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Beyond Potentialities?: Politics between the Possible and the Impossible
216 pages, Paperback
First published March 16, 2011
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February 14, 2022
Can't stomach Boudieu or Foucault, two of the primary thinkers whose theories are being discussed at great lenghts in their respective chapters by experts on the two thinkers' thought(s). At any rate, all the chapters are in one way or another all tied by the one common thread or theme, namely the concept of potentiality, as the title of the book suggests.
In short, what the book concerns itself with is the current state of emancipatory political action - basically it seeks to answer the essential question (appearing at various instances and in several forms) of "is there potential for change in politics, and, if so, in what shape, and to what extent is this so?"
Despite my reluctance to acquint myself any further than I already have with the aforementioned thinkers' works, this book *did* have worthwile things to say and theoretical insights to share on the contents and the intellectual history of the concept of potentiality.
I will sing my songs of high praise and valor about the glorious fruits passed down to us by Bruno Bosteels, Jelica Sumic, Peter Hallward and Jason E. Smith for their thought-provoking essays for years to come. All the rest - not to be rude about it - just isn't my cup of tea, as I'm interested neither in socialist theories (which, ironic in my case, is basically what the whole book comes down to) nor in what we might call "sessions of mental masturbation", on which Boudieu's essay "Politics: A Non-Expressive Dialectics" and Chiesa's "Notes Towards a Manifesto for Metacritical Realism" are prime examples of.
It might be that I'm just too dumb to understand (or care for) these last two essays and therefore fail to see their relevance, but if the future reader sees these two particular essays in a different and considerably more favourable light than me, then kudos to you, my good sir or ma'am.
In short, what the book concerns itself with is the current state of emancipatory political action - basically it seeks to answer the essential question (appearing at various instances and in several forms) of "is there potential for change in politics, and, if so, in what shape, and to what extent is this so?"
Despite my reluctance to acquint myself any further than I already have with the aforementioned thinkers' works, this book *did* have worthwile things to say and theoretical insights to share on the contents and the intellectual history of the concept of potentiality.
I will sing my songs of high praise and valor about the glorious fruits passed down to us by Bruno Bosteels, Jelica Sumic, Peter Hallward and Jason E. Smith for their thought-provoking essays for years to come. All the rest - not to be rude about it - just isn't my cup of tea, as I'm interested neither in socialist theories (which, ironic in my case, is basically what the whole book comes down to) nor in what we might call "sessions of mental masturbation", on which Boudieu's essay "Politics: A Non-Expressive Dialectics" and Chiesa's "Notes Towards a Manifesto for Metacritical Realism" are prime examples of.
It might be that I'm just too dumb to understand (or care for) these last two essays and therefore fail to see their relevance, but if the future reader sees these two particular essays in a different and considerably more favourable light than me, then kudos to you, my good sir or ma'am.
Displaying 1 of 1 review