Rahel Jaeggi Book order

For many liberals, the question "Do others live rightly?" feels inappropriate. Liberalism seems to demand a follow-up question: "Who am I to judge?" Peaceful coexistence, in this view, is predicated on restraint from morally evaluating our peers. But Rahel Jaeggi sees the situation differently. Criticizing is not only valid but also useful, she argues. Moral judgment is no error; the error lies in how we go about judging. One way to judge is external, based on universal standards derived from ideas about God or human nature. The other is internal, relying on standards peculiar to a given society. Both approaches have serious flaws and detractors. In On the Critique of Forms of Life, Jaeggi offers a third way, which she calls "immanent" critique. Inspired by Hegelian social philosophy and engaged with Anglo-American theorists such as John Dewey, Michael Walzer, and Alasdair MacIntyre, immanent critique begins with the recognition that ways of life are inherently normative because they assert their own goodness and rightness. They also have a consistent purpose: to solve basic social problems and advance social goods, most of which are common across cultures. Jaeggi argues that we can judge the validity of a society's moral claims by evaluating how well the society adapts to crisis--whether it is able to overcome contradictions that arise from within and continue to fulfill its purpose. Jaeggi enlivens her ideas through concrete, contemporary examples. Against both relativistic and absolutist accounts, she shows that rational social critique is possible.-- Provided by publisher

The Hegelian-Marxist idea of alienation fell out of favor during the post-metaphysical rejection of humanism and essentialist views of human nature. In this book Jaeggi draws on phenomenological analyses grounded in modern conceptions of agency, along with recent work in the analytical tradition, to reconceive of alienation as the absence of a meaningful relationship to oneself and others, which manifests itself in feelings of helplessness and the despondent acceptance of ossified social roles and expectations. A revived approach to alienation helps critical social theory engage with phenomena, such as meaninglessness, isolation, and indifference, which have broad implications for issues of justice. By severing alienationÕs link to a problematic conception of human essence while retaining its social-philosophical content, Jaeggi provides resources for a renewed critique of social pathologies, a much-neglected concern in contemporary liberal political philosophy. Her work revisits the arguments of Rousseau, Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger, placing them in dialogue with Thomas Nagel, Bernard Williams, and Charles Taylor.

philosophie, Ökonomie und Politik sind die drei wichtigsten Koordinaten, welche das Werk von Karl Marx markieren. Diese Begriffe stellen aber nicht etwa thematische Rubriken oder Disziplinenunterscheidungen dar, sondern bilden theoretische Kategorien, die zueinander in einem Negations- oder Kontestationsverhältnis stehen. Den im vorliegenden Band versammelten Texten geht es um eine systematische Reflexion dieser drei Begriffe und ihres Verhältnisses zueinander vor dem Hintergrund aktueller sozialer und politischer Entwicklungen. Die Texte bieten einen Überblick über Disparität und Spannbreite von Ansätzen und Überlegungen, die sich heute auf Marx beziehen: von Arbeiten über aristotelische, hegelsche oder fouriersche Einflüsse in Marx‘ Arbeiten über Bezüge zur Neoklassik oder analytischen Philosophie bis hin zu postkolonialen und feministischen Theorien. Auch sie stehen zueinander in ebenso einem Konkurrenz- wie in einem Komplementärverhältnis, denn sie widersprechen einander zwar, verweisen so aber auch einander auf blinde Flecken oder Problemfelder. Gemeinsam ist ihnen allerdings eine Unzufriedenheit mit den Beschränkungen der Vorherrschaft des politischen Liberalismus, mit welchem sich nach Eindruck der Beitragenden weder die Pathologien den gegenwärtigen Gesellschaftsformation, noch eine fruchtbare politische Perspektive zu deren Veränderung gewinnen lässt.