Product details
- ISBN 9780791476307
- Weight: 290g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jul 2009
- Publisher: State University of New York Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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A study of attitudes towards tragedy in both democratic and nondemocractic political theory.
Tragedy and Citizenship provides a wide-ranging exploration of attitudes toward tragedy and their implications for politics. Derek W. M. Barker reads the history of political thought as a contest between the tragic view of politics that accepts conflict and uncertainty, and an optimistic perspective that sees conflict as self-dissolving. Drawing on Aristotle's political thought, alongside a novel reading of the Antigone that centers on Haemon, its most neglected character, Barker provides contemporary democratic theory with a theory of tragedy. He sees Hegel's philosophy of reconciliation as a critical turning point that results in the elimination of citizenship. By linking Hegel's failure to address the tragic dimensions of politics to Richard Rorty, John Rawls, and Judith Butler, Barkeroffers a major reassessment of contemporary political theory and a fresh perspective on the most urgent challenges facing democratic politics.
Derek W. M. Barker is a program officer at the Kettering Foundation.
Derek W. M. Barker is a program officer at the Kettering Foundation.
