The Concept of the Social
Scepticism, Idleness and Utopia
Published on 12. October 2021
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-84467-293-6 (ISBN)
Description
What does political agency mean for those who don't know what to do or can't be bothered to do it? This book develops a novel account of collective emancipation in which freedom is achieved not through knowledge and action but via doubt and inertia.
In essays that range from ancient Greece to the end of the Anthropocene, Bull addresses questions central to contemporary political theory in novel readings of texts by Aristotle, Machiavelli, Marx, and Arendt, and shows how classic philosophical problems have a bearing on issues like political protest and climate change. The result is an entirely original account of political agency for the twenty-first century in which uncertainty and idleness are limned with utopian promise.
In essays that range from ancient Greece to the end of the Anthropocene, Bull addresses questions central to contemporary political theory in novel readings of texts by Aristotle, Machiavelli, Marx, and Arendt, and shows how classic philosophical problems have a bearing on issues like political protest and climate change. The result is an entirely original account of political agency for the twenty-first century in which uncertainty and idleness are limned with utopian promise.
Reviews / Votes
In On Mercy, Malcolm Bull conducts a clever thought experiment on the question of whether mercy might not only be reconciled with justice but could displace it at the centre of our political life -- David A. Skeel * Wall Street Journal * Charmingly erudite and an important work of political philosophy -- Joe Humphreys * Irish Times (for On Mercy) * Highly compelling. Bull is to be congratulated on presenting such a thought-provoking study -- Alexander Marr * Apollo (for Inventing Falsehood, Making Truth) * Stimulating and delightful, subtle and deep -- Taylor Carman * Times Literary Supplement (on Anti-Nietzsche) * All of Bull's studies are utopian, in an oblique, offbeat way. In the spirit of Marx, you must see the future as in a glass darkly so as not to make a fetish of it. He combines a keenly analytical mind with a visionary impulse. It is a style for our times. -- Terry Eagleton * London Review of Books *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 214 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
348 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84467-293-6 (9781844672936)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2021
Verso Books
€26.49
Available for download
Person
Malcolm Bull teaches at Oxford University. His previous books include Anti-Nietzsche and On Mercy, which was a 2019 New Statesman Book of the Year. He is on the editorial board of New Left Review and writes for the London Review of Books.