What would political thought look like without the foundation of ethics? Drawing on the work of Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy, Madeleine Fagan puts forward a radical and far-reaching refusal of foundational ethics. Instead, she proposes an account of the inseparability of ethics and politics. The 'ethical' should not be understood as a label; it does not mean 'good' or 'right', it is not an evaluation or guide. Rather, both the ethical and the political are descriptions of the context in which we find ourselves. The book highlights the necessity of a practice-based rethinking of the relationship between ethics and politics and so denaturalises a series of commonplaces about poststructuralist ethics.

The present era of economic devastation, legacies of colonization and imperialism, climate change and habitat loss, calls for a new understanding of ethics. These essays on otherness, responsibility and hospitality raise urgent questions. Contributors range from the prominent--including Levinas, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Giorgio Agamben--to recent theorists such as Judith Butler, Enrique Dussell and Rosi Braidotti. The essays emphasize the always vulnerable status of a radically different Other, even as they question what responsibility to that Other might mean.

This study is devoted to the often questioned normative substance of Jaques Derrida`s deconstruction in light of recurrent accusations of moral relativism or outright nihilism. The author develops an account of deconstruction ethically oriented toward the other in contradistinction against the fundamental ontology of Martin Heidegger. The latter is shown to contain merely an ethical orientation toward the own self and is therefore judged to be blind for the ethical consequences of one`s own conduct for others. Such self-aggrandisement is criticised by an exegesis of certain key texts of Derrida which are read against the backdrop of the for this purpose important philosophy of Emmanuel Lévinas. The ensuing critique has as its goal less the wholesale dismissal of Heidegger than a transcendence which extends his thought by an attentiveness to the ethical significance of the other. The risk of not regarding the other worthy of ethical consideration is exemplified by reference to the case of Ernesto Laclau, whose theory of hegemony exhibits a deconstruction transferred to the realm of political analysis and action, yet which is void of any normative principle. Thus is threatened a regression to the ethical solipsism of Heidegger which indeed is prone to allegations of moral relativism by right and which should be countered by a deconstruction mindful of its own intellectuel heritage. Der vorliegende Band widmet sich der Frage nach dem normativen Gehalt der Dekonstruktion nach Jaques Derrida angesichts fortbestehender Anwürfe des Nihilismus. Hierzu zeichnet der Verfasser vor dem Hintergrund der bewussten Auseinandersetzung mit und in Absetzung von der Fundamentalontologie Martin Heideggers mit Nachdruck ein Bild der ethischen am Anderen orientierten Dekonstruktion. Heidegger wird eine ethische Orientierung lediglich am Selbst nachgewiesen und somit eine Blindheit für die ethischen Auswirkungen eigenen Handelns für Andere. Diese effektive Selbstüberhöhung wird mithilfe der Exegese bestimmter Schlüsseltexte Derridas unter Hinzunahme des hierfür so wichtigen Denkens Emmanuel Lèvinas' einer Kritik unterzogen, die sich zum Ziel setzt weniger Heidegger`s Seinsanalytik zu verwerfen, sondern diese zu überschreiten, indem sie um die Aufmerksamkeit für die ethische Wertigkeit des Anderen erweitert wird. Dieser Band schließt mit einer Betrachtung der sehr gegenwärtigen Hegemonietheorie Ernesto Laclaus ab, um das Risiko zu demonstrieren, welches eine in die politische Analyse und Aktion übertragene Dekonstruktion birgt, die sich gegen die normativen Einsichten Derridas und Lévinas' sperrt und somit einen Rückschritt zum ethischen Solipsismus Heideggers darstellt. Dieser steht berechtigterweise in der Kritik eines moralischen Relativismus und sollte von einer Dekonstruktion abgelöst werden, die ihre eigenen intellektuellen Wurzeln nicht vergessen hat.

The end of the Cold War revitalised continental philosophy and, more particularly, interest in it from outside philosophy. "After Poststructuralism: Transitions and Transformations" analyses the main developments in continental philosophy between 1980-1995, a time of great upheaval and profound social change. The volume ranges across the birth of postmodernism, the differing traditions of France, Germany and Italy, third generation critical theory, radical democracy, postcolonial philosophy, the turn to ethics, feminist philosophies, the increasing engagement with religion, and the rise of performativity and post-analytic philosophy. Analyses of the major figures are integrated within the discussion. After Poststructuralism reveals how continental philosophy - fuelled by an intense ethical and political desire to reflect changing social and political conditions - responded to the changing world and to the key issues of the time, notably globalisation, technology and ethnicity.

This volume brings together an international array of scholars to reconsider the meaning and place of poststructuralism historically and demonstrate some of the ways in which it continues to be relevant, especially for debates in aesthetics, ethics, and politics. The book’s chapters focus on the works of Butler, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, Irigaray, Kristeva, Lacan, and Lyotard—in combination with those of Agamben, Luhman, Nancy, and Nietzsche—and examine issues including biopolitics, culture, embodiment, epistemology, history, music, temporality, political resistance, psychoanalysis, revolt, and the visual arts. The contributors use poststructuralism as a hermeneutical strategy that rejects the traditional affirmation of unity, totality, transparency, and representation to instead focus on the foundational importance of open-ended becoming, difference, the unknowable, and expression. This approach allows for a more expansive definition of poststructuralism and helps demonstrate how it has contributed to debates across philosophy and other disciplines. Historical Traces and Future Pathways of Poststructuralism will be of particular interest to researchers in philosophy, politics, political theory, critical theory, aesthetics, feminist theory, cultural studies, intellectual history, psychoanalysis, and sociology.

