(On Tuesday, September 1, 2020, Lucy Allais of University of California, San Diego and University of Witwatersrand gave a virtual talk, “Racism in the History of Philosophy: Read Kant’s Political Theory” as part of the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory‘s Modern Critical Theory lecture series. The remarks below first appeared in Kritik.) The recurrent… Continue Reading Occupy Kant: remarks on racism and liberalism
Tag: political theory
Notes on Althusser’s Machiavelli (1)
At the end of the first chapter of Machiavelli and Us (“Theory and Political Practice”), Althusser gives his take on a classic question that structures much Machiavelli scholarship: “whom, then, does this work serve?” (29) Answers to this question are legion, ranging from “the devil” (as the early “anti-Machiavels” were wont to accuse) to the… Continue Reading Notes on Althusser’s Machiavelli (1)
Analytic notes on Roberto Esposito (Esposito 1)
There are three major substantive claims in Esposito, and they’re reciprocally intertwined. They concern his core terms – communitas, immunitas, and the munus. It may seem like I’m going backward here. However, although Esposito begins Communitas by discussing the munus, the trajectory I trace follows a necessary logic of emergence and justification. Claim 1 (communitas):… Continue Reading Analytic notes on Roberto Esposito (Esposito 1)