Synopses & Reviews
In Hegel's Rabble, Frank Ruda identifies and explores a crucial problem in the Hegelian philosophy of right that strikes at the heart of Hegel's conception of the state. This singular problem, which Ruda argues is the problem of Hegelian political thought, appears in Hegel's text only in a seemingly marginal form under the name of the "rabble": a particular side-effect of the dialectical deduction of the necessity of the existence of state from the contradictory constitution of civil society. Working out from a thorough analysis of this problem and drawing on contemporary discussions in the work of such thinkers as Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy and Slavoj Zizek, the book proceeds to re-examine and reconstruct Hegel's entire political project. Ruda goes on to argue that only by re-thinking this problem of 'the rabble' in Hegel's thought - the only problem Hegel is able neither to resolve nor to sublate - can the early Marxian conception of 'the proletariat' be properly understood. The book closes with an Afterword from Slavoj Zizek.
Synopsis
Art is often said to be timeless, but specific works of art always take place within time and maintain a dynamic balance between their conditions of production and reception.
Art and Contemporaneity features contributions from leading scholars, including Alain Badiou and Alexander García Düttmann, who bring theories of aesthetic philosophy to bear on one of the most crucial questions about contemporary art: how do works of art come to exist within and in relation to time? A specific temporality of an artwork emerges from the material and political conditions of its production. But works of art also forge new relationships to time in their reception, which are continually superimposed upon layers of history. With a broad range of perspectives, Art and Contemporaneity offers a sustained reflection on the relationship between art and time, and it will appeal to those interested in both the theory and practice of contemporary art.
About the Author
Frank Ruda is Research Associate at the Collaborative Research Centre on Aesthetic Experience and the Dissolution of Artistic Limits at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. He is the author of Hegel's Rabble: An Investigation into Hegel's Philosophy of the Right (Continuum 2011).
Slavoj Žižek is one of the world's leading contemporary cultural critics and a hugely prolific author. He is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and Visiting Professor at the New School for Social Research, New York, USA.
Table of Contents
Preface Alexander García Düttman For and Against the Contemporary
An Examination Judith Balso "No, nobody could ever call me his contemporary." Oliver Feltham What is Contemporaneity in Theater? Atomism versus Atavism Frank Ruda We Are All Hot Girls in a Mental Asylum
The "Hollywood Left" and Contemporary Democracy Mark Potocnik Fire walk with me
Canetti's Auto-da-Fé Barbara Formis The Urinal and The Syncope Vladimir Safatle The Exhaustion of the Critical Form as Aesthetic Value Georg W. Bertram Benjamin and Adorno on Art as Critical Practice Jan Voelker To end the End
Philosophy and the Poem in Balidou Alain Badiou Art and Mathematics Contributors