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The concept of the social : scepticism, idleness and utopia / Malcolm Bull.

By: Publication details: London : New York : Verso Books, 2021.Description: viii, 241 pages ; 22 cmISBN:
  • 9781844672936
  • 184467293X
  • 9781839764301
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction -- 1. The concept of the social -- 2. Vectors of the biopolitical -- 3. The limits of multitude -- 4. States of failure -- 5. Softening up the state -- 6. Slack -- 7. Natural cosmopolitanism.
Summary: From here to utopia. New directions in political theory. What does political agency mean for those who dont know what to do or cant be bothered to do it? This book develops a novel account of collective emancipation in which freedom is achieved not through knowledge and action but via doubt and inertia. In essays that range from ancient Greece to the end of the Anthropocene, Bull addresses questions central to contemporary political theory in novel readings of texts by Aristotle, Machiavelli, Marx, and Arendt, and shows how classic philosophical problems have a bearing on issues like political protest and climate change. The result is an entirely original account of political agency for the twenty-first century in which uncertainty and idleness are limned with utopian promise. Contents Introduction -- 1. The concept of the social -- 2. Vectors of the biopolitical -- 3. The limits of multitude -- 4. States of failure -- 5. Softening up the state -- 6. Slack -- 7. Natural cosmopolitanism
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode
Book Book CGLAS Library Purple 320.01 BUL (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 12305

Includes bibliographical references (pages [216]-238) and index.

Introduction -- 1. The concept of the social -- 2. Vectors of the biopolitical -- 3. The limits of multitude -- 4. States of failure -- 5. Softening up the state -- 6. Slack -- 7. Natural cosmopolitanism.

From here to utopia. New directions in political theory. What does political agency mean for those who dont know what to do or cant be bothered to do it? This book develops a novel account of collective emancipation in which freedom is achieved not through knowledge and action but via doubt and inertia. In essays that range from ancient Greece to the end of the Anthropocene, Bull addresses questions central to contemporary political theory in novel readings of texts by Aristotle, Machiavelli, Marx, and Arendt, and shows how classic philosophical problems have a bearing on issues like political protest and climate change. The result is an entirely original account of political agency for the twenty-first century in which uncertainty and idleness are limned with utopian promise. Contents Introduction -- 1. The concept of the social -- 2. Vectors of the biopolitical -- 3. The limits of multitude -- 4. States of failure -- 5. Softening up the state -- 6. Slack -- 7. Natural cosmopolitanism