Suffering, Politics, Power: A Genealogy In Modern Political Theory
Document Type
Book
Publication Date
2002
Published In
Suffering, Politics, Power: A Genealogy In Modern Political Theory
Abstract
Suffering, Politics, Power argues that human suffering on a global scale constitutes the most urgent and least understood question of contemporary politics and political theory. In the modern age, the experience of suffering is primarily a political problem, constructed out of crucial, conflicting perspectives. The book draws on a genealogy of suffering through the conflicting perspectives of four major political theorists: Martin Luther, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Although supplying contradictory accounts of the nature of suffering and human response to it, these theorists, when examined together, provide a historical foundation for the political structures of our time and a trajectory for the problematic of suffering which defies all limits. This book works to foster a contemporary political response to suffering, addressing the techniques of its product and representation and the dilemmas of ascertaining causes and responsibilities.
Published By
State University of New York Press
Recommended Citation
Cynthia Halpern. (2002). Suffering, Politics, Power: A Genealogy In Modern Political Theory.
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-poli-sci/110