political and ecological imaginations.This wide-reaching volume will appeal to a broad academic readership in environmental studies, sociology, philosophy, health studies, cultural studies, gender studies, media and communication.

In the 1970s and 1980s, identities seemed to be 'fixed' through categories of class, 'race', ethnicity, gender, sexualities and religion. These days we have begun to recognise the diversity, fragmentation and fluidity of identities, but how do we create and shape our own? The book shapes a new language of social theory that allows people to embody their differences with a sense of dignity and self-worth. It draws on diverse traditions from Marx, Weber and Durkheim, as well as more recent traditions of critical theory and post-structuralism, and will be of interest to sociology, politics, social work, philosophy and cultural studies students.

In the 1970s and 1980s, identities seemed to be 'fixed' through categories of class, 'race', ethnicity, gender, sexualities and religion. These days we have begun to recognise the diversity, fragmentation and fluidity of identities, but how do we create and shape our own? The book shapes a new language of social theory that allows people to embody their differences with a sense of dignity and self-worth. It draws on diverse traditions from Marx, Weber and Durkheim, as well as more recent traditions of critical theory and post-structuralism, and will be of interest to sociology, politics, social work, philosophy and cultural studies students.

"How can we make sense of being born and growing up in the shadows of the Shoah without being able to speak about the unspeakable terror that killed so many in our families? As the second generation we were rarely to hear stories of love and loss or to participate in the mourning of so many who had been brutally murdered. Rather we were to grow up 'normally', and to learn to turn our backs on the past as we struggled towards future identities while imagining ourselves 'like everyone else'. Fearful of difference we were often ambivalent about Jewish identities that could threaten a sense of 'Englishness'." Exploring the painful dynamics of personal identity and belonging, Victor Jeleniewski Seidler shares the difficulties of memory. How is it possible ever really to belong and feel safe and yet remember what happened to Jewish families in Poland? How can one remember without feeling overwhelmed by the terror? Crossing boundaries in a journey to Poland enabled the author to rethink a relationship between Judaism and modernity, as well as to reflect on the painful histories between Poles and Jews.Questions about memory, identity and belonging touch the lives of many people who live in the shadows of historical trauma. Learning to think in new ways about the Shoah as a defining crisis within modernity, Seidler also helps us imagine an ethics for a postmodern time.