Critical Connections – serie

From Cantor to category/topos theory, from Lacan to Lautman and from Sartre to the subject, these 13 essays engage directly with the work of Alain Badiou. They focus on the philosophical content of Badiou’s work and show how he connects both with his contemporaries and his philosophical heritage. This is an important collection for anyone interested in the work of Badiou and contemporary Continental philosophy.

Svirsky and Bignall assemble leading figures to explore the rich philosophical linkages and the political concerns shared by Agamben and postcolonial theory. 12 essays situate Agamben's theories of the 'state of exception' and 'bare life' are in critical relation to the existence of these phenomena in the colonial/postcolonial world. Countries studied include: Russia, Israel and Palestine, Africa the Americas, Asia and Australia.

12 new essays evaluating Agamben's work from a postcolonial perspective.Svirsky and Bignall assemble leading figures to explore the rich philosophical linkages and the political concerns shared by Agamben and postcolonial theory.Agamben's theories of the 'state of exception' and 'bare life' are situated in critical relation to the existence of these phenomena in the colonial/postcolonial world. • Features an international set of expert contributors who approach postcolonial criticism from an interdisciplinary perspective• Deals with colonial and postcolonial issues in Russia, Israel and Palestine, Africa the Americas, Asia and Australia• Offers new insights on colonial exclusion, racism and postcolonial democracy• A timely intervention to debates in poststructuralist, postcolonial and postmodern studies for students of politics, critical theory and social & political philosophy

This collection of 12 essays includes an exclusive interview with Laruelle, a new essay by him and a bibliography. It is an indispensable guide for those seeking an overview of his thought as well as an understanding of its contemporary relevance. François Laruelle is one of the most important French philosophers of the last 20 years, and as his texts have become available in English there has been a rising tide of interest in his work, particularly on the concept of 'Non-Philosophy'. Non-philosophy radically rethinks many of the most cutting-edge concepts such as immanence, pluralism, resistance, science, democracy, decisionism, Marxism, theology and materialism. It also expands our view of what counts as philosophical thought, through art, science and politics, and beyond to fields as varied as film, animality and material objects.

This is the first collection of critical essays on the film work of the philosopher Jacques Rancière. Rancière rose to prominence as a radical egalitarian philosopher, political theorist and historian. Recently he has intervened into the discourses of film theory and film studies, publishing controversial and challenging works on these topics. This book offers an exciting range of responses to and assessments of his contributions to film studies and includes an afterword response to the essays by Rancière himself.

This collection of 13 original writings, including a newly translated piece by Virilio himself, is the first genuine appraisal of Virilio's contribution to contemporary art, photography, film, television and more. Paul Virilio is one of the leading and most challenging critics of art and technology of the present period. Re-conceptualising the most enduring philosophical conventions on everything from technology and photography to literature, anthropology, cultural, and media studies through his own original theories and arguments, Virilio's work has produced substantial debate, compelling readers to ask if his criticism is out of touch or out in front of traditional perspectives.

These 17 essays covers all aspects of Bernard Stiegler's work, from poststructuralism, anthropology and psychoanalysis to his work on the politics of memory, 'libidinal economy', technoscience and aesthetics, keeping a focus on his key theory of technics throughout. Stiegler brings together key concepts from Plato, Freud, Derrida and Simondon to argue that the human is 'invented' through technics rather than a product of purely biological evolution. Stiegler is a thinker at the forefront of our contemporary concerns with consumerism, technology, inter-generational division, political apathy and economic crisis. His ambitious project is to go beyond these sources of social distress to uncover and examine precisely 'what makes life worth living'. Contributors include: Stephen Barker, University of California Irvine and translator of Steigler; Richard Beardsworth, American University of Paris and translator of Stiegler; Miguel de Beistegui; University of Warwick; Marc Crepon, Ecole normale superieure and co-founder of Stiegler's think tank, Ars Industrialis and Daniel Ross, co-director of 'The Ister', the award-winning film on Heidegger, and translator of Stiegler.

The essays in this volume, including a new piece by Badiou himself, reflect the formative traditions that shape the background of his political thought. They intervene critically and evaluate the present state of Badiou's work, while also breaking new ground and creating new thresholds of political thought. It includes a range of established scholars and rising theorists of the Badiou-effect, each engaging with the critical question of 'how to transmit the exception' politically, at the intersection of contemporary anti-imperial polemics and debates that strike at the heart of the post-modern condition (Lyotard), deconstruction (Derrida), psychoanalysis (Lacan-Zizek), biopolitics (Hardt and Negri) and pedagogy (Ranciere).

Judith Butler is best known for Gender Trouble (1990), the book that introduced the idea of gender performativity. However, with the publication of Giving an Account of Oneself in 2005, it appeared that her work had taken a different turn: away from considerations of sex, gender, sexuality and politics, and towards ethics. Bringing together a group of internationally renowned theorists, these 9 essays ask whether there has been an ‘ethical turn’ in Butler's work, exploring how ethics relate to politics and how they connect to her increasing concern with violence, war and conflict.

Judith Butler is best known for Gender Trouble (1990), the book that introduced the idea of gender performativity. However, with the publication of Giving an Account of Oneself in 2005, it appeared that her work had taken a different turn: away from considerations of sex, gender, sexuality and politics, and towards ethics. Bringing together a group of internationally renowned theorists, these 9 essays ask whether there has been an ‘ethical turn’ in Butler's work, exploring how ethics relate to politics and how they connect to her increasing concern with violence, war and conflict.

