Synopses & Reviews
What does it mean to be free? We invoke the word frequently, yet the freedom of countless Americans is compromised by social inequalities that systematically undercut what they are able to do and to become. If we are to remedy these failures of freedom, we must move beyond the common assumption, prevalent in political theory and American public life, that individual agency is best conceived as a kind of personal sovereignty, or as self-determination or control over ones actions.
In Freedom Beyond Sovereignty, Sharon R. Krause shows that individual agency is best conceived as a non-sovereign experience because our ability to act and affect the world depends on how other people interpret and respond to what we do. The intersubjective character of agency makes it vulnerable to the effects of social inequality, but it is never in a strict sense socially determined. The agency of the oppressed sometimes surprises us with its vitality. Only by understanding the deep dynamics of agency as simultaneously non-sovereign and robust can we remediate the failed freedom of those on the losing end of persistent inequalities and grasp the scope of our own responsibility for social change. Freedom Beyond Sovereignty brings the experiences of the oppressed to the center of political theory and the study of freedom. It fundamentally reconstructs liberal individualism and enables us to see human action, personal responsibility, and the meaning of liberty in a totally new light.
Review
A significant contribution to the field of political theory. is a wide-ranging and thought-provoking inquiry into the problem of civic life as viewed by a group of important nineteenth- and twentieth-century political theorists. With its reconsideration of the relationship between public freedom and civil society, the book has done something new and it should gain a good deal of attention.
Review
"In his argument for a more vital and robust public square and a more capacious conception of freedom, Villa makes a substantial contribution, both to the political theory literature and to a more textured understanding of the nature of a genuinely free society."--Sheila Suess Kennedy, Law and Politics
Review
In his argument for a more vital and robust public square and a more capacious conception of freedom, Villa makes a substantial contribution, both to the political theory literature and to a more textured understanding of the nature of a genuinely free society. Sheila Suess Kennedy
Review
“Krause remaps the very concept of freedom, which she persuasively argues is a concept that cant be reduced to any one of the familiar models. Freedom Beyond Sovereignty is thoughtful, well-written, well-argued, and engaging, its argument clear and compelling.”
Review
"An important contribution to the literature on freedom, agency, responsibility, and liberalism. Krause's prose is clear and eloquent. She covers huge tracts of disparate scholarship in a small amount of space, knitting together a tight, coherent narrative that follows logically and thoughtfully from one step to the next. The book will be well-received by scholars in political theory, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, queer studies, and critical race studies."
Review
“Beautifully written and clearly argued, Krauses Freedom Beyond Sovereignty is an exciting new contribution to the political theory literature on freedom. Her critique of the self-sovereignty that characterizes most liberal conceptions of freedom, at first blush a radical idea, in fact works to save liberalism from its own often-illogical excesses of individualism. Merging Berlins pluralism with his dualistic conception of freedom, Krause develops an understanding of freedom as a plurality of conceptions. Her notion of plural freedom operates from a sophisticated and complicated understanding of human agency as located within contexts that have shaped who we are, the choices we can make, and that we can in turn reconstruct through our choices. Freedom in Krauses theory is neither simply individual nor collective, but constituted by interactions between individuals and others actions and perceptions. From this, Krause develops theoretical tools for negotiating conflicts among different kinds of freedom. This book is a tour de force and should be read by all.”
Synopsis
The freedom to take part in civic life--whether in the exercise of one's right to vote or congregate and protest--has become increasingly less important to Americans than individual rights and liberties. In
Public Freedom, renowned political theorist Dana Villa argues that political freedom is essential to both the preservation of constitutional government and the very substance of American democracy itself.
Through intense close readings of theorists such as Hegel, Tocqueville, Mill, Adorno, Arendt, and Foucault, Villa diagnoses the key causes of our democratic discontent and offers solutions to preserve at least some of our democratic hopes. He demonstrates how Americans' preoccupation with a market-based conception of freedom--that is, the personal freedom to choose among different material, moral, and vocational goods--has led to the gradual erosion of meaningful public participation in politics as well as diminished interest in the health of the public realm itself. Villa critically examines, among other topics, the promise and limits of civil society and associational life as sources of democratic renewal; the effects of mass media on the public arena; and the problematic but still necessary ideas of civic competence and democratic maturity.
Public Freedom is a passionate and insightful defense of political liberties at a moment in America's history when such freedoms are very much at risk.
Synopsis
"
Public Freedom breaks new ground. Villa's stance is distinctive and compelling. He writes with confidence and authority. The book is full of subtle, important, and in some cases controversial readings of major thinkers and represents a significant move forward in Villa's own thinking, placing him into conversation with some unexpected intellectual traditions, and also disclosing some revisions to his own earlier positions.
Public Freedom is an impressive and successful piece of work."
--Patchen Markell, University of Chicago"A significant contribution to the field of political theory. Public Freedom is a wide-ranging and thought-provoking inquiry into the problem of civic life as viewed by a group of important nineteenth- and twentieth-century political theorists. With its reconsideration of the relationship between public freedom and civil society, the book has done something new and it should gain a good deal of attention."--James Schmidt, Boston University
Synopsis
The freedom to take part in civic life--whether in the exercise of one's right to vote or congregate and protest--has become increasingly less important to Americans than individual rights and liberties. In Public Freedom, renowned political theorist Dana Villa argues that political freedom is essential to both the preservation of constitutional government and the very substance of American democracy itself.
Through intense close readings of theorists such as Hegel, Tocqueville, Mill, Adorno, Arendt, and Foucault, Villa diagnoses the key causes of our democratic discontent and offers solutions to preserve at least some of our democratic hopes. He demonstrates how Americans' preoccupation with a market-based conception of freedom--that is, the personal freedom to choose among different material, moral, and vocational goods--has led to the gradual erosion of meaningful public participation in politics as well as diminished interest in the health of the public realm itself. Villa critically examines, among other topics, the promise and limits of civil society and associational life as sources of democratic renewal; the effects of mass media on the public arena; and the problematic but still necessary ideas of civic competence and democratic maturity.
Public Freedom is a passionate and insightful defense of political liberties at a moment in America's history when such freedoms are very much at risk.
Synopsis
"Public Freedom breaks new ground. Villa's stance is distinctive and compelling. He writes with confidence and authority. The book is full of subtle, important, and in some cases controversial readings of major thinkers and represents a significant move forward in Villa's own thinking, placing him into conversation with some unexpected intellectual traditions, and also disclosing some revisions to his own earlier positions. Public Freedom is an impressive and successful piece of work."--Patchen Markell, University of Chicago
"A significant contribution to the field of political theory. Public Freedom is a wide-ranging and thought-provoking inquiry into the problem of civic life as viewed by a group of important nineteenth- and twentieth-century political theorists. With its reconsideration of the relationship between public freedom and civil society, the book has done something new and it should gain a good deal of attention."--James Schmidt, Boston University
Synopsis
The freedom to take part in civic life--whether in the exercise of one's right to vote or congregate and protest--has become increasingly less important to Americans than individual rights and liberties. In
Public Freedom, renowned political theorist Dana Villa argues that political freedom is essential to both the preservation of constitutional government and the very substance of American democracy itself.
Through intense close readings of theorists such as Hegel, Tocqueville, Mill, Adorno, Arendt, and Foucault, Villa diagnoses the key causes of our democratic discontent and offers solutions to preserve at least some of our democratic hopes. He demonstrates how Americans' preoccupation with a market-based conception of freedom--that is, the personal freedom to choose among different material, moral, and vocational goods--has led to the gradual erosion of meaningful public participation in politics as well as diminished interest in the health of the public realm itself. Villa critically examines, among other topics, the promise and limits of civil society and associational life as sources of democratic renewal; the effects of mass media on the public arena; and the problematic but still necessary ideas of civic competence and democratic maturity.
Public Freedom is a passionate and insightful defense of political liberties at a moment in America's history when such freedoms are very much at risk.
Synopsis
"
Public Freedom breaks new ground. Villa's stance is distinctive and compelling. He writes with confidence and authority. The book is full of subtle, important, and in some cases controversial readings of major thinkers and represents a significant move forward in Villa's own thinking, placing him into conversation with some unexpected intellectual traditions, and also disclosing some revisions to his own earlier positions.
Public Freedom is an impressive and successful piece of work."--Patchen Markell, University of Chicago
"A significant contribution to the field of political theory. Public Freedom is a wide-ranging and thought-provoking inquiry into the problem of civic life as viewed by a group of important nineteenth- and twentieth-century political theorists. With its reconsideration of the relationship between public freedom and civil society, the book has done something new and it should gain a good deal of attention."--James Schmidt, Boston University
Synopsis
In
Freedom Beyond Sovereignty, Sharon R. Krause challenges the widely held assumption that human agency is a kind of personal sovereignty, the capacity for self-determination or control over ones action. She argues that this conception misses an essential social dimension of individual agency, to be able to have an impact on the world that one can recognize as ones own. Agency is more than an exclusively internal capacity of a personwhat Arendt and others have called willingit also intimately involves how our actions are viewed and responded to by those around us. Krause contends that we must move beyond the myth of sovereignty if we are to understand the failed freedom of those who are marginalized by inequality or discrimination and grasp the scope of our own responsibility for social change. A fundamental reconstruction of liberal individualism,
Freedom Beyond Sovereignty enables us to see human action, personal responsibility, and the meaning of liberty in a totally new light.
About the Author
Dana Villa is the Packey J. Dee Professor of Political Theory at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of "Socratic Citizenship; Politics, Philosophy, Terror; and Arendt and Heidegger: The Fate of the Political" (all Princeton).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Chapter 1: Introduction: Public Freedom Today 1
Chapter 2: Tocqueville and Civil Society 27
Chapter 3: Hegel, Tocqueville, and "Individualism" 49
Chapter 4: Tocqueville and Arendt: Public Freedom, Plurality, and the Preconditions of Liberty 85
Chapter 5: Maturity, Paternalism, and Democratic Education in J. S. Mill 108
Chapter 6: The Frankfurt School and the Public Sphere 143
Chapter 7: Genealogies of Total Domination: Arendt, Adorno, and Auschwitz 210
Chapter 8: Foucault and the Dystopian Public 255
Chapter 9: Arendt and Heidegger, Again 302
10 The "Autonomy of the Political" Reconsidered 338
Notes 355
Index 421