The Aesthetic Turn in Political Thought - Softcover

Nikolas Kompridis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1441148345 ISBN 13: 9781441148346

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2012

Synopsis

The growing exploration of political life from an aesthetic perspective has become so prominent that we must now speak of an "aesthetic turn†? in political thought. But what does it mean and what makes it an aesthetic turn? Why now? This diverse and path-breaking collection of essays answers these questions, provoking new ways to think about the possibilities and debilities of democratic politics.

Beginning from the premise that politics is already "aesthetic in principle,†? the contributions to The Aesthetic Turn in Political Thought from some of the world's leading political theorists and philosophers, disclose a distinct set of political problems: the aesthetic problems of modern politics. The aesthetic turn in political thought not only recognizes that these problems are different in kind from the standard problems of politics, it also recognizes that they call for a different kind of theorizing - a theorizing that is itself aesthetic.

A major contribution to contemporary theoretical debates, The Aesthetic Turn in Political Thought will be essential reading to anyone interested in the interdisciplinary crossroads of aesthetic and politics.

About this title

Review:

"This is an excellent and wide-ranging collection of essays on political theory through a broadly aesthetic approach; that is, an approach that seeks to reintegrate political thought and action with their accompanying senses, emotions and intuitions" --James Tully, Professor of Political Science, University of Victoria, Canada

"The Aesthetic Turn in Political Thought is an excellent introduction to one of the most important developments in contemporary political theory, with several of the essays charting new theoretical territory." --Morton Schoolman, Professor, State University of New York at Albany, USA and author of Reason and Horror: Critical Theory, Democracy, and Aesthetic Individuality

About the Author:

Nikolas Kompridis is Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy, University of Western Sydney, Australia. He is the author of Critique and Disclosure: Critical Theory between Past and Future (MIT 2006) and Philosophical Romanticism (Routledge 2006). A philosopher and political theorist, his work covers a wide range of topics, including critical theory; democratic theory; theories of agency and action; theories of rationality; and issues in philosophy of art, literature, music and film.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1441148345
• ISBN 13: 9781441148346
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272
• Editor: Nikolas Kompridis