Post-Exceptionalism: Art After Political Theology (Incitements) - Softcover

Arne De Boever

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1399539701 ISBN 13: 9781399539708

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2026

Synopsis

Brings together the philosophy of art and aesthetics with debates about political theology and sovereignty

• Develops a critique of aesthetic exceptionalism and proposes a new theory of post-exceptionalism
• Reconsiders postmodern commonplaces such as the copy, the fake, and the forgery outside of the limits of aesthetics, within the framework of political philosophy
• Breaks out of art history’s Eurocentrism and works between Western and Chinese philosophy, practicing an anti-orientalist method
• Offers highly original, in-depth readings of key contemporary texts in philosophy, political theory, and art theory
• Includes nuanced readings of works of art from both the Western and Chinese traditions

Postmodernism has come and gone, but the belief that artists and works of art are exceptional is alive and well. Post-Exceptionalism speculates that this is so because postmodernism, when it declared the death of the author and celebrated the copy, failed to name political theology as its fundamental target. In a time when sovereignty is experiencing a dubious global revival, the moment has come to reconsider the artist and the work of art after political theology in search for a new, worldly, and emancipatory politics of aesthetics.

About this title

About the Author

Arne De Boever teaches American Studies in the School of Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts. He is the author of numerous articles, reviews, and translations, as well as several books on contemporary comparative fiction and political and aesthetic philosophy. His books include Against Aesthetic Exceptionalism (2019), Plastic Sovereignties: Agamben and the Politics of Aesthetics (2016), François Jullien’s Unexceptional Thought (2020), and Being Vulnerable (2023).

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1399539701
• ISBN 13: 9781399539708
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368