Jean-Luc Nancy's latest contributions to philosophy compel us to ask: what sort of politics do we have once we are exposed to the finitude of sense? The internationally recognised contributors to this collection illuminate some of the most challenging aspects of Nancy's thought, making previously unexplored connections and offering spirited interpretations. Focussed around three core themes - capitalism, the metaphysics of democracy and aesthetics - these 12 essays emphasise the potential of Nancy's political thought, and collectively situate it within a broader intellectual context which includes engagements with Badiou, Rancière, Foucault, Agamben and Lefort. It is an essential read for anyone interested in current trends in political philosophy, aesthetics, critical theory and social and political thought.

Jean-Luc Nancy's latest contributions to philosophy compel us to ask: what sort of politics do we have once we are exposed to the finitude of sense? The internationally recognised contributors to this collection illuminate some of the most challenging aspects of Nancy's thought, making previously unexplored connections and offering spirited interpretations. Focussed around three core themes - capitalism, the metaphysics of democracy and aesthetics - these 12 essays emphasise the potential of Nancy's political thought, and collectively situate it within a broader intellectual context which includes engagements with Badiou, Rancière, Foucault, Agamben and Lefort. It is an essential read for anyone interested in current trends in political philosophy, aesthetics, critical theory and social and political thought.

Claude Chabrol's cinema is generally associated with a specific type of psychological thriller, one set in the French provinces and fascinated with murder, incest, fragmented families, unstable spaces and inscrutable female characters. But Chabrol's films are both deceptively accessible and deeply reflexive, and in this innovative reappraisal of his filmography Catherine Dousteyssier-Khoze explores the Chabrol who was influenced by Balzac, Magritte and Stanley Kubrick. Bringing to the fore Chabrol’s ‘aesthetic of opacity’, the book deconstructs the apparent clarity and comfort of his chosen genre, encouraging the viewer to reflect on the relationship between illusion and reality, and the status of the film image itself.

These 13 essays explore Bruno Latour’s legal theory from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. They combine analytical tools drawn from Latour's actor-network theory developed in Science in Action, Reassembling the Social and The Making of Law with the philosophical anthropology of the Moderns in An Inquiry into Modes of Existence to blaze a new trail in legal epistemology.

These 13 essays explore Bruno Latour’s legal theory from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. They combine analytical tools drawn from Latour's actor-network theory developed in Science in Action, Reassembling the Social and The Making of Law with the philosophical anthropology of the Moderns in An Inquiry into Modes of Existence to blaze a new trail in legal epistemology.

These 13 original essays engage with Rancière’s accounts of literature from across his work, putting his conceptual apparatus to work in acts of literary criticism. From his archival investigations of the literary efforts of 19th-century workers to his engagements with specific novelists and poets, and from his concept of 'literarity' to his central positioning of the novel in his account of the three 'regimes' of literary practice, this collection unearths, consolidates, evaluates and critiques Rancière's work on literature.

These 13 original essays engage with Rancière’s accounts of literature from across his work, putting his conceptual apparatus to work in acts of literary criticism. From his archival investigations of the literary efforts of 19th-century workers to his engagements with specific novelists and poets, and from his concept of 'literarity' to his central positioning of the novel in his account of the three 'regimes' of literary practice, this collection unearths, consolidates, evaluates and critiques Rancière's work on literature.

These 12 essays give you new perspectives on Agamben s recent work on government and his relationship to the revolutionary tradition, opening up new ways of thinking about politics and critical theory in the post-financial crisis world.

This collection explores Balibar’s rethinking of the connections between subjection and subjectivity by tracing the genealogies of these concepts in their discursive history. The 12 essays provide an overview of Balibar’s work after his collaboration with Althusser. They explain and expand his framework; in particular, by restoring Arabic and Islamic thought to the conversation on the citizen subject. The collection includes two previously untranslated essays by Balibar himself on Carl Schmitt and Thomas Hobbes.

In an exciting range of original responses to Nancy’s work, these 12 essays reanimate the dialogue between interdisciplinary scholars and practicing artists that originally gave birth to visual culture as a field of study.  A new translation of Nancy’s essay, 'The Image: Mimesis and Methexis', reveals how Nancy’s work informs, challenges and inspires our encounters with visual culture.

This collection explores Balibar’s rethinking of the connections between subjection and subjectivity by tracing the genealogies of these concepts in their discursive history. The 12 essays provide an overview of Balibar’s work after his collaboration with Althusser. They explain and expand his framework; in particular, by restoring Arabic and Islamic thought to the conversation on the citizen subject. The collection includes two previously untranslated essays by Balibar himself on Carl Schmitt and Thomas Hobbes.

The place of music in Rancière’s thought has long been underestimated or unrecognised. This volume responds to this absence with a collection of 15 essays by scholars from a variety of music- and sound-related fields, including an Afterword by Rancière on the role of music in his thought and writing. The essays engage closely with Rancière’s existing commentary on music and its relationship to other arts in the aesthetic regime, revealed through detailed case studies around music, sound and listening. Rancière’s thought is explored along a number of music-historical trajectories, including Italian and German opera, Romantic and modernist music, Latin American and South African music, jazz, and contemporary popular music. Rancière’s work is also set creatively in dialogue with other key contemporary thinkers including Adorno, Althusser, Badiou and Deleuze.