How to be a Successful Philosopher
Description
In the works of the most successful contemporary philosophers, it is precisely their radical gestures - reversals of common sense and idiom, provocations and heresies - that have becomes standardized slogans and spectacles, meeting the demands of the marketplace of ideas for pre-packaged novelty and shock value.
From the prophet of a bygone dystopia (think Agamben) and the dormo-spectacular performer (think Zizek), to the campaigner for a social cause (think Butler), How to be Successful in Philosophy undertakes a form of criticism through parody - whilst conveying, almost clandestinely, genuine philosophical reflections from within the highly standardised academic universe. What are the ingredients of a philosophical best-seller? And what do they tell us about the state of the discipline, and the world beyond?