Slavoj Žižek has been widely described as one of the most important and influential contemporary thinkers, philosophers, and cultural critics. However, despite the often critical attention and reviews his work garners in scholarly journal articles and books, systematic philosophical engagements with Žižek's thought remain a surprisingly rare phenomenon. Counteracting this dearth of substantive interaction, the contributors to this volume engage with crucial and fundamental aspects of Žižek's thought. The book follows a Hegelian motivation that is itself dear to Žižek, tracing (...) the concept of dialectical materialism in his more recent work. It takes as its concrete starting point the most current, systematic elaborations of Žižek's thought, namely Absolute Recoil: Towards A New Foundation Of Dialectical Materialism as well as his magnum opus Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism. The contributors provide concrete elaborations of arguments developed within these two works, giving voice to their universal implications. The book also features an afterword by Žižek himself, in which he critically examines the work of Levi Bryant as well as the tradition of object-oriented-ontology on the whole. (shrink)

_Repeating Žižek_ offers a serious engagement with the ideas and propositions of philosopher Slavoj Žižek. Often subjecting Žižek's work to a Žižekian analysis, this volume's contributors consider the possibility (or impossibility) of formalizing Žižek's ideas into an identifiable philosophical system. They examine his interpretations of Hegel, Plato, and Lacan, outline his debates with Badiou, and evaluate the implications of his analysis of politics and capitalism upon Marxist thought. Other essays focus on Žižek's approach to Christianity and Islam, his "sloppy" method (...) of reading texts, his relation to current developments in neurobiology, and his theorization of animals. The book ends with an afterword by Žižek in which he analyzes Shakespeare's and Beckett's plays in relation to the subject. The contributors do not reach a consensus on defining a Žižekian school of philosophy—perhaps his idiosyncratic and often heterogeneous ideas simply resist synthesis—but even in their repetition of Žižek, they create something new and vital. Contributors. Henrik Jøker Bjerre, Bruno Bosteels, Agon Hamza, Brian Benjamin Hansen, Adrian Johnston, Katja Kolšek, Adam Kotsko, Catherine Malabou, Benjamin Noys, Geoff Pfeifer, Frank Ruda, Oxana Timofeeva, Samo Tomšic, Gabriel Tupinambá, Fabio Vighi, Gavin Walker, Sead Zimeri, Slavoj Žižek. (shrink)

_Repeating Žižek_ offers a serious engagement with the ideas and propositions of philosopher Slavoj Žižek. Often subjecting Žižek's work to a Žižekian analysis, this volume's contributors consider the possibility (or impossibility) of formalizing Žižek's ideas into an identifiable philosophical system. They examine his interpretations of Hegel, Plato, and Lacan, outline his debates with Badiou, and evaluate the implications of his analysis of politics and capitalism upon Marxist thought. Other essays focus on Žižek's approach to Christianity and Islam, his "sloppy" method (...) of reading texts, his relation to current developments in neurobiology, and his theorization of animals. The book ends with an afterword by Žižek in which he analyzes Shakespeare's and Beckett's plays in relation to the subject. The contributors do not reach a consensus on defining a Žižekian school of philosophy—perhaps his idiosyncratic and often heterogeneous ideas simply resist synthesis—but even in their repetition of Žižek, they create something new and vital. Contributors. Henrik Jøker Bjerre, Bruno Bosteels, Agon Hamza, Brian Benjamin Hansen, Adrian Johnston, Katja Kolšek, Adam Kotsko, Catherine Malabou, Benjamin Noys, Geoff Pfeifer, Frank Ruda, Oxana Timofeeva, Samo Tomšic, Gabriel Tupinambá, Fabio Vighi, Gavin Walker, Sead Zimeri, Slavoj Žižek. (shrink)

_Repeating Žižek_ offers a serious engagement with the ideas and propositions of philosopher Slavoj Žižek. Often subjecting Žižek's work to a Žižekian analysis, this volume's contributors consider the possibility (or impossibility) of formalizing Žižek's ideas into an identifiable philosophical system. They examine his interpretations of Hegel, Plato, and Lacan, outline his debates with Badiou, and evaluate the implications of his analysis of politics and capitalism upon Marxist thought. Other essays focus on Žižek's approach to Christianity and Islam, his "sloppy" method (...) of reading texts, his relation to current developments in neurobiology, and his theorization of animals. The book ends with an afterword by Žižek in which he analyzes Shakespeare's and Beckett's plays in relation to the subject. The contributors do not reach a consensus on defining a Žižekian school of philosophy—perhaps his idiosyncratic and often heterogeneous ideas simply resist synthesis—but even in their repetition of Žižek, they create something new and vital. Contributors. Henrik Jøker Bjerre, Bruno Bosteels, Agon Hamza, Brian Benjamin Hansen, Adrian Johnston, Katja Kolšek, Adam Kotsko, Catherine Malabou, Benjamin Noys, Geoff Pfeifer, Frank Ruda, Oxana Timofeeva, Samo Tomšic, Gabriel Tupinambá, Fabio Vighi, Gavin Walker, Sead Zimeri, Slavoj Žižek. (shrink)

