Description
In this new book Richard Bernstein seeks to answer these questions by examining the work of five figures who have thought deeply about violence - Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, Frantz Fanon, and Jan Assmann. He shows that we have much to learn from their work about the meaning of violence in our times. Through the critical examination of their writings he also brings out the limits of violence. There are compelling reasons to commit ourselves to non-violence, and yet at the same time we have to acknowledge that there are exceptional circumstances in which violence can be justified. Bernstein argues that there can be no general criteria for determining when violence is justified. The only plausible way of dealing with this issue is to cultivate publics in which there is free and open discussion and in which individuals are committed to listen to one other: when public debate withers, there is nothing to prevent the triumph of murderous violence.
About the Author
Richard J. Bernstein is Vera List Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research and the author of many books, including Beyond Objectivism and Relativism, The New Constellation, Radical Evil and The Pragmatic Turn.
Reviews
"A valuable book not only because it recognises the impossibility of timeless criteria for thinking about violence and the naivety of an appeal to absolute non-violence, but also because it raises questions about the nature of political responsibility."
Review 31
"A major contribution to the seemingly intractable question of violence and nonviolence by one of the greatest philosophers of our time. I cannot recommend it highly enough."
Simon Critchley
"No one can converse with thinkers of the past or present like Richard J. Bernstein does. In the brilliant and timely hermeneutic exercise of this book, he provides us with new ways to understand the phenomenon of violence and its dialectical relation to public power and freedom."
Rainer Forst, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main
Book Information
ISBN 9780745670645
Author Richard J. Bernstein
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint Polity Press
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 386g
Dimensions(mm) 226mm * 152mm * 20mm