In the last decades of the twentieth century, French poststructuralist 'theory' transformed the humanities; it also met with resistance and today we frequently hear that theory is 'dead'. In this brilliantly argued volume, Colin Davis: *reconsiders key arguments for and against theory, identifying significant misreadings *reassesses the contribution of poststructuralist thought to the critical issues of knowledge, ethics, hope and identity *sheds new light on the work of Jean-François Lyotard, Emmanuel Levinas, Louis Althusser and Julia Kristeva in a stunning series of readings *offers a fresh perspective on recent debates around the death of theory. In closing he argues that theory may change, but it will not go away. After poststructuralism, then, comes the afterlife of poststructuralism. Wonderfully accessible, this is an account of the past and present fortunes of theory, suitable for anyone researching, teaching, or studying in the field. And yet it is much more than this. Colin Davis provides a way forward for the humanities - a way forward in which theory will play a crucial part.

Ethics and International Relations (IR), once considered along the margins of the IR field, has emerged as one of the most eclectic and interdisciplinary research areas today. Yet the same diversity that enriches this field also makes it a difficult one to characterize. Is it, or should it only be, the social-scientific pursuit of explaining and understanding how ethics influences the behaviours of actors in international relations? Or, should it be a field characterized by what the world should be like, based on philosophical, normative and policy-based arguments? This Handbook suggests that it can actually be both, as the contributions contained therein demonstrate how those two conceptions of Ethics and International Relations are inherently linked. Seeking to both provide an overview of the field and to drive debates forward, this Handbook is framed by an opening chapter providing a concise and accessible overview of the complex history of the field of Ethics and IR, and a conclusion that discusses how the field may progress in the future and what subjects are likely to rise to prominence. Within are 44 distinct and original contributions from scholars teaching and researching in the field, which are structured around 8 key thematic sections: Philosophical Resources International Relations Theory Religious Traditions International Security and Just War Justice, Rights and Global Governance International Intervention Global Economics Environment, Health and Migration Drawing together a diverse range of scholars, the Routledge Handbook of Ethics and International Relations provides a cutting-edge overview of the field by bringing together these eclectic, albeit dynamic, themes and topics. It will be an essential resource for students and scholars alike.

Contemporary Western war is represented as enacting the West's ability and responsibility to help make the world a better place for others, in particular to protect them from oppression and serious human rights abuses. That is, war has become permissible again, indeed even required, as ethical war. At the same time, however, Western war kills and destroys. This creates a paradox: Western war risks killing those it proposes to protect. This book examines how we have responded to this dilemma and challenges the vision of ethical war itself, exploring how the commitment to ethics shapes the practice of war and indeed how practices come, in turn, to shape what is considered ethical in war. The book closely examines particular practices of warfare, such as targeting, the use of cultural knowledge, and ethics training for soldiers. What emerges is that instead of constraining violence, the commitment to ethics enables and enhances it. The book argues that the production of ethical war relies on an impossible but obscured separation between ethics and politics, that is, the problematic politics of ethics, and reflects on the need to make decisions at the limit of ethics.

Synthesising diverse research avenues for politics, discourse, and political discourse, this cutting-edge Handbook examines the formative traditions, current theoretical and methodological landscape, and genres and domains over which political discourse extends.

Few questions of global politics are more pressing than how to respond to widespread violence against civilians. Despite the efforts of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) proponents to draw attention away from exclusively military responses, debates on humanitarian intervention and R2P’s “Third Pillar” still tend to boil down to two unsatisfying options: stand by and “do nothing” or take military action to protect civilians – essentially using violence to stop violence. Accordingly – and given disagreement and uncertainty regarding moral claims, as well as the unpredictability of military effectiveness – this book asks: how can we counter violence ethically and effectively, taking action consistent with our particular moral commitments while also nurturing difference and enacting responsibility towards multiple others? After evaluating the pragmatic and ethical failings of military action, the book proposes nonviolent intervention as a third – unarmed, on-the-ground – option for protecting civilians during humanitarian crises. In the empirical section of the book, focusing on the discursive and psychological conditions enabling violence, Wallace analyses the mechanisms by which Nonviolent Peaceforce – an international NGO engaged in nonviolent intervention/ unarmed civilian peacekeeping (UCP) – was able to protect civilians and prevent violence, even if on a limited scale, in the broader context of Sri Lanka’s war/counterinsurgency in 2008. Both philosophically innovative and practically useful to those working in the field, the book contributes to a range of literatures and debates: from just war theory and poststructuralist ethics to nonviolent action and conflict transformation, and from humanitarian intervention, R2P, and civilian protection to strategic theory and discursive and psychological theories of violence.