Education, innovation, the labour force, and new businesses are considered the key important sectors (factors) for developed and emerging economies. The paper analyses are performed by using the Cobb Douglas production function for analysing the impact and correlation of these factors (variables) on the economic growth of Kosova during the period 2013 - 2021. The variables of public expenditures on education as a percentage of GDP and the labour force have shown a negative impact on growth and they have operated (...) under decreasing returns to scale (based on the Cobb-Douglas function), while the variables of information, computer and telecommunication services (which refer to innovation technology) and new business creation have indicated a positive impact on growth and they have operated under increasing returns to scale (based on the Cobb-Douglas function). In addition, this paper summarized a few useful conclusions: first, public expenditure on education should provide an important contribution on growth; second, enhancing the role of education to improve and develop new knowledge for the labour force in Kosova, and at the same time, to adapt with new labour market demand; third, information, computer and telecommunication is one of the leading export sectors and this sector should provide higher potential and contributions on the economic growth of Kosova; fourth, new businesses creation should provide a significant contribution to increase economic growth. These variables in many countries have made a key value contribution to the economy by driving it toward sustainability, development, and growth. (shrink)

The paper aims to analyse the state of inter-ethnic relations in Kosovo between ethnic Albanians and ethnic Serbs, with special focus on the period after unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo in 2008. Inter-ethnic conflict in Kosovo has exclusively been over its territory since both Serbs and Albanians have made claims about history and ethno-demography to justify their alleged exclusive right to this ethnically mixed region. Consequently, inter-ethnic relations between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo have been rather problematic throughout the (...) most of the 20th century. During this period Albanians in Kosovo have been subjected to discrimination, intimidation and even mass expulsion by Yugoslav/Serb authorities. In late 1990s, these relations between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo have progressively worsened and finally escalated in an armed warfare in 1999. Immediately after the war, Serbs in Kosovo were occasionally exposed to acts of inter-ethnic and retaliatory violence. Inter-ethnic relations between the two major ethnicities continued to be tense and fragile after independence of Kosovo in 2008. Dramatic changes of ethnic composition structure, atrocities and huge number of refugees due to the war, have left a legacy of deep mistrust and animosities between Albanians and Serbs in the newly created state. Consequently, Serbs in Kosovo have from the beginning refused to recognize Kosovo’s independence and have rigorously refused any governance by Kosovo authorities. Serbian community, especially in the North, claims stronger territorial autonomy, even separatism and unification with Serbia. The paper claims that in Kosovo inter-ethnic and interstate relations are basically the components of the same equation. Therefore, paper concludes that only overall improvement of relations between Kosovo and Serbia could contribute to overall relaxation of inter-ethnic relations between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo. Unfortunately, the latest incidents between Kosovo and Serbia have increased the tensions between the two sides to alarming levels. (shrink)

Inter-ethnic relations between Albanians and Macedonians in Macedonia have been rather problematic since the times of former Yugoslavia. After independence, the new constitution of the Republic of Macedonia instead of improving it has further downgraded the position of Albanians and other minorities living in the country. The non-fulfilment of Albanians’ core demands led to an armed conflict in 2001. The Ohrid Agreement has in addition to ending the armed conflict, also provided for a range of legislative and policy measures to (...) improve the position of the Albanians by ensuring equality and minority protection. However, 16 years after the Ohrid Agreement, inter-ethnic relations in Macedonia still remain burdened by prejudice and stereotypes, rather than cooperation and mutual prosperity. The main aim of the paper is to analyse the state of inter-ethnic relations in Macedonia, with special focus on relations between ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians. The paper also offers an analysis of main factors that contribute to inter-ethnic tensions in the country and explores possible scenarios in the future. The most relevant part of the paper analyses the causality between inter-ethnic and interstate relations. The paper claims that similarly to most of the countries in the Western Balkans, inter-ethnic and interstate relations are basically the components of the same equation. The paper concludes that in Macedonia, Kosovo rather than Albania is much more relevant for the causality between inter-ethnic and interstate relations in Macedonia, and it also offers several reasons to support such thesis. Accordingly, the overall inter-ethnic relations between Macedonians and Albanians in Macedonia heavily depend on inter-state relations between Macedonia and Kosovo and vice versa. (shrink)

Part I: On Althusser -- Contextualization -- Periodization -- Taking sides: Hegel or Spinoza? -- Structural Causality -- Althusser before Althusser: from Christianity to Communism -- Marxists' prehistory -- Proletariat of human condition versus the proletariat of labor -- Christian materialism -- Antiphilosophy -- Definition of ideology -- Epistemological break -- Interpellation -- State apparatuses -- Church as an ideological state apparatus -- Althusser's politics -- Part II: The Gospel According to Althusser -- Setting the stage -- Camera as an (...) ideological apparatus -- Film as a commodity -- Representation -- The Christian reality -- Religious suspension of the theological -- Religious-political -- Class struggle -- Class struggle versus humanity -- The politics of religion -- Pasolini's political thought -- Conclusion: Marxism and films. (shrink)

This volume will attempt to explore the theological implications of the political and philosophical thought of Althusser. The return to Althusser's theological writings is indeed a timely intervention because of 1) the continued impact of the (post)secular orientation and vulgar atheism, and 2) the relation of Marxism to theology.

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the electronic banking services in Kosovo’s banking net profit during the period 2013 - 2017. The paper discusses the role that these services have played in the development of the banking industry, modernization of e-commerce, and economic growth. These services provide higher security, faster and easier access by reducing transaction costs, access to more distant markets, and access to many products and services. The main paper results have shown that E-banking services (...) have the highest positive impact in banking net profit, while automated teller machine services have shown a slight positive impact. The highest positive correlation results have been seen in point-of-sale services, whereas automated teller machine services showed a negative correlation in banking net profit in Kosovo during the research period. The constant increase of demand for these services has enabled banks to increase their profits in the banking market of Kosovo. Therefore, the paper finds that commercial banks in Kosovo should increase their focus on the advancement and development of electronic banking services (particularly, E-Banking services which are very practical and can be easily used anywhere and anytime). (shrink)

Eleven years after Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence, Spain’s position vis-à-vis Kosovo has not only not varied, but it has become stronger, turning Madrid into the leader of the Kosovo non recognizers club within the EU. This paper analyses Kosovo-Spain relations in the last eleven years. More specifically, the paper examines the reasons behind the non-recognition of Kosovo and the approach of the Spanish governments toward Kosovo’s statehood. This is followed by a thorough analysis on how Kosovo’s path for self-determination (...) played a major role in Catalonia’s quest for independence in 2017. The empirical research demonstrates that Spain’s main reason not to recognise Kosovo is based on the country’s internal dynamics; namely, Catalonia and the Basque country. Likewise, the paper argues that the Spanish governments throughout the last eleven years have created an analogy between Kosovo and Catalonia; not in their political statements, but in their political decisions, by worsening the almost inexistent diplomatic relations with Kosovo, when the Catalan path for independence was at its highest peak. By the same token, the paper reveals that this position was enhanced and driven by Catalan separatism, that continuously used Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence as a model to further their own path for self-determination. The data provided and analysed in this paper as well as the statements made are based on desk research and seven semi-structured interviews conducted in Prishtina, Brussels, Madrid and Barcelona in 2018. (shrink)

Agonism emerged three decades ago as an assault on the overemphasis in political theory on justice and consensus. It has now become the norm. But its character and relation to core values of democracy are not as unproblematic today as is often thought, an issue that becomes more pressing as contemporary politics increasingly seem locked into notions of unrelenting conflict between “friends” and “enemies.” This essay traces alternative ontological roots and ethical implications of agonism, distinguishing between “imperializing” and (...) “tempered” modes. The former, exemplified in the popular Schmitt-Mouffe formulation, is shown to be fundamentally flawed in its failure to conceive politics in a fashion that does not allow the dynamic of friend–enemy to imperially trump appeals to democratic norms. In a world of insurgent white nationalism in democratic polities, this is no small fault. “Tempered” agonists, such as William Connolly and Bonnie Honig, offer ontologies where democratic norms can gain traction. Despite the admirable qualities of these alternatives, their formulations are nevertheless not fully persuasive. The difficulty lies in their underarticulated accounts of equality. I suggest an alternative formulation of agonism that embraces a central role for the idea of the moral equality of voice, a value that resides in the seam between notions of difference, resistance, and conflict emphasized by agonists, on the one hand, and the idea of fairness emphasized by notions of democratic justice, on the other. (shrink)

Provides a comprehensive study of Nietzsche's relationship to the agonistic culture of ancient Greece. The book examines not only the overt elements of Greek agonism in Nietzsche's early works, but also shows how his later works embody its spirit as it is manifest in such notions as the will to power, the overhuman and "active justice.".

In this article, I first address the ethical considerations about football and show that a meritocratic-fairness view of sports fails to capture the phenomenon of football. Fairness of result is not at centre stage in football. Football is about the drama, about the tension and the emotions it provokes. This moves us to the realm of aesthetics. I reject the idea of the aesthetics of football as the disinterested aesthetic appreciation, which traditionally has been deemed central to aesthetics. Instead, I (...) argue that we should try and develop an agon aesthetics where our aesthetic appreciation is understood as involving and being embedded in our engagement in the game. The drama of football is staged but not scripted. The aesthetics of competitions like football matches—the agon aesthetics—lies in engaging in the conflict that a competition is, while being aware that the conflict is not over ordinary world or everyday life issues, but unnecessary and invented for the very purpose of having a conflict to enjoy. (shrink)

This article considers how reconciliation might be understood as a democratic undertaking. It does so by examining the implications of the debate between theorists of ‘deliberative’ and ‘agonistic’ democracy for the practice of democracy in divided societies. I argue that, in taking consensus as a regulative idea, deliberative democracy tends to conflate moral and political community thereby representing conflict as already communal. In contrast, an agonistic theory of democracy provides a critical perspective from which to discern what is at stake (...) in the politics of reconciliation since it understands community as a contingent achievement of political action. As such, an agonistic account of democracy suggests the possibility of retrieving the concept of reconciliation from a statesanctioned project of nation-building for a democratic politics centred on the possibilities of self-determination and solidarity among citizens divided by a history of state violence. Key Words: agonism • deliberation • democracy • reconciliation • transitional justice. (shrink)

This paper assesses the claim that an agonistic model of democracy could foster greater accommodation of citizens' social, cultural and ethical differences than mainstream liberal theories. I address arguments in favor of agonistic conceptions of politics by a diverse group of democratic theorists, ranging from republican theorists - Hannah Arendt and Benjamin Barber - to postmodern democrats concerned with questions of identity and difference, such as William Connolly and Bonnie Honig. Neither Arendt's democratic agonism nor Barber's republican-inflected account of (...) strong democracy purports to include citizens' group-based cultural identities, and so cannot further the claim that agonistic politics is more inclusive of cultural and social differences. Postmodern agonistic democrats such as Connolly and Honig rely upon Arendt's account of the relationship between agonism and pluralism, and wrongly assume that her view of politics is compatible with formal respect and recognition for citizens' cultural group identities. While agonistic democracy helpfully directs us to attend to the importance of moral and political disagreement, I argue that the stronger claim that an agonistic model of democracy could more readily include culturally diverse citizens is simply unfounded. By contrast, recent liberal variants of agonistic democracy that conceive of legal and political institutions as tools for recognizing and mediating citizens' moral and cultural differences may suggest ways to deepen our democratic practices in plural societies. Key Words: agonism • agonistic democracy • Hannah Arendt • citizenship • cultural minorities • pluralism • republican theory. (shrink)

The notion of biopolitical sovereignty and the theory of the state of exception are perspectives derived from Carl Schmitt’s thought and Michel Foucault’s writings that have been popularized by critical political theorists like Giorgio Agamben and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri of late. This article argues that these perspectives are not sufficient analytical points of departure for a critique of the contemporary politics of terror, violence and war marked by a growing global exploitation of bodies, tightened management of life, and (...) endless and unpredictable abusive force. To better capture the singularity of our present condition of violence, war and terror, a supplementation of Schmitt’s and Foucault’s approaches by way of Hannah Arendt’s language of political action and agonistic engagement is useful. By bringing Arendt’s language of political agony to bear on contemporary biopolitical debates and discourses, we wish to revisit common practices of war and terror as matters of ‘agonal sovereignty’. ‘Agonal sovereignty’ allows us to peer into the ‘abyss of total violence’ that manifests itself after sovereign decisionism and biopolitical modalities of power have taken over the everyday conduct of political affairs. (shrink)

Nietzsche's strengths as a critic are widely acknowledged, but his peculiar style of critique is usually ignored as rhetoric, or dismissed as violent or simply incoherent. In this book, Nietzsche's concept of the agon or Wettkampf, a measured and productive form of conflict inspired by ancient Greek culture, is advanced as the dynamic and organising principle of his philosophical practice, enabling us to make sense of his critical confrontations and the much disputed concept of transvaluation or Umwertung. Agonal perspectives are (...) cast on a number of key problems in his thought across a broad range of texts. Topics and problems treated include: critical history and the need for a limit in the negation of the past; Nietzsche contra Socrates and the problem of closure; Nietzsche contra humanism and the problem of humanity; Nietzsche contra Kant on genius and legislation; the problem of self-legislation in relation to life and temporality; Nietzsche's sense of community in its articulation with law, and the normativity of taste; ressentiment and the question of therapy in Nietzsche and Freud; and the problem of total affirmation in relation to critique. (shrink)

Agonizing care: care ethics, agonistic feminism and a political theory of care‘Care’ is central to nursing theory and practice, and has been described in a variety of ways. Intense conversations about care have been developing in other fields of study as well, from the social sciences to the humanities. Care ethics has grown out of intellectual exchange between feminist thought, moral theory and the critique of traditional western political philosophy. However, care ethics is not without its critics, as these accounts (...) of care have also sparked vigorous challenges. This paper traces the construct of care through nursing theory, care ethics, feminist critiques of moral and political theory and agonistic feminism to outline a set of problematics that a political theory of care should engage. It discusses how care is conventionally posited in more or less essentialist, universalizing and naturalizing terms. It introduces the ideas of feminist theorists who resist dichotomizing care and the political, and situate care in the context of power and politics. The tensions between care feminism and agonistic feminism are highlighted in order to explore the potential of theorizing both care and nursing in political terms. (shrink)

This paper provides a critique and re-evaluation of the way that ethics is understood and promoted within mainstream Human Resource Management (HRM) discourse. We argue that the ethics located within this discourse focuses on bolstering the relevance of HRM as a key contributor to organizational strategy, enhancing an organization's sense of moral legitimacy and augmenting organizational control over employee behaviour and subjectivity. We question this discourse in that it subordinates the ethics of the employment relationship to managerial prerogative. In response, (...) we suggest a different model of the relationship between ethics and HRM—one that finds the possibility of ethics in the contestation and destabilization of HRM. Such ethics arises through resistance to moral normalization and the constraint of freedom and difference. The contribution of our paper is in theorising the possibilities of a relationship between ethics and HRM that does not place HRM at its centre, as chief intermediary of the ethics of the employment relationship, but rather sees HRM as being a powerful player in a set of what Mouffe calls 'agonistic' socio-ethical relations. (shrink)

In the literature there are two well-established but opposite readings of Arendt: as an agonistic theorist and as a deliberative one. In between these two positions a smaller number of scholars have argued that in Arendt these two dimensions can to a large extent be reconciled. This paper follows this third path but tries to bring it one step further. In particular, it defends the idea that those scholars who have proposed this third reading of Arendt have fallen short of (...) revealing the degree to which deliberation and agonism are, for her, interwoven. Through an original reading of Arendt’s views on judgment, persuasion, distinction and Eichmann’s banality, the paper clarifies why, for her, agonism and deliberation are not only compatible but actually mutually dependent. In other words, it clarifies why she believes that there can be no deliberation without agonism and no agonism without deliberation. (shrink)

S obzirom na tri poretka u sklopu kozmičke cjeline, integrativnom analizom kozmoloških spoznaja metafizičara i prirodoznanstvenika raznorodnih orijentacija najprije dolazim do konkluzije o spregnutosti dvaju izvedenih kozmičkih načela koja određuju sveukupni totalitet odnosa stvari i smisla. Prvo načelo nazivam sabiruće-jedno-sve, koje opisujem arhe-kompleksom. Drugo nazivam sebi-usuprot-težeće, koje opisujem eris-kompleksom. Na temelju pomaka iz zatvorenog sustava u otvoreni sustav, obrazlažem da arhe- i eris-kompleks stvaraju logos-kompleks i agon-kompleks te na koji se način novo spregnuće u tjelesnosti oblikuje u društvo, u najširem (...) smislu pojavljujući se kao napetost između real-politike i utopijskog stremljenja. U daljnjoj razradi predlažem artikuliranje konkretnog civilizacijskog stanja kao biopolitičkog agona u kojem se protočnost moći odvija relejima inosfere. Zasniva se na raščlanjivanju živog u konvertibilne informacije čija se uporabnost nalazi u moći regulativnosti, odnosno sposobnosti biopolitičkog da logos regulativnošću podvrgne agonu kroz sam logos, što nastojim pojasniti povezivanjem s navedenim fenomenima. S tjelesnošću kao instrumentom transformativne bȉtizacije, dalje argumentiram naginjanje društva prema ukidanju izvornog smisla logos-kompleksa i razvlašćenje nad kontrolom tjelesnog određenja, što nastojim ukratko ocrtati i povezati s ishodištem istraživanja. (shrink)

The ways citizen participation and democracy are changing are poorly understood due to the dominance of theories inherited from the eighteenth century. Democratic citizenship can be better understood if critical reflection is re-oriented around the games of concrete freedom here and now as recommended by Hannah Arendt, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Michel Foucault and Quentin Skinner.This orientation brings to light two distinctive types of citizen freedom in the present: diverse forms of citizen participation and diverse practices of governance in which citizens participate.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy and Rhetoric 35.3 (2002) 185-207 [Access article in PDF] Agonism and Aretê Debra Hawhee Oh, those Greeks! They knew how to live. What is required for that is to stop courageously at the surface, the fold, the skin, to adore appearance, to believe in forms, tones, words, in the whole Olympus of appearance. Those Greeks were superficial—out of profundity. —Friedrich Nietzsche The profound superficiality about which Nietzsche (...) marvels describes ancient Greek culture as a culture of contact, a culture replete with spectacular gatherings, groping eyes, bending flesh, constantly redoubling so that the superficial became embedded, enfolded into bodies, tones, words. One condition of such enfolding was the agôn, the contest, the encounter that produces struggle and change. As scholars such as Walter Ong, John Poulakos, and Jeffrey Walker have pointed out, agonism provided an important context for the emergence of rhetoric in antiquity. 1 As I will suggest, athletics made available an agonistic model for early rhetors to follow as they developed their art. But the force or quality of this brand of agonism is nonetheless at times surprising, and this unusual character of the agôn was central to the particular development of rhetoric as an art of response.It must be noted from the outset that the agôn is more than the one-on-one sparring that is emphasized in most treatments of the topic. That is, agonism is not merely a synonym for competition, which usually has victory as its goal. For outcome-driven competition, the Greeks used the term athlios, from the verb athleuein, meaning to contend for a prize. The agôn, by contrast, is not necessarily as focused on the outcome as it is on athlios, the more explicit struggle for a prize. Rather, the root meaning of agôn is "gathering" or "assembly." The Olympic Games, for example, depended on the gathering of athletes, judges, and spectators alike. Put simply, whereas athlios emphasizes the prize and hence the victor, agôn emphasizes the [End Page 185] event of the gathering itself—the encounter rather than the division between the opposing sides. To be sure, the "gathering" force of agôn to some extent entails—and is enabled by—the victory. One aim of this exploration, though, is less to consider agonism's teleological, or victory-driven side, and more to foreground the agonistic encounter itself. I will suggest that this encounter constitutes the more pervasive agonal dynamic, a dynamic that also figures prominently in the development of rhetoric as an agonistic force.John Poulakos's important book on the sophists points out the agonistic connection between rhetoric and athletics (32-39), arguing that the sophists effectively "turned rhetoric into a competitive enterprise" (35) and that athletics provided a "rich vocabulary" for the rhetorical art. Poulakos's account, however, focuses on the athlios side of agonism, the "victory at all cost" mentality. Yet the "gathering" force of the agôn inheres as well, most notably in the very structure of rhetorical situations and their dependence on an assembly, but also in the training and production of a rhetorical subject. The realm of training, interestingly, shows most clearly the close relation between athlios and agôn, as a drive for the prize depends on the gathering force of agonistic logic from the very beginning. Agôn is also connected to the verb agein, which is generally translated "to lead," but in some instances is linked to training and can be translated "to bring up, train, educate" (e.g., Plato's Laws 782d). So the word agôn suggests movement through struggle, a productive training practice wherein subjective production takes place through the encounter itself. As Nietzsche suggests, the Greeks produced themselves through active struggle; their pedagogy depended on agonism (1974, 58; see also Poulakos, 33).Taking seriously rhetoric's emergence in the context of the agôn requires a reconfiguration of rhetoric as an agonistic encounter. That is, for the sophists at least, agonism produces rhetoric as a gathering of forces—cultural, bodily, and discursive, thus problematizing the easy portrayal of rhetoric as telos-driven persuasion or as a... (shrink)

This article joins a growing body of literature in recent years reexamining Chantal Mouffe’s theory of agonism in lieu of increasing polarization and the ascendance of right-wing populism. First, it argues that Mouffe’s theory of agonistic politics cannot work because it relies entirely on a never-justified and yet-unseen mutual recognition between “radical democratic citizens” who must treat one another as legitimate “adversaries” notwithstanding the necessity of generating a “conflictual consensus.” Second, this article contends that Mouffe gravely underestimates the problem (...) of antagonism her theory purports to solve. “Sublimating” antagonism via “agonism” is not the end of story. Antagonism still rears its head in societies committed to the ethico-political values of “liberty and equality” and existing liberal and democratic political institutions. In particular, Mouffe’s theory, buttressed by its recognition-theoretic assumptions, cannot address everyday conditions where political opponents overestimate the extent to which their “adversary” is really an “enemy” threatening democracy itself. In turn, this renders citizens more willing to tolerate democratic transgressions harming their partisan adversaries, only further solidifying this mutual suspicion. I end by offering recommendations for hegemonic coalition formation in these destabilizing conditions. (shrink)

Agonism permeates Nietzsche’s spirit and works from early on starting with his close engagement with ancient Greece. However, while many thinkers have made references to agon in Nietzsche in the twentieth century, this aspect of his philosophy did not come under close scrutiny until a few decades ago, and some of the research in this area saw its first monographs in Tuncel’s Agon in Nietzsche (2013) and Acampora’s Contesting Nietzsche (2013). In addition to these two works and prior to (...) them, an anthology, Nietzsche, Power and Politics, based on the proceedings of a conference and edited by Herman W. Siemens and Vasti Roodt, came out in 2008. The three editions reviewed here bring out many other aspects, insights, and nuances in the study of agon in Nietzsche’s works. (shrink)

This reading of Chiara Bottici's Anarchafeminism asks whether, as an extension of Bottici's project, we need an anarchafeminist account of agon. It explores whether her monist ontology – despite its roots in Spinoza’s Ethics – underemphasizes the question of the need for an anarchafeminist ethics that would help us to explain, interpret, and mediate conflict. Despite the claim that we cannot assume a pre-existent blueprint for anarchafeminist struggle, this piece wonders if Bottici’s commitments to the unity of life and freedom (...) require an account of how to understand, evaluate, and respond to the – at least seeming – conflicts between what she calls "transindividuals" and, further, between different iterations of feminism. It argues that an account of a unified substance with a plurality of different individuations in process requires an explanation of how conflicting and contrasting individuals and processes can all – simultaneously – be free. To that end, it asks: First, how do we normatively differentiate between oppressive individuals and relations and oppressed ones? Second, how do we mediate between conflicting processes particularly as these involve potentially mutually antagonistic definitions of “woman?”. (shrink)

(1992). The agonic and hedonic modes: Definition, usage, and the promotion of mental health. World Futures: Vol. 35, Socio-Mental Bimodality, pp. 87-113.

이 글은 빌라(D. Villa)가 이해한 니체의 아곤을 반박하는 걸 목표로 삼는다. 아곤은 다 양한 관점 간의 경쟁을 통해 더 나은 사회로 진입할 수 있다고 보는 경합적 민주주의의 이 론적 모델이다. 그런데 빌라가 제시하는 아곤에 관한 해석을 살펴보면, 경합적 민주주의의 이상은 실현될 수 없을 것처럼 보인다. 빌라는 아곤이 관점의 다양성을 확보하기 위해 이들 을 제약할 수 있는 보편적 틀을 제거한 나머지, 모두가 공유할 수 있는 맥락과 상관없는 다 분히 주관적인 관점까지도 무제약적으로 수용하고 있다고 주장한다. 그리고 아곤을 수행하 는 경합자들은 타자의 관점을 (...) 무시하고 소통하려 하지 않으므로, 아곤은 어떤 유의미한 결 과를 산출할 수 없으며, 아곤에서 타자는 사실상 불필요한 존재로 취급된다고 주장한다. 이 연구는 빌라의 주장에서 오해를 찾아내어 다음과 같이 반박한다. 아곤은 경쟁의 활 성화를 가로막는 관점을 수용하지 않는다는 의미에서, 모든 관점이 공통적으로 만족해야 하는 기준을 설정하므로, 무제약적으로 모든 관점을 수용하지 않는다. 그리고 아곤은 타자 와 함께 벌이는 경쟁적 활동으로서 타자와의 소통은 필수 불가결하며, 그 소통 과정을 통 해 경합자들은 명예로워질 수 있다고 생각하므로, 아곤에서 타자와의 소통은 매우 중요하 다고 주장한다. 더 나아가, 타자와의 소통을 통해 공동체의 안녕과 성장이라는 유의미한 결과가 나온다고 주장한다. (shrink)

This dissertation develops a conception of reasonableness that can adequately respond to agonistic critiques of this concept. As an aspect of practical reason, reasonableness refers to the moral capacity of citizens to cooperate politically, especially in pluralistic societies. More specifically, the principles or rules of political association governing society ought to be acceptable to all reasonable members of that society. This relates, furthermore, to the idea of justification: the acceptability of fundamental political principles refers to their justifiability. Justification, in turn, (...) requires ideas of public reason and political deliberation: political deliberation, for example, facilitates the ability of citizens to determine what political principles are justifiable. The explication of justifiability in terms of universal acceptability (acceptable to all reasonable persons, for example) is indicative of a central concern of proponents of reasonableness (and public reason), namely, that politics at least at a fundamental level ought to be governed by consensus. However, this conception of reasonableness has been the target of critique by agonistic theories of democracy. These theorists deny that politics ought to be governed by such a consensus. Most importantly, this orientation toward consensus ignores, or at least underestimates, the antagonistic and hegemonic nature of the political. That is, the consensus orientation of proponents of reasonableness and public reason suggests that society can be given a non-hegemonic and rational foundation. This goal, in turn, leads to the suppression or exclusion of dissensus. Nonetheless, this dissertation affirms the importance of reasonableness to democratic theory and identifies an implicit commitment to reasonableness within agonistic democratic theory. This commitment is evident, for example, in the claim that that political participants must adhere to the basic principles and institutions of liberal democracy. Given this implicit commitment, this dissertation will formulate a middle ground between prominent proponents of reasonableness and their agonistic critics. The primary goal will be to construct an agonistic conception of reasonableness, or reasonable agonism, in light of agonistic critiques of this concept. The agonistic conception of reasonableness developed in this dissertation is understood primarily in terms of the deliberative relationships citizens form and maintain. This opposes accounts of reasonableness and justification that privilege the universal acceptability of political principles and related idealizations of practical reason (understood in terms of its capacity for determining universally acceptable reasons). The defining feature of an agonistic conception of reasonableness is not the universal acceptability of political principles or of the reasons offered in political deliberation, but rather the maintenance of adversarial deliberative relationships. This approach to reasonableness does not require a consensus orientation and it is more sensitive to the antagonistic nature of the political. That is, political participants are able to adhere (at one level) to a particular, partisan conception of justice, as long as (at another level) they remain committed to maintaining deliberative relationships with their political rivals. In this way, an agonistic conception of reasonableness combines the best features of reasonableness and agonism, while addressing the shortcomings involved in theories of both concepts. Additionally, this account of reasonableness has a related critical function, namely, the contestation of prevailing normative orders that can be viewed as illegitimate or unjustifiable by those excluded from such orders. (shrink)

This is the third book in a series which began with The Anxiety of Influence and A Map of Misreading. Bloom's name is associated with an influential circle of critics, most from Yale, whose other members are Paul de Man, Jacques Derrida, Geoffrey Hartman, and J. Hillis Miller. Agon continues Bloom's speculations about questions of literary influence. According to Bloom, writers usurp the achievements of their significant predecessors in order to clear a space for themselves. This is the struggle to (...) which the title refers. His key notion is "misprision," a "deliberately perverse misreading" by which the usurpation is accomplished, and which applies equally to both poets and critics. Bloom expands upon this idea in Agon, which he describes as a blend of his individual religious experience and his professional concerns with literary theory and criticism. The book covers three major topics: the relation between poetic knowledge and Gnosticism, a reading of Freud especially concerned with the Sublime in literature, the poetic will, and a theory of fantasy, and an outline of "the American difference" in poetry and criticism. (shrink)

Hannah Arendt’s fierce critique of sovereignty, along with her excavation of Greek agonism, has gained much traction among critical theorists of international politics who revisit the basic assumptions of conventional international theories, such as state sovereignty and power as domination. This paper engages with an increasingly popular stream within such critical international studies that appropriates Arendt’s agonism to envision a form of a global public acting in concert. I argue that Arendt’s thoughts cannot be reduced to a radical (...) vision of agonistic cosmo-politics. Rather, her thinking suggests that political actors appreciate and care for their public worlds while remaining alert to institutional ossification. Her appreciation of the constitutional state confirms that state agency is an important element of her thoughts. By examining the vicissitudes of publicity found in Arendt’s thinking and their reflexive effect on inter-polity relations, the article elucidates the grounds of her international agonism and brings home a form of international politics where states pursuing the domestic goal of greatness coexist and cooperate. Thus, the study suggests that critical scholars of radical agonism miss the important implications of an “institutional” Arendt for international politics. (shrink)

The cosmopolitan harmony view of aesthetics holds that an ideal aesthetic world is one where different aesthetic cultures all respect each other and everyone understands how even aesthetic practices that they personally dislike remain valuable for others. Against this view, aesthetic agonism maintains that an ideal world can include deep conflict in which some people regard others’ aesthetic practices or judgments as completely lacking in value even if they are willing to tolerate one another. I argue for aesthetic (...) class='Hi'>agonism by showing that the aesthetic conflicts that the cosmopolitan harmony view excludes form an important part of our aesthetic lives. I go on to contend that aesthetic injustice arises not from disagreement or conflict but rather from the failure of democracy that results when our political and economic environment enables some people but not others to participate in shaping our shared aesthetic culture. (shrink)

At the centre of this paper is the distinction between a politicised school, and school as a political space. We take note of Papastephanou’s (2005) warning not to make education the passive receiver of political thought. Based on Masschelein and Simons (2013), we criticise the tendency to conceptualise democratic education, particularly agonistic democratic education, as the implementation of political theory in a school context. We draw on their idea of school as free time, to argue that democratic education should envision (...) the classroom as political in itself, that is, as a place for negotiation and renewal, where the ends are not predetermined. When school becomes a place to implement political theory, when it is politicised, then it is stripped of its own political potency. In scholastic terms, it is tamed. In this paper, a fusion of Mouffean agonism with Masschelein and Simons’ conception of school, works to form an understanding of agonistic democratic education as a time and place for the formation of community and for the negotiation of identity, under protection from the non-accountability (Arendt 1961) that characterises scholastic practice. (shrink)

이 글은 니체의 놀이와 아곤(agon) 개념의 문화철학적 의미를 해명한다. 놀이와 아곤 개념은 오랫동안 철학사에서 망각의 상태로 있었다. 니체에서 비로소 이 두 개념은 새로운 빛을 받게 된다. 니체가 이 두 개념에 주목할 수 있었던 것은 그리스 문화에 대한 남다른 이해 덕분이었다. 니체에 따르면 그리스 문화의 본질은 자연성에 따른다는 것이다. 그리스 에서 자연성은 놀이와 아곤을 통해 문화의 형태를 갖추게 된다. 비극과 시민정치는 모두 놀이와 아곤을 통해 시작되고 유지된다. 놀이와 아곤은 모두 힘에의 의지를 긍정한다. 인간의 재능은 힘의 경쟁을 통해 꽃피게 된다. 그러나 그리스에서 (...) 경쟁은 경쟁의 종식을 목표로 하지 않는다. 경쟁은 또 다른 경쟁 을 촉발할 때만 가치가 있다. 그들에게 경쟁은 일종의 힘의 놀이인 셈이다. 따라서 그리스 에서 놀이와 아곤은 무차별적 평등주의의 귀결인 니힐리즘과 승자 독식주의를 극복하는데 중요한 통찰을 제공해줄 수 있다. (shrink)

The diagnosis of a new geological epoch, The ‘Anthropocene’, has implications far beyond geological science. If human activity has disrupted the planet, then this diagnosis potentially disrupts socio-political conventions. This article assesses the implications the Anthropocene has for democratic politics, by delineating three challenges: challenges of knowledge, time and boundary. In contrast to the claim that democratic institutions are unable to adequately respond to these challenges, I suggest that they might be strengthened through an engagement with them. Following an ‘agonistic’ (...) understanding of politics, I argue that the contestation instigated by the challenges of the Anthropocene is key to democratic renewal. Just as democracy in the Anthropocene can be enhanced through an agonistic approach, agonistic theory can be enriched through an engagement with the Anthropocene. (shrink)