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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Agonistic Condition: Materialism and Democracy

The Agonistic Condition: Materialism and Democracy

Vardoulakis, Dimitris

Paperback

PhilosophyGeneral Political Science

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ISBN10: 1399549618
ISBN13: 9781399549615
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Pages: 328
Language: English

Political theory influenced by philosophy examines the political as the sphere of human interaction that is distinct from politics, the sphere of political institutions and parties. The political is usually described in conflictual terms, such as Marx's class struggle, Heidegger's polemos, Rancière's dissensus, or the discourse of agonistic democracy.

This book challenges the premise of such constructions of agonism, namely, that the political is essentially distinct from means and ends calculations. He argues that this premise is derived from the critique of instrumental reason, which assumes that utilitarianism is correct that instrumental ends are measurable. This forgets an ancient tradition that describes phronesis as the primary ethical and political virtue because it calculates the good, which is however impossible to measure with any certainty.

The Agonistic Condition shows that a new consideration of phronesis can help political philosophy and theory to develop more robust conceptions of power that better describe the world we live in.

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