Slavoj Žižek on Wittgenstein and Cancel Culture. “Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen.”(‘Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.’)Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1921 In this final proposition of his Tractatus, Ludwig Wittgenstein prohibits the impossible. But why should one prohibit something that is already in itself impossible? The answer is relatively easy: if …
Anarchism has long been ignored or misunderstood. Academics routinely make factual errors about anarchism, like claiming that all anarchists reject organisation, that anarchists care only about state oppression, or that anarchists have never organised any major social movements. More than a few throw out all pretensions of charity, or even commitment to doing the reading, …
Review of Boris Groys, Philosophy of CareMaria Walsh Boris Groys’ Philosophy of Care is comprised of twelve short, pithy sections that plot an abbreviated history of mainly Western philosophy from ancient to modern times. Also included are two diversions into Russian intellectual thought, Groys being an expert on Soviet-era art and literature, as well as a philosopher …
Review of Louis Menand, The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold WarJosefine Wikström During the past decade there has been an intensified debate in mainstream art criticism about the tension between art’s freedom and free speech. In this debate art’s freedom has been accused of being under severe threat by, on the one …
Review of Jill Godmilow, Kill The Documentary Stefanie Baumann Jill Godmilow’s Kill the Documentary: A Letter to Filmmakers, Students, and Scholars is a curious object. Although published by Columbia University Press, it is not quite an academic text. Unlike most of the theoretical volumes that have been written on documentary film in recent years, Godmilow’s is neither concerned …
Review of Moritz Altenried, The Digital Factory: The Human Labour of Automation Yari Lanci Since the beginning of spring 2022, many countries have witnessed the return to supposedly ‘normal’ rhythms of life after the closures and restrictions that followed the latest pandemic. During this period, discussions in the Global North have emerged about the ‘great escape’ …
Review of Timothy Bewes, Free Indirect: The Novel in a Postfictional AgeCarson Welch A bold question motivates Timothy Bewes’ Free Indirect: Is a non-subjective thought possible? Bewes looks for an answer in recent developments in the novel. His contention is that the novel is a mode of thought which operates not only beyond the ideas represented …
Review of Ntina Tzouvala, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International LawAziz Rana At the heart of the post-World War II international order was a legitimating narrative premised on the idea that the world system was no longer imperial; it had now become a community of equal states. This meant that international law established a …
Review of Nathan Brown, Rationalist Empiricism: A Theory of Speculative CritiqueDaniel Sacilotto Describing the general course of twentieth-century French philosophy, Alain Badiou distinguishes between two major, divergent orientations of thought: a rationalist orientation that promotes a ‘philosophy of the concept’, following from the works of Léon Brunschvicg, and a vitalist-existentialist orientation that promotes a ‘philosophy …
Review of Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, eds., A Lot of People are Saying Michael F. Miller One thing a lot of people are saying right now – especially after the events of January 6th 2021 – is that the supercharged forces of conspiracy theory and digital communication platforms have reshaped social norms and the …