Qu'est-ce qu'une vie bonne?

by Judith Butler

En 2012, au moment de recevoir le Prix Adorno, Judith Butler se demande s’il est possible de vivre une bonne vie dans une mauvaise vie. Que peut donc signifier mener une vie bonne, une vie vraie quand la plupart sont exposés dans leur chair à la vulnérabilité d’une mauvaise vie ? Comment penser la résistance de la vraie vie à la fausse ? Cette ancienne question de la philosophie morale prend un sens neuf si on la pose dans les conditions concrètes de nos existences.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Politics, Feminism

112 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Judith Butler is an American philosopher, feminist, and queer theorist whose work has profoundly shaped gender studies, political philosophy, ethics, psychoanalysis, and literary theory. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, to a Hungarian-Jewish and Russian-Jewish family, Butler was raised in a Jewish cultural and ethical environment that fostered an early engagement with philosophy, ethics, and questions of identity, attending Hebrew school and specialized ethics classes as a teenager. They studied philosophy at Bennington College before transferring to Yale University, where they earned a BA in 1978 and a PhD in 1984, focusing on German idealism, phenomenology, and French theory, including Hegel, Sartre, and Kojève. Butler taught at Wesleyan University, George Washington University, and Johns Hopkins University before joining the University of California, Berkeley in 1993, where they co-founded the Program in Critical Theory, served as Maxine Elliot Professor, directed the International Consortium of Critical Theory, and also hold the Hannah Arendt Chair at the European Graduate School. Butler is best known for Gender Trouble and Bodies That Matter, works in which they introduced the theory of gender performativity, arguing that gender is constituted through repeated social acts rather than a fixed identity, a concept that became foundational in feminist and queer theory. They have also published Excitable Speech, examining hate speech and censorship, Precarious Life, analyzing vulnerability and political violence, Undoing Gender, on the social construction of sexual norms, Giving an Account of Oneself, exploring ethical responsibility and the limits of self-knowledge, and Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, addressing public protest and collective action, while their 2020 book, The Force of Nonviolence, emphasizes ethical engagement in social and political struggles. Butler has engaged in global activism, supporting LGBTQIA rights, opposing anti-gender ideology, advocating for Palestinian rights, critiquing aspects of contemporary Israeli policy, and participating in movements such as Occupy Wall Street, while navigating controversies including critiques of their comments on Hamas and Hezbollah, debates over TERF ideology, and disputes over the Adorno Prize, illustrating the intersections of their scholarship and public interventions. Their work extends into ethical theory, exploring vulnerability, interdependence, mourning, and the recognition of marginalized lives, as well as the performative dimensions of identity and the social construction of sex and gender. They have influenced contemporary feminist, queer, and critical theory, cultural studies, and continental philosophy, shaping debates on gender, sexuality, power, and social justice, while also participating in public discourse and advocacy around education, political violence, and anti-discrimination. Butler is legally non-binary in California, uses they/them pronouns, identifies as a lesbian, and lives in Berkeley with their partner Wendy Brown and their son.

Reviews

[Butylphenyl]

Discours court mais passionnant dans lequel Judith Butler transforme une formule d’Adorno, elle-même empruntée à la philosophie antique, en question : "comment peut-on mener une vie bonne dans une mauvaise vie ?" (il faut comprendre par là : avec inégalité et exploitation). Ce faisant, Judith Butler réfléchit à la relation entre moralité et (bio)politique. Elle se rapproche plus de la pensée de Rousseau que de Foucault ici (ce qui est bien démontré par Martin Rueff dans la préface). Elle théorise aussi les “sans deuil” c'est-à-dire les laissés pour compte (qui nous font forcément penser à la formule des "sans dents") et à comment ce statut influe sur la question (lorsque le système nous considère comme une vie moins importante, comment dès lors peut-on mener une vie bonne voire mener une vie tout court). Bref, c'est très riche et ça me semble être une excellente base de réflexion !

[Manon]

J’ai la désagréable sensation d’être complètement passée à côté de ce livre, que je n’ai vraiment pas trouvé accessible.

[Dina Rahajaharison]

"Y a-t-il des genres de vie qu'on considère déjà comme des non-vies, ou comme partiellement en vie, ou comme déjà mortes et perdues d'avance, avant même toute forme de destruction ou d'abandon ?"

[emma]

Iel n’a pas répondu à la question mais c’était très bien quand même