A01=Brian Massumi
aesthetic philosophy
Author_Brian Massumi
books by Brian Massumi
books on language
books on the concept of value
can value be non-normative
Category=QDTN
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
ethical philosophy
ethico-aesthetic paradigm
exchange value
forthcoming
Guttari
life value
non-normative ethics
politics of affect
surplus value
theory of affect
value
virtual ecology
what does a non-normative notion of value look like
Product details
- ISBN 9781509575749
- Publication Date: 20 Nov 2026
- Publisher: Polity Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
""(I) To live, (II) to live well, (III) to live better."" A.N. Whitehead concisely sums up the question of ethics in this phrase. Less a conclusion, it is the opening of a problem. ""Well,"" ""better,"" by what yardstick? Can we think ethically without the imposition of a norm that prejudges value according to a preset mold? When a norm is imposed is it not always limitative, channeling behaviour, and segregative, drawing lines of exclusion and inclusion? In short, does this anodyne phrase camouflage a disciplinary power operation that molds and reduces life potential?
In this book, Brian Massumi envisions a radically non-normative ethics, one that might help us think differently about the concept of value. For such an ethics to be viable, it is necessary to fundamentally reforge value along different axes of thought and feeling. To do so, Massumi argues, we must move the compass needle of the ethical toward the aesthetic fulfilling the ethico-aesthetic paradigm called for by Félix Guattari.
Beyond Compare is a magisterial reappraisal of value from one of the defining philosophers of the last quarter century.
In this book, Brian Massumi envisions a radically non-normative ethics, one that might help us think differently about the concept of value. For such an ethics to be viable, it is necessary to fundamentally reforge value along different axes of thought and feeling. To do so, Massumi argues, we must move the compass needle of the ethical toward the aesthetic fulfilling the ethico-aesthetic paradigm called for by Félix Guattari.
Beyond Compare is a magisterial reappraisal of value from one of the defining philosophers of the last quarter century.
Brian Massumi is the author of numerous works across philosophy, political theory, and art theory. His publications include The Personality of Power (2025), 99 Theses for the Revaluation of Value (2018), and Couplets (2021). With Erin Manning and the 3Ecologies Project, he participates in the collective exploration of new ways of bringing philosophical and artistic practices into collaborative interaction.
