This essay revisits Vilfredo Pareto’s attempt in his Treatise on General Sociology (1916) to clas... more This essay revisits Vilfredo Pareto’s attempt in his Treatise on General Sociology (1916) to classify the non-rational sentiments animating social and political life, considering implications for recent theories of affective politics. Long known for having combined an irrational psychology with a model of elite rule, Pareto has more recently been cited as a predecessor for behavioral economists. However, I show, Pareto described sentiments as sources of creativity as well as inertia and supposed they are modified by complex, reciprocal interactions with ideologies and environmental conditions. As I argue, Pareto’s dynamic account of residues jeopardized his methodological aspirations, portending challenges for those seeking to identify and manage popular sentiments today. By the same token, it prefigured theories of “affect” developed by scholars who envision sentiments not only as determinants of preferences and alignments but also as sources of their undoing and transformation. In light of Pareto’s problematic attempts to reconcile tensions in his study, I examine challenges facing those who align theories of affect with radical democratic programs. I conclude that radical democratic approaches to affective politics, like their managerial counterparts, are neither logically derived from nor precluded by human psychology per se, but instead compromised by prevailing configurations of sentiments, ideologies, and practices.
Although it arrives long after its original's effects have been felt, this first English translat... more Although it arrives long after its original's effects have been felt, this first English translation of Ravaisson's 1838 Of Habit is in some ways quite timely. Lest one neglect its historical significance, the brief text arrives surrounded, outnumbered even, by extensive critical, exegetical and promotional apparatuses. As the editors show, Ravaisson redeems habit from Enlightenment detractors who saw it as a stultifying mechanism, recovering the ontological and ethical centrality it had for Aristotle while merging it with a pantheistic Christian metaphysics. His work occupies a key place in post-Kantian philosophy, its influence passing through Hegel to the phenomenology of Heidegger and the vital materialism of Bergson and Deleuze. It therefore provides us with an occasion to reflect on the importance of habit in the philosophy of these later thinkers and in the political thought their work inspires.
Page 1. Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. LIBERAL DgmOCRftCY AND THE SOCIAL ACCELERATION OF T1me The pace o... more Page 1. Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. LIBERAL DgmOCRftCY AND THE SOCIAL ACCELERATION OF T1me The pace of American society has quickened exponentially since the founding fathers first mapped the Constitution. Information travels at the speed of light; so does money. ...
This essay considers the relevance of Walter Benjamin’s conception of nonviolent means for those ... more This essay considers the relevance of Walter Benjamin’s conception of nonviolent means for those seeking alternatives to law-enforcement on the streets of Chicago. It consists of three parts. First, I elaborate on Benjamin’s suggestion in his ‘Critique of Violence’ that politeness and technique comprise the subjective preconditions and objective manifestations of nonviolent means, respectively, drawing from several of his lesser-known texts that address related terms and concepts. Second, I reflect on and critically revise Benjamin’s concepts of nonviolent means in light of the nonviolent practices of ‘Cure Violence Chicago’ (formerly ‘CeaseFire’), an organization that trains mediators to “interrupt” cycles of interpersonal violence, as depicted in the film ