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Books by Paul Patton

Political Philosophy by Paul Patton

The Government of Life: Foucault, Biopolitics, and Neoliberalism ed Vanessa Lemm and Miguel Vatter, 2014

Foucault and Rawls represent very different approaches to political philosophy. Whereas the forme... more Foucault and Rawls represent very different approaches to political philosophy. Whereas the former pursues a resolutely descriptive approach to the techniques, strategies and forms of rationality of power, the latter is explicitly normative in setting out and arguing for principles of justice that should inform the government of society conceived as a fair system of cooperation. I propose to show that the distance between them is less extreme than might be supposed and that differences between them are instructive. They converge on the analysis of particular conceptions of the proper business of government and the institutions and policies it should embrace. While Rawls is explicitly concerned with ideal theory rather than actual societies, he recognizes that a theory of justice will have implications for the way that society should be governed and that these should be spelt out and examined in order to test the theory. By contrast, Foucault is explicitly concerned with actual historical conceptions of government rather than normative considerations about the most reasonable form of government. The comparison with Rawls serves to highlight the fact that normative questions are an inescapable dimension of any genealogy of liberal or neoliberal government that aspires to be critical. Conversely, Foucault's analysis of neoliberal "governmentality" shows up the influence of neoliberal thought on Rawls's conception of the nature and functions of government and his preferred economic regime of "property owning democracy." This unlikely combination of egalitarian and genealogical approaches adds historical depth to our understanding of the public political culture of liberal capitalist democracies. Descriptive and prescriptive approaches to power in Foucault Vanessa Lemm and Miguel Vatter eds The Government of Life: Foucault, Biopolitics,

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2015

These comments take issue with two aspects of the treatment of Rawls in On The People's Terms. Fi... more These comments take issue with two aspects of the treatment of Rawls in On The People's Terms. First, I criticize the characterization of Rawls as downplaying political liberties and focusing instead on social justice. Second, I take issue with the claim that Pettit provides a more robust conception of legitimacy than Rawls. The basis for this claim is that Rawls, along with others in the Kantian tradition, downplays the question of legitimacy by 'going hypothetical.' Yet in common with Rawls, Pettit's Republican conception of legitimacy imposes a stringent test of legitimacy that many democratic regimes would not pass. This leads him to propose a weaker standard of 'legitimizability' that appears to involve the same kind of counterfactual judgment for which Rawls is criticized.

Sociological Problems (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Special Issue edited by Antoinette Koleva, Kolyo Koev, Michel Foucault: New Problematizations, 2016

Foucault’s lectures in 1976 open with the statement of an intellectual crisis. They proceed to a ... more Foucault’s lectures in 1976 open with the statement of an intellectual crisis. They proceed to a series of questions about the nature of power and the ways that he has conceived of it up to this point: what is power? How is it exercised? Is it ultimately a relation of force? Only some of these questions are answered in the course of these lectures. His answer to the conceptual questions about the nature of power and the appropriate means to analyze it is not forthcoming until after the discovery of ‘governmentality’ in 1978 and his lectures on liberal and neoliberal governmentality in 1979. This talk aims to retrace his answers to these questions in the light of the published lectures and to examine the consequences of these answers for his overall approach to the analysis power, and for his analysis of liberal and neoliberal governmental power.

Conversations: The Journal of Cavellian Studies, 2, 2014

A primary concern of Stanley Cavell’s Carus Lectures is to respond to the question posed in the f... more A primary concern of Stanley Cavell’s Carus Lectures is to respond to the question posed in the first sentence of the Introduction: “Is Moral Perfectionism inherently elitist?” By elitist, he means undemocratic. While there are senses in which he would not want to deny that Moral Perfectionism is elitist, and while he admits that there are perfectionisms that do not require democracy, neither of these are Cavell’s concern. Rather, he wants to showcase his preferred version of perfectionism, variously named Moral, Emersonian and Nietzschean perfectionism.

Critical Horizons, 15 (1), 14-27., 2014

Amy Allen criticizes Foucault for having a “narrow and impoverished conception of social interact... more Amy Allen criticizes Foucault for having a “narrow and impoverished conception of social interaction, according to which all such interaction is strategic.” I challenge this claim, partly on the basis of comments by Foucault which explicitly acknowledge and in some cases endorse forms of non-strategic interaction, but more importantly on the basis of the significant changes in Foucault’s concept of power that he elaborated in lectures from 1978 onwards and in “The Subject and Power.” His 1975–1976 lectures embarked upon a critical re-examination of the “strategic” concept of power that he had relied upon up to this point. However, it was not until 1978 and after that he outlined an alternative concept of power as government, or more broadly as “action upon the actions of others.” After retracing this shift in Foucault’s understanding of power, I argue that the concept of power as action upon the actions of others does not commit him to a narrow conception of social interaction as always strategic. At the same time, Foucault’s concept does not answer normative questions about acceptable versus unacceptable ways of governing the actions of others.

New Formations, 80-81, Dec 2013

Foucault devotes seven out of the twelve lectures he delivered at the Collège de France in 1979 t... more Foucault devotes seven out of the twelve lectures he delivered at the Collège de France in 1979 to German and American neo-liberalism. Contrary to the widespread view that the purpose of these lectures was to 'critique' neoliberalism, I sketch another reading of those lectures that connects them with a different kind of critique of liberal political reason that we find in the work of John Rawls. I begin by showing that Foucault is more normative than is often realised: at one point he raises the question 'what form of governmentality would be appropriate to socialism?' I then show that Rawls is not simply normative but also descriptive of the institutions and policies of liberal government: his argument for property owning democracy as an alternative to welfare state capitalism is one element of a conception of governmentality associated with his conception of justice as fairness. Finally, I point to some of the ways in which Rawls's conception of the kind of government and economy compatible with his principles of justice was influenced by elements of postwar neoliberalism. I conclude by suggesting that Foucault's sketch of a genealogy of neoliberal economic and political thought points to a historical conception of Rawls's idea of public reason, and that the egalitarian tradition of neoliberal thought on which Rawls draws points toward possible answers to Foucault's question about a governmentality appropriate to socialism.

A Companion to Foucault, Oxford: Blackwell, 172-188., Jan 1, 2013

Deleuze and Law ed Laurent de Sutter and Kyle McGee, 2012

This paper outlines a historical and open-ended conception of rights, including human rights, as... more This paper outlines a historical and open-ended conception of rights, including human rights, as a project capable of transforming present regimes of government. Following Foucault and Deleuze, it explore the idea that legal and political rights are entirely immanent to existing regimes of power, knowledge and desire, but also inseparable from the potential for the creation of new rights. As such, the creation of new rights should be counted among the forms of resistance to the present. However, this raises further questions about how we should understand the nature of rights, including human rights, as a process rather than a form of human relations. I argue for a concept of ‘right-becoming’ in the sense that Deleuze and Guattari talk about woman-becoming, animal-becoming or democratic-becoming as an on-going and open-ended process carried in relation to existing figures of woman, animal or democracy.

Daniel W. Smith and Henry Somers-Hall eds The Cambridge Companion to Deleuze, 2012

Constellations, 18:1, Dec 2011

The Government of Life: Foucault, Biopolitics, and Neoliberalism ed Vanessa Lemm and Miguel Vatter, 2014

Foucault and Rawls represent very different approaches to political philosophy. Whereas the forme... more Foucault and Rawls represent very different approaches to political philosophy. Whereas the former pursues a resolutely descriptive approach to the techniques, strategies and forms of rationality of power, the latter is explicitly normative in setting out and arguing for principles of justice that should inform the government of society conceived as a fair system of cooperation. I propose to show that the distance between them is less extreme than might be supposed and that differences between them are instructive. They converge on the analysis of particular conceptions of the proper business of government and the institutions and policies it should embrace. While Rawls is explicitly concerned with ideal theory rather than actual societies, he recognizes that a theory of justice will have implications for the way that society should be governed and that these should be spelt out and examined in order to test the theory. By contrast, Foucault is explicitly concerned with actual historical conceptions of government rather than normative considerations about the most reasonable form of government. The comparison with Rawls serves to highlight the fact that normative questions are an inescapable dimension of any genealogy of liberal or neoliberal government that aspires to be critical. Conversely, Foucault's analysis of neoliberal "governmentality" shows up the influence of neoliberal thought on Rawls's conception of the nature and functions of government and his preferred economic regime of "property owning democracy." This unlikely combination of egalitarian and genealogical approaches adds historical depth to our understanding of the public political culture of liberal capitalist democracies. Descriptive and prescriptive approaches to power in Foucault Vanessa Lemm and Miguel Vatter eds The Government of Life: Foucault, Biopolitics,

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2015

These comments take issue with two aspects of the treatment of Rawls in On The People's Terms. Fi... more These comments take issue with two aspects of the treatment of Rawls in On The People's Terms. First, I criticize the characterization of Rawls as downplaying political liberties and focusing instead on social justice. Second, I take issue with the claim that Pettit provides a more robust conception of legitimacy than Rawls. The basis for this claim is that Rawls, along with others in the Kantian tradition, downplays the question of legitimacy by 'going hypothetical.' Yet in common with Rawls, Pettit's Republican conception of legitimacy imposes a stringent test of legitimacy that many democratic regimes would not pass. This leads him to propose a weaker standard of 'legitimizability' that appears to involve the same kind of counterfactual judgment for which Rawls is criticized.

Sociological Problems (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Special Issue edited by Antoinette Koleva, Kolyo Koev, Michel Foucault: New Problematizations, 2016

Foucault’s lectures in 1976 open with the statement of an intellectual crisis. They proceed to a ... more Foucault’s lectures in 1976 open with the statement of an intellectual crisis. They proceed to a series of questions about the nature of power and the ways that he has conceived of it up to this point: what is power? How is it exercised? Is it ultimately a relation of force? Only some of these questions are answered in the course of these lectures. His answer to the conceptual questions about the nature of power and the appropriate means to analyze it is not forthcoming until after the discovery of ‘governmentality’ in 1978 and his lectures on liberal and neoliberal governmentality in 1979. This talk aims to retrace his answers to these questions in the light of the published lectures and to examine the consequences of these answers for his overall approach to the analysis power, and for his analysis of liberal and neoliberal governmental power.

Conversations: The Journal of Cavellian Studies, 2, 2014

A primary concern of Stanley Cavell’s Carus Lectures is to respond to the question posed in the f... more A primary concern of Stanley Cavell’s Carus Lectures is to respond to the question posed in the first sentence of the Introduction: “Is Moral Perfectionism inherently elitist?” By elitist, he means undemocratic. While there are senses in which he would not want to deny that Moral Perfectionism is elitist, and while he admits that there are perfectionisms that do not require democracy, neither of these are Cavell’s concern. Rather, he wants to showcase his preferred version of perfectionism, variously named Moral, Emersonian and Nietzschean perfectionism.

Critical Horizons, 15 (1), 14-27., 2014

Amy Allen criticizes Foucault for having a “narrow and impoverished conception of social interact... more Amy Allen criticizes Foucault for having a “narrow and impoverished conception of social interaction, according to which all such interaction is strategic.” I challenge this claim, partly on the basis of comments by Foucault which explicitly acknowledge and in some cases endorse forms of non-strategic interaction, but more importantly on the basis of the significant changes in Foucault’s concept of power that he elaborated in lectures from 1978 onwards and in “The Subject and Power.” His 1975–1976 lectures embarked upon a critical re-examination of the “strategic” concept of power that he had relied upon up to this point. However, it was not until 1978 and after that he outlined an alternative concept of power as government, or more broadly as “action upon the actions of others.” After retracing this shift in Foucault’s understanding of power, I argue that the concept of power as action upon the actions of others does not commit him to a narrow conception of social interaction as always strategic. At the same time, Foucault’s concept does not answer normative questions about acceptable versus unacceptable ways of governing the actions of others.

New Formations, 80-81, Dec 2013

Foucault devotes seven out of the twelve lectures he delivered at the Collège de France in 1979 t... more Foucault devotes seven out of the twelve lectures he delivered at the Collège de France in 1979 to German and American neo-liberalism. Contrary to the widespread view that the purpose of these lectures was to 'critique' neoliberalism, I sketch another reading of those lectures that connects them with a different kind of critique of liberal political reason that we find in the work of John Rawls. I begin by showing that Foucault is more normative than is often realised: at one point he raises the question 'what form of governmentality would be appropriate to socialism?' I then show that Rawls is not simply normative but also descriptive of the institutions and policies of liberal government: his argument for property owning democracy as an alternative to welfare state capitalism is one element of a conception of governmentality associated with his conception of justice as fairness. Finally, I point to some of the ways in which Rawls's conception of the kind of government and economy compatible with his principles of justice was influenced by elements of postwar neoliberalism. I conclude by suggesting that Foucault's sketch of a genealogy of neoliberal economic and political thought points to a historical conception of Rawls's idea of public reason, and that the egalitarian tradition of neoliberal thought on which Rawls draws points toward possible answers to Foucault's question about a governmentality appropriate to socialism.

A Companion to Foucault, Oxford: Blackwell, 172-188., Jan 1, 2013

Deleuze and Law ed Laurent de Sutter and Kyle McGee, 2012

This paper outlines a historical and open-ended conception of rights, including human rights, as... more This paper outlines a historical and open-ended conception of rights, including human rights, as a project capable of transforming present regimes of government. Following Foucault and Deleuze, it explore the idea that legal and political rights are entirely immanent to existing regimes of power, knowledge and desire, but also inseparable from the potential for the creation of new rights. As such, the creation of new rights should be counted among the forms of resistance to the present. However, this raises further questions about how we should understand the nature of rights, including human rights, as a process rather than a form of human relations. I argue for a concept of ‘right-becoming’ in the sense that Deleuze and Guattari talk about woman-becoming, animal-becoming or democratic-becoming as an on-going and open-ended process carried in relation to existing figures of woman, animal or democracy.

Daniel W. Smith and Henry Somers-Hall eds The Cambridge Companion to Deleuze, 2012

Constellations, 18:1, Dec 2011

Timothy O’Leary and Christopher Falzon eds Foucault and Philosophy, 2010

Deleuze Studies, Jan 1, 2007

Deleuze, Rawls et la philosophie politique utopique, 2009

Les philosophies politiques de Deleuze et de Rawls comportent toutes deux une dimension utopique ... more Les philosophies politiques de Deleuze et de Rawls comportent toutes deux une dimension utopique immanente, qui offre un cadre et un prétexte utile pour la comparaison. Les travaux des deux auteurs paraissent au premier abord articulés sur des plans profondément différents : alors que ceux du premier expriment une orientation principalement critique, ceux du second ont pour premier objectif de reconstruire. Les uns portent avant tout sur des dynamiques d'assemblages sociaux et politiques, tandis que les autres s'efforcent d'élaborer une conception normative relative à une société juste et démocratique. Toutefois, une comparaison menée depuis l'angle de leur aspiration utopique suggère que la distance entre les deux est moins importante qu'il ne pourrait paraître. La philosophie deleuzienne est utopique en ce qu'elle produit des concepts qui mobilisent certains aspects de la culture politique existante afin d'établir un lien avec les processus de déterritorialisation relative déjà à l'oeuvre dans le champ social. Rawls, quant à lui, développe une conception de la justice sur la base de concepts et de convictions déjà présents dans la culture politique publique des démocraties libérales. Cette conception fournit ensuite un standard à partir duquel il est possible de critiquer les institutions et les politiques publiques existantes. Le fait qu'il ne mobilise rien d'autre que les opinions et les discours établis qui caractérisent une culture politique donnée justifie l'idée selon laquelle il développe lui aussi un utopisme politique immanent. 71 Deleuze, Rawls et la philosophie politique utopique

Contemporary Political Theory, Dec 2005

This article responds to Philippe Mengue's claim that Deleuzian political philosophy is fundament... more This article responds to Philippe Mengue's claim that Deleuzian political philosophy is fundamentally hostile to democracy. After outlining key elements of the attitude towards democracy in Deleuze and Guattari's work, it addresses three major arguments put forward in support of this claim. The first relies on Deleuze's rejection of transcendence and his critical remarks about human rights; the second relies on the contrast between majoritarian and minoritarian politics outlined in A Thousand Plateaus; and the third relies on the antipathy of philosophy towards opinion as outlined in What is Philosophy? After responding to each of these arguments in turn, I outline an alternative and more positive account of Deleuze and Guattari's critical engagement with opinion by way of a contrast with Rawls. Contemporary Political Theory (2005) 4, 400-413.

Ian Buchanan and Nicholas Thoburn eds Deleuze and Politics, Jan 1, 2008

Becoming-Democratic Paul Patton Deleuze often refers to his work with Guattari as philosophy and ... more Becoming-Democratic Paul Patton Deleuze often refers to his work with Guattari as philosophy and some-times even as political philosophy. Yet the normative questions about the justification, nature and limits of political power that have preoc-cupied canonical ...

The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory, 2006

Postrstructuralist approaches to political philosophy differ in certain respects from liberal pol... more Postrstructuralist approaches to political philosophy differ in certain respects from liberal political thought, but in other ways closely resemble some currents in liberal political philosophy. This chapter identifies some points of convergence between the work of Deleuze and Guattari, Derrida and Foucault and Richard Rorty's liberal pragmatism.

Radical Democracy: Politics Between Abundance and Lack, Jan 1, 2005

Journal of intercultural studies, Jan 1, 2005

This paper examines the reasoning behind Jeremy Waldron's influential thesis concerning the possi... more This paper examines the reasoning behind Jeremy Waldron's influential thesis concerning the possibility of the supersession of historical injustice. It argues that Waldron establishes only the possibility that distributions of property brought about by unjust acts may become just, not that this has actually occurred in any case of colonisation. Second, it argues that the injustice involved in the seizure of property does not exhaust the injustice involved in acts of colonisation.

Austl. Feminist LJ, Jan 1, 2001

As Australia celebrates the centenary of the Federation of its colonial states to form a Commonwe... more As Australia celebrates the centenary of the Federation of its colonial states to form a Commonwealth in 1901, the status of its indigenous peoples remains a constitutional paradox and a moral flaw at the heart of the nation. Australia is unique among former British colonies in never ...

Critical Horizons, Jan 1, 2005

This paper outlines Foucault's genealogical conception of critique and argues that it is not inco... more This paper outlines Foucault's genealogical conception of critique and argues that it is not inconsistent with his appeals to concepts of right so long as these are understood in terms of his historical and naturalistic approach to rights. This approach is explained by reference to Nietzsche's account of the origins of rights and duties and the example of Aboriginal rights is used to exemplify the historical character of rights understood as internal to power relations. Drawing upon the contemporary 'externalist' approach to rights, it is argued that the normative force of rights can only come from within historically available moral and political discourses. Reading Foucault's 1978-1979 lectures on liberal governmentality in this manner suggests that his call for new forms of right in order to criticise disciplinary power should be answered by reference to concepts drawn from the liberal tradition of governmental reason.

Empire by Treaty: Negotiating European Expansion 1600-1900, ed Saliha Belmessous. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2015

Despite the widespread recognition that treaties with indigenous peoples were instruments of empi... more Despite the widespread recognition that treaties with indigenous peoples were instruments of empire, the idea of a treaty relationship continues to play a powerful role in the political imaginary of postcolonial societies. This chapter explores this ambivalence with reference to three settler societies established under British colonial rule: Australia, Canada and Aotearoa/ New Zealand. It contrasts the history of treaty making and the non-observance of treaties with the present function of the treaty ideal in projects for reconciliation, conflict resolution and constitutional reform. Canadian philosopher James Tully provides the most detailed account of the treaty relationship as a normative ideal for a genuinely postcolonial constitution. The chapter concludes with a critical examination of the normative basis for Tully's treaty ideal and argues that the conditions for a genuinely postcolonial liberal society are the same as for any society with diverse cultural, moral and religious traditions.

Sandra Tomsons and Lorraine Mayer eds Philosophy and Aboriginal Rights: Critical Dialogues, 2013

Aboriginal rights have long been a problem for liberal political philosophy. Initial attempts to ... more Aboriginal rights have long been a problem for liberal political philosophy. Initial attempts to provide philosophical justification for their existence relied on the ahistorical mode of argumentation characteristic of liberal normative political philosophy. My aim in this chapter is to suggest that John Rawls’s later work, from Political Liberalism on, provides unexplored resources for the justification of Aboriginal rights in societies established by colonization. Moreover, it offers a form of justification compatible with the idea that they are historical and contingent rather than ahistorical or inherent rights.

Lukas H Meyer ed Justice in Time: Responding to Historical Injustice, Jan 1, 2004

Thinking through the body of the law, Jan 1, 1996

Paul Patton and, Jan 1, 1997

Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, Jan 1, 1996

... tain a measure of justice for surviving Aboriginal and Islander peo-ple. ... This belief was ... more ... tain a measure of justice for surviving Aboriginal and Islander peo-ple. ... This belief was elo-quently formulated as a legal principle by Lord Sumner in Re South-ern Rhodesia, when he asserted that "some tribes are so low in the scale of social organisation that their usages and ...

The Australian journal of anthropology, Jan 1, 1995

Politics, Jan 1, 1995

This paper attempts to demonstrate the applicability of certain themes from post-structuralist th... more This paper attempts to demonstrate the applicability of certain themes from post-structuralist theory to issues raised by the Mabo judgment and the subsequent debate over native title. It outlines some common features of a post-structuralist conception of society, commenting ...

Justice and Identity: Antipodean Practices ed Margaret Wilson and Anna Yeatman, Jan 1, 1995

Control Culture: Foucault and Deleuze after Discipline ed Frida Beckman, 2018

In Dialogues Deleuze argued that the history of philosophy has always been a repressive agent in ... more In Dialogues Deleuze argued that the history of philosophy has always been a repressive agent in philosophy, ‘A formidable school of intimidation which manufactures specialists in thought – but which also makes those who stay outside conform all the more to this specialism which they despise. An image of thought called philosophy has been formed historically and it effectively stops people from thinking’ (Dialogues II, 13). His reference to the ‘image of thought’ speaks to one of the important ways in which philosophy controls thought by presenting a model or conception of what thinking is, by right, that is thinking properly so called.
But if we ask how this control operates, it is difficult to ignore the institutional mechanisms that sustain and reproduce certain ways of thinking in philosophy: the history of philosophy was able to function as a school of intimidation in France in part through the system of competitive examinations and prescribed curricula. Other countries and other times have their own institutional mechanisms for the control of philosophical thought, as shown by examples from the history of anglophone philosophy.
Reference to the external, institutional conditions of philosophical thought raises further questions about the consequences for philosophy of changes in the wider social and institutional environment. What happens to philosophy in societies of control, when the old rules of philosophical apprenticeship no longer apply? This chapter will explore Deleuze’s conception of control in philosophy, as well as the larger issue of the fate of philosophy in the rapidly changing institutional context of control societies.

Suri, 2018

Deleuze and Guattari's final statement on the political function of philosophy as they understood... more Deleuze and Guattari's final statement on the political function of philosophy as they understood and practised in What is Philosophy? invoked both a becoming-revolutionary and a becoming-democratic. While they had earlier given some indication of what was meant by becoming-revolutionary, and related this to both their own conception of micropolitics and to their rejection of classical Marxist conceptions of revolution, they said very little about what was meant by becoming-democratic. I propose to revisit the concept of becoming-democratic and my own attempts to flesh out this context in the light of their earlier work, with a view to providing a more developed conception. The aim is not only to ask how Deleuze and Guattari's political philosophy can assist the project of emancipation today, but also to explore possible dimensions of this concept in the current context of the so-called crisis of democracy.

Crítica Contemporánea. Revista de Teoría Politica, 2011

Bell and Colebrook (eds) Deleuze and History, Jan 1, 2009

Buchanan and Parr eds. Deleuze and the contemporary world, Jan 1, 2006

Colonisation was not a topic that figured largely in Deleuze's work. He made only occasional passi... more Colonisation was not a topic that figured largely in Deleuze's work. He made only occasional passing remarks about it, such as those in a 1982 interview with Elias Sanbar. Here, in discussing an analogy drawn between the Palestinians and Native Americans, he ...

C. Boundas (ed) Gilles Deleuze: The Intensive Reduction, London and N.Y: Continuum, Jan 1, 2009

Deleuze and the Social, edited by Martin Fuglsang and Bent Meier , Jan 1, 2006

Chapter 1 Order, Exteriority and Flat Multiplicities in the Social Paul Patton Order and Chaos In... more Chapter 1 Order, Exteriority and Flat Multiplicities in the Social Paul Patton Order and Chaos In What is Philosophy? Deleuze and Guattari suggest that all thinking is a way of bringing order out of chaos, whether it takes place in the form of art, philosophy or science. Each of these ...

Thamyris, 2006

Deleuze and Guattari's distinctive version of poststructuralist theory relies upon a metaphysics ... more Deleuze and Guattari's distinctive version of poststructuralist theory relies upon a metaphysics of process as opposed to product, becoming as opposed to being, and lines of flight or deterritorialization as opposed to the capture of primary flows. This metaphysics affects their conception of thought as well as its objects. They undertake a rhizomatic or nomadic practice of thought in which concepts are not built in orderly fashion upon secure foundations but constructed, as it were, on the run, in the course of an open-ended series of encounters with diverse empirical contents. This philosophical practice is not well understood by critics, who often understand them to be employing metaphors rather than constructing concepts. Thus, they are often read as proposing figures of multiplicity by analogy with botanical rhizomes, or figures of movement or deterritorialization by analogy with real nomads, and so on. In turn, this reading leaves them open to criticism directed at both the accuracy and the ethics of the ref-erential claim imputed to them. On the one hand, for example, Christopher L. Miller argues that their reliance on anthropological sources in the discussion of nomadism commits them to an "anthropological referentiality" which is open to question both with regard to its accuracy and its complicity with colonial discourse (Miller, "Beyond Identity" 179; see also 181, 196). While he recognizes that Deleuze and Guattari's project is not straightforwardly representational, Miller's criticism supposes that it must rely either upon direct representation or metaphor (indirect representation). On the other hand, Caren Kaplan argues that their privileging of the "nomadic" and related processes of becoming-minor and deterritorialization amounts to a "metaphorical mapping of space" which reproduces the modern Eurocentric valorization of distance and displacement (88). She argues that: Deleuze and Guattari appropriate a number of metaphors to produce sites of displacement in their theory. The botanical metaphor of the rootlike "rhizome," for example,

Theory & Event, Jan 1, 1991

Man and World, Jan 1, 1996

Gilles Deleuze and the Theatre of Philosophy, Jan 1, 1994

Radical Philosophy, Apr 1, 1996

One of the saints D eleuze was a singular combination of philosophical and scientific culture, ae... more One of the saints D eleuze was a singular combination of philosophical and scientific culture, aesthetic inspiration and enormous generosity of spirit. If, as he and Guattari suggested, Spinoza was the Christ of philosophers, then Deleuze was surely one of the saints. Nietzsche suggests that what distinguished the saints was their extraordinary strength of will and capacity to overcome their former selves. Deleuze exhibited these qualities in his work and in his life, to the very end. He was a philosopher trained in the old school, a specialist in the history of philosophy who was profoundly affected by the extra-philosophical movements of thought and social activism that exploded in France during the years around 1968.

SubStance, 44/45, 61-80., Jan 1, 1984

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

JBSP. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 25:2, May 1, 1994

Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Jan 1, 1997

Ideology & Consciousness, Jan 1, 1981

Deleuze and Guattari: Critical Assessments of …, Jan 1, 2001

Kritike, 2022

This article traces a connection between the Daoist conception of nothingness and democratic deli... more This article traces a connection between the Daoist conception of nothingness and democratic deliberation by way of Derrida's deconstructive analysis of decision. Analysis of the aporia(s) at the heart of decision is a recurrent feature of Derrida's later work and, I argue, this highlights the function of nothingness in the act of decision. After identifying convergences between Derridean deconstruction and the Daodejing relating to the constitutive role of nothingness in material and immaterial things, I argue that it is only because of the nothingness between reasons and a decision that there really is "a decision." This nothingness as the heart of any decision is further compounded by the "ordeal" that Derrida describes in relation to decisions that aspire to be just or responsible to the other. Finally, I argue that Derrida's analysis of decision suggests a possible way to spell out the connection between nothingness and the ethics of difference as presented in the Zhuangzi. Awareness of the primary and secondary nothingness involved in decision reminds us that there is no ground for "good conscience" with regard to any decision that has been taken and that there is always more to be done.

Because the classical concept of sovereignty implies an unconditioned agency, Derrida’s deconstru... more Because the classical concept of sovereignty implies an unconditioned agency, Derrida’s deconstruction of political sovereignty cannot proceed on the model of his deconstructive analyses of concepts such as justice, hospitality, forgiveness and democracy. In this paper, I focus on his reluctance to completely abandon the idea of sovereignty because it is bound up with the ‘classical principles of freedom and self-determination.’ I argue that there are good reasons to pursue the critique of the classical conception of personal agency, freedom and self-determination, and that rejection of those ideals need not imply rejection of the normative priority of individuals.

Philosophy Compass, Jan 1, 2007

Derrida's early reluctance to spell out political implications of deconstruction gave way during ... more Derrida's early reluctance to spell out political implications of deconstruction gave way during the course of the 1980s to a series of analyses of political concepts and issues. This article identifies the principal intellectual strategies of Derrida's political engagements and provides a detailed account of his concept of 'democracy to come'. Finally, it suggests several points of contact between Derrida and recent liberal political philosophy, as well as some areas in which deconstructive analyses require further refinement if fruitful exchange is to occur.

Histories of Postmodernism ed M. Bevir, J. Hargis and S. Rushing, 2007

Opinion remains divided over the value of Derrida's contribution to political philosophy. Does hi... more Opinion remains divided over the value of Derrida's contribution to political philosophy. Does his work provide important challenges to established ways of thinking about politics or does it amount to no more than hyper-critical posturing that adds nothing to political thought? In part, the difficulty of answering this question may be attributed to local differences in the vocabulary, style and concerns of political philosophy. In Derrida's case, the difficulty is exacerbated by his apparent reluctance to engage with political philosophy during the early part of his career. My aim in this chapter is, first, to replace Derrida's thought in its context of origin and to suggest how the transition from avoidance to engagement with political concepts might be understood in relation to developments in French thought during this period. Second, I will outline the different kinds of conceptual analysis undertaken during the period of so-called "affirmative deconstruc-tion " since the mid-1980s, in order to clarify the nature of his engagement with political philosophy and specifically his analyses of democracy and " democracy to come. " Finally, I will argue that there is more common ground than is often realized between his deconstructive analyses of democracy and some tendencies within contemporary liberal political thought. I conclude that both deconstructive and liberal normative approaches to political philosophy would benefit from further constructive engagement.

Critical Horizons, Jan 1, 2003

Abstract: This paper points to significant similarities between the political orientations of Del... more Abstract: This paper points to significant similarities between the political orientations of Deleuze and Derrida. Derrida's appeal to a pure form of existing concepts (absolute hospitality, pure forgiveness, and so on) parallels Deleuze and Guattari's distinction ...

Between Deleuze and Derrida, Jan 1, 2003

Oxford Literary Review, Jan 1, 1996

KRITIKE, 2018

With the benefit of the complete publication of Foucault's lectures at the Collège de France, the... more With the benefit of the complete publication of Foucault's lectures at the Collège de France, the reception of his work by political philosophers in the English-speaking world during the late 1970s and early 1980s appears extremely confused. This reception was based on the English translations of work published in the mid-1970s, chiefly Discipline and Punish and The History of Sexuality Volume One, along with collections of interviews from the same period. The misunderstandings of those works were compounded by ignorance of developments in his approach to politics and his understanding of power worked out in lectures from 1976 to 1979. The aim of this paper is not simply to defend Foucault against critics from that period, but to show how a more complete understanding of the evolution of his political thought might enable a better understanding of the similarities and differences between his genealogical approach to power and government and the concerns of normative political philosophy.

Deleuze Studies, 2010

Deleuze and Foucault shared a period of political activism and both drew connections between thei... more Deleuze and Foucault shared a period of political activism and both drew connections between their activism and their respective approaches to philosophy. However, despite their shared political commitments and praise of each other's work, there remained important philosophical differences between them which became more and more apparent over time. This article identifies some of the political issues over which they disagreed and shows how they relate to some of their underlying philosophical differences. It focuses on their respective approaches to the state, to 'actuality' and to the analysis of the present.

Foucault entrevistado por Colin Gordon y Paul Patton (1978) Traducido por Francisco Larrabe C.

Reflexiones de Foucault en torno al marxismo, la fenomenología y el poder

Giorgio Agamben: Sovereignty and Life, Jan 1, 2007

International Studies in Philosophy, 36:3, Jan 31, 2004

Jeremy Moss (ed.) The Later Foucault: Politics and Philosophy, 1998

Sociologie et sociétés, Jan 1, 1992

Thesis Eleven, Jan 1, 1985

Art and Text, Jan 1, 1984

Political Theory Newsletter, volume 6, number 1, Jan 1, 1994

Michel Foucault Power, Truth, Strategy, Jan 1, 1979

Manuel Knoll and Barry Stocker eds Nietzsche as Political Philosopher, 93-111., 2014

Nietzsche is widely considered to be an aristocratic and anti-democratic thinker. However, his ea... more Nietzsche is widely considered to be an aristocratic and anti-democratic thinker. However, his early ‘middle period’ work, offers a more nuanced view of democracy: critical of its existing forms in Europe at the time, yet surprisingly supportive of a certain ideal of ‘democracy to come.’ Against the received view of Nietzsche’s politics, this talk explores the possibility of a conception of democratic political society on Nietzschean foundations.

Keith Ansell-Pearson ed Nietzsche and Political Thought, 7-22., 2014

Justice, according to Rawls, is the first virtue of political community. Nietzsche provides us wi... more Justice, according to Rawls, is the first virtue of political community. Nietzsche provides us with numerous elements of a genealogy of the concept of justice, including the idea of an equivalent for a wrong or harm committed (GM II) and the idea of a modus vivendi between forces of approximately equal power (HAH 1, s.92), all of which seem to undermine the idea that justice stands outside or above the struggles of individuals and groups for ascendancy. This chapter will examine more carefully the resources that Nietzsche provides for understanding justice and explore the possibilities for evolution in the meaning of the term. Is justice the inescapable condition of political community, as Rawls suggests, or should we envisage, as Nietsche suggests, the possibility of a self-overcoming of justice and ‘a way of being beyond the law’ (GM II, s.10).

International Studies in Philosophy, Jan 1, 2001

Alan D. Schrift ed Why Nietzsche Still? Reflections on Drama, Culture, Politics, Jan 1, 2000

Penelope Deutscher and Kelly Oliver eds Enigmas: Essays on Sarah Kofman,, 1999

Critical discussion of Sarah Kofman's Nietzsche and Metaphor

Paul Patton ed. Nietzsche, feminism, and political theory, 1993

Cartographies, London: George Allen and Unwin, Jan 1, 1991

The Cambridge Companion to Rorty, 2021

Deleuze and Pragmatism, 2015

Redescriptive Philosophy: Deleuze and Rorty In one of his last essays on Derrida, Richard Rorty c... more Redescriptive Philosophy: Deleuze and Rorty In one of his last essays on Derrida, Richard Rorty called for a "syncretic, ecumenical perspective" that would minimise differences between his own pragmatism and the "postmodernism" of French philosophers such as Foucault and Derrida (Rorty 1998b, 338). Any serious pursuit of this program would have to include Deleuze and Guattari at the head of the list of those French philosophers who have much in common with Rorty's pragmatism. Because Rorty wrote very little on either Deleuze or Guattari, and almost nothing that is favorable, this might seem an implausible extension of his ecumenical perspective. At an early stage in his engagement with French "postmodern" philosophers he wrote a brief review of Deleuze's Nietzsche and Philosophy together with Richard Schacht's Nietzsche, in which he painted a rather unflattering picture of a Parisian silliness that was supposed to have cultivated and imitated "the more fatuous side of Nietzsche" (Rorty 1983, 620). Deleuze's crime was to have taken seriously Nietzsche's metaphysical system-building tendency and to have elaborated the theory of will to power in a manner that ultimately "dissolves everything into a mush of reactive forces in order to bring out their underlying nastiness" (Rorty 1983, 619). Thereafter, references to Deleuze in Rorty's work are scarce and mostly consist of adding his name to lists of French "postmodernist" philosophers alongside Foucault, Lyotard, and Derrida. 1 Rorty's ignorance of Deleuze was matched by the latter's cursory attention to his work as expressed in occasional ironic comments about "the Western democratic popular

Journal of Modern Literature, 2023

Commentators have drawn attention to the close relationship between The Childhood of Jesus and Co... more Commentators have drawn attention to the close relationship between The Childhood of Jesus and Coetzee's exchanges with Kurtz in The Good Story. I propose a reading of Childhood in the light of The Good Story's concern with the stories we tell ourselves about the life we lead, our relationship to those stories and to their truth or falsity. I suggest that the novel may be read as an exploration of what Coetzee calls a common postmodern situation in which someone is aware that a story is not true but nevertheless commits to it wholeheartedly. It shows how lives are changed by the commitment to a particular story and how they unfold as a result of the tensions that develop between individual and collective stories. I develop this reading with reference to the prevailing stories told by the inhabitants of Novilla, their tensions and conflicts with the stories of Simón and David. I argue that Childhood's presentation of life unfolding in the interplay of competing and sometimes incompatible stories may be read as a description of the postmodern human condition.

Foreign Language and Literature Research (Central China Normal University), 2018

This article reads Ishiguro’s novel, The Remains of the Day in the light of Nietzsche's discussio... more This article reads Ishiguro’s novel, The Remains of the Day in the light of Nietzsche's discussions of ‘the problem of the actor’ and the ways in which modern subjects relate to their social roles as actors in The Gay Science. The central character, Mr Stevens, holds strong views about what it means to be not merely a good but a great butler. His life is lived in role of butler and in the service of this ideal of greatness. He pays a high emotional and moral price for his commitment to this ideal, and at the end of the novel questions the value of the life he has lived, while also showing himself incapable of living otherwise. In this manner, the novel may be read as addressing the question of the relationship between personhood and the roles that we assume. To the extent that we are conscious of ourselves as performing a role, it raises profound questions about that nature of individual identity, agency and responsibility in the modern world.

Julian Murphet and Mark Steven eds Styles of Extinction: Cormac McCarthy's The Road, 2012

Cormac McCarthy's The Road presents an enigmatic event that is never explained. This article disc... more Cormac McCarthy's The Road presents an enigmatic event that is never explained. This article discusses (i) the nature of this event and its relation to what we might call the hermeneutical sublime. (ii) the moral dimension of the novel, with reference to the absence of God and the simple morality that the father teaches his son.

Diary of a Bad Year is structured in part by the contrast between the series of strong opinions a... more Diary of a Bad Year is structured in part by the contrast between the series of strong opinions and the gentler or ‘soft’ opinions that figure in the ‘second diary.’ For this reason, the novel may be read as a reflection on the nature of opinions in general and on the role of opinions in the novel in particular. Coetzee’s opinions in Diary might be compared with those of authors in his other novels, such as Elizabeth Costello. They might also be read alongside other philosophical conceptions of the nature of opinion and within the literary genre of collections of opinions, maxims and aphorisms. For example, Deleuze argues that what is peculiar about Nietzsche’s philosophical writing is the way in which his aphorisms stand in immediate relation to an outside rather than to a conceptual or textual interiority. In these terms, the strong opinions in Diary are ambivalent aphorisms: on the one hand, they relate to the world outside the novel, Australian public life between September 2005 and May 2006; on the other hand, they relate to the world within the novel, to the other voices that speak on the page below and to the gentler opinions that emerge in the second diary. These internal relations provoke reflection on the nature of opinions in general: how are they formed and what are they worth? What is the difference between Meinungen and Ansichten? To whom in the end do they belong? But they also lead us to wonder about the role of opinion in Coetzee’s other novels. These questions, and indeed some of the opinions themselves, point to an intriguing philosophical dimension of Coetzee’s novels. They are one of the (many) ways in which his work raises the question of the relationship between philosophy and literature.

Contemporary Political Theory, 2013

Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2013

ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, Jan 1, 2004

Zoontologies: The question of the …, Jan 1, 2003

Marxism and the Interpretation of …, Jan 1, 1988

Beyond Marxism, Jan 1, 1983

It's a Sin: Postmodernism, Politics, Culture, Jan 1, 1988

Postmodern Critical Theorising, special issue of Social …, Jan 1, 1991

Postmodern cities and spaces, Jan 1, 1995

The Gulf War Did Not Take Place , 1995

Contemporary Sociology, 1997

This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47... more This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://www.indiana.edu/-iupress Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Faxorders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail iuporder@indiana.edu ...

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2015

The aim of this colloquium is to compare concepts of political action in the English liberal and ... more The aim of this colloquium is to compare concepts of political action in the English liberal and utilitarian traditions with those found in Marx. Thanks to the contributions of a number of well-known Australian researchers in political philosophy and critical theory, this colloquium forms the international column of a College Internationale de Philosophie research seminar on political action run by Oliver Feltham. The research seminar is designed to develop a genealogy of political action in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by identifying various models of political action at work in both political practice and modern philosophy. What is at stake is neither a confrontation of ideologies nor one more critique of liberalism, but the construction of a comparative ontology of the actual efficacy, the taking place, of what has been called politics.

Programme

9:00 – 9:15 Accueil, Paul Patton

9:15 – 10:15 Oliver Feltham (American University of Paris, University of New South Wales), “A comparative ontology of models of political action: liberalism and utililitarianism”

10:15 – 11:15 Jessica Whyte (Western Sydney University), “Political Action and 'Economic Man': From Mill to Mises”

11:15 – 12:15 Geoff Boucher (Deakin University), “Towards a Neo-functionalist Ontology of the Political—After Althusser, but not Post-Marxism”

Lunch break

13:30 – 14:30 Mark G.E. Kelly (Western Sydney University), “Action and normativity in nineteenth century political thought: the cases of Marx and utilitarianism”

14:30 – 15:15 Charles Barbour (Western Sydney University), “The Uses of Marx: Law, Economics, Action”

15:15 – 16:00 Miguel Vatter (University of New South Wales), Response to Mark Kelly and Charles Barbour and Discussion

Coffee break

16:30- 17:30 Paul Patton (University of New South Wales), “Utilitarianism and Liberal Governmentality in Foucault”

The Analytic-Continental Divide in Political Theory workshop TheoryLab School of Politics and In... more The Analytic-Continental Divide in Political Theory workshop

TheoryLab
School of Politics and International Relations
Queen Mary University of London
24-25 April 2019

The Analytic-Continental Divide in Political Theory Workshop TheoryLab School of Politics and In... more The Analytic-Continental Divide in Political Theory
Workshop

TheoryLab
School of Politics and International Relations
Queen Mary University of London

24-25 April 2019

The Analytic-Continental Divide in Political Theory Workshop School of Humanities and Language... more The Analytic-Continental Divide in Political Theory Workshop

School of Humanities and Languages, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales

27-28 July 2018

Programme

Friday 27 July (Room MB209)

10 – 10.15 am
Welcome and opening remarks by the organisers (Clayton Chin, Paul Patton
and Lasse Thomassen)

10.15 – 12.15 am
Nicholas Smith, ‘Analytic and Continental Philosophies of Work’
Jean-Philippe Deranty, ‘Norms of work: external evaluation or internal
reconstruction?’

12.15 – 1 pm
Lunch

1 – 3 pm
Paul Muldoon, ‘The Therapy of Reconciliation’ (Discussant: Paul Patton)
Miguel Vatter, ‘The Debate on Dignity: Normative and Genealogical
Perspectives’ (Discussant: Lasse Thomassen)

3 – 3.30 pm
Coffee/tea and refreshments

3.30 – 5.30 pm
Alex Lefebvre, ‘Liberalism as a Way of Life: On the Spiritual Exercises of John
Rawls’
Paul Patton, ‘Social Insurance and the Historicity of Rights’

Saturday 28 July (Room MB310)

10 am – 12 pm
Heikki Ikäheimo, ‘Critical Social Philosophy in the No-Man’s Land’
Hamza Bin Jehangir, ‘Beyond Text and Difference: First Order Inquiry and
Methodology of Comparative Political Theory’

12-12.45 pm
Lunch

12.45 – 2.45 pm
Marguerite La Caze, ‘Violence and the Political: Analytic/Continental
Encounters’
Miriam Bankovsky, ‘Dissolving the Analytic-Continental Divide without Deflating
Differences: Deconstructive Justice and Constructionist Political Philosophy’ (Discussant: Thomas Besch)

2.45 – 3.30
Concluding discussion

Those interested in participating should contact Lasse Thomassen.

The workshop is funded by a grant from the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust.

Table of Contents for JSPP issue 3.1, 2024

Journal of Social and Political Philosophy, 2023

Flyer with 30 day free access code

Journal of Social and Political Philosophy, 2023

Contents of current issue of Journal of Social and Political Philosophy

Two issues per year, published in February and August Postage Print only and print plus online pr... more Two issues per year, published in February and August Postage Print only and print plus online prices include packaging and airmail for subscribers outside the UK.

Journal of Social and Political Philosophy 1.1, 2022

The first issue of the Journal of Social and Political Philosophy has just been published by Edin... more The first issue of the Journal of Social and Political Philosophy has just been published by Edinburgh University Press. Available free until 11 April.

Journal of Social and Political Philosophy (JSPP) provides a forum in which to address the new ch... more Journal of Social and Political Philosophy (JSPP) provides a forum in which to address the new challenges facing social and political thought in the twenty-first century. JSPP publishes material of the highest quality regardless of philosophical, ideological or methodological orientation within social and political philosophy. Our aim is to provide a venue for original contributions to social and political philosophy from a range of disciplines, traditions and civilizational perspectives.

Research Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney, 1997

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jun 20, 2012

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jul 3, 2006

Routledge eBooks, Jul 5, 2017

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Cambridge University Press eBooks, May 1, 2014

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Edinburgh University Press eBooks, May 20, 2008

In Dialogues Deleuze argued that the history of philosophy has always been a repressive agent in ... more In Dialogues Deleuze argued that the history of philosophy has always been a repressive agent in philosophy, ‘A formidable school of intimidation which manufactures specialists in thought – but which also makes those who stay outside conform all the more to this specialism which they despise. An image of thought called philosophy has been formed historically and it effectively stops people from thinking’ (Dialogues II, 13). His reference to the ‘image of thought’ speaks to one of the important ways in which philosophy controls thought by presenting a model or conception of what thinking is, by right, that is thinking properly so called. But if we ask how this control operates, it is difficult to ignore the institutional mechanisms that sustain and reproduce certain ways of thinking in philosophy: the history of philosophy was able to function as a school of intimidation in France in part through the system of competitive examinations and prescribed curricula. Other countries and other times have their own institutional mechanisms for the control of philosophical thought, as shown by examples from the history of anglophone philosophy. Reference to the external, institutional conditions of philosophical thought raises further questions about the consequences for philosophy of changes in the wider social and institutional environment. What happens to philosophy in societies of control, when the old rules of philosophical apprenticeship no longer apply? This chapter will explore Deleuze’s conception of control in philosophy, as well as the larger issue of the fate of philosophy in the rapidly changing institutional context of control societies.

Postmodernism is an unstable concept because of the complex ways in which it overlaps with other ... more Postmodernism is an unstable concept because of the complex ways in which it overlaps with other concepts such as postmodernity, poststructuralism, and pragmatism. It may be identified by reference to an open-ended list of themes, including a preference for plurality, difference, and identity over unity, universality, and identity. Postmodernism also privileges a nonreferential conception of signs and images as simulacra rather than representations, although no less real in their effects. It also seeks to account for the possibility of criticism and to maintain commitments to freedom and progress, however redefined.

Kritike, Jun 1, 2022

This article traces a connection between the Daoist conception of nothingness and democratic deli... more This article traces a connection between the Daoist conception of nothingness and democratic deliberation by way of Derrida's deconstructive analysis of decision. Analysis of the aporia(s) at the heart of decision is a recurrent feature of Derrida's later work and, I argue, this highlights the function of nothingness in the act of decision. After identifying convergences between Derridean deconstruction and the Daodejing relating to the constitutive role of nothingness in material and immaterial things, I argue that it is only because of the nothingness between reasons and a decision that there really is "a decision." This nothingness as the heart of any decision is further compounded by the "ordeal" that Derrida describes in relation to decisions that aspire to be just or responsible to the other. Finally, I argue that Derrida's analysis of decision suggests a possible way to spell out the connection between nothingness and the ethics of difference as presented in the Zhuangzi. Awareness of the primary and secondary nothingness involved in decision reminds us that there is no ground for "good conscience" with regard to any decision that has been taken and that there is always more to be done.

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Sep 20, 2016