Resources of Critique
Alex Callinicos
How does social critique situate itself philosophically today, after
the marginalization of Marxism and the impact of postmodernism? This
title intends to address this question systematically. It surv ...
Polity Press
Paperback
328 p.
ISBN: 0745631614
EAN/ISBN13: 9780745631615
How does social critique situate itself philosophically today, after
the marginalization of Marxism and the impact of postmodernism? This
title intends to address this question systematically. It surveys some
of the most influential contemporary critical theorists, such as Alain
Badiou, Jacques Bidet, Luc Boltanski, Eve Chiapello and Slavoj i ek.
Social criticism has enjoyed a renaissance in the past few years. The
anti-globalization protests at Seattle and Genoa and the great marches
against the war in Iraq have put contestation of capitalism and
imperialism back on the political and intellectual agenda. But how
does social critique situate itself philosophically today, after the
marginalization of Marxism and the impact of postmodernism? In "The
Resources of Critique", Alex Callinicos seeks to address this question
systematically. He does so, in the first part, by surveying some of
the most influential contemporary critical theorists Alain Badiou,
Jacques Bidet, Luc Boltanski, Pierre Bourdieu, Eve Chiapello, Jurgen
Habermas, Antonio Negri and Slavoj i ek. The limitations of all these
theorists perspectives prompts Callinicos in the second part of the
book to outline an alternative approach whose main elements are a
critical realist ontology, a Marxist theory of social contradiction,
and an egalitarian conception of justice.The main thrust of his
argument is to show that Marx's critique of political economy remains
inescapable for anyone seeking to challenge the existing world order
but only if it maintains an open but rigorous dialogue with other
critical perspectives. "The Resources of Critique" is, above all, a
contribution to this dialogue.
Table of contents
* Introduction
* Part I: Four Kinds of Impasse
1. Modernity and its Promises: Habermas and Bidet
1.1 Between sociological suspicion and the rule of law: * Jurgen
Habermas
1.2 With and against Marx and Rawls: Jacques Bidet
2. Between Relativism and Universalism: French * Critical Sociology
2.1 Capitalism and its critiques: Boltanski and Chiapello
2.2 The dialectic of universal and particular: Pierre Bourdieu
3. Touching the Void: Badiou and i ek
3.1 The exception is the norm
3.2 Miracles do happen: the ontology of Alain Badiou
3.3 Unreal: Slavoj i ek and the proletariat
4. The Generosity of Being: Antonio Negri
4.1 All is grace
4.2 Negri's Grundrisse: revolutionary subjectivity versus * Marxist
'objectivism'
4.3 The refusal of transcendence
* Part II: Three Dimensions of Progress
5. A Critical Realist Ontology
5.1 The story so far
5.2 Dimensions of realism
6. Structure and Contradiction
6.1 Realism about structures
6.2 The primacy of contradiction
6.3 A dialectic of nature?
7. Justice and Universality
7.1 From fact to value
7.2 Equality and well-being
7.3 Why equality matters
8. Conclusion
Alex Callinicos is Professor of European Studies at Kings College,
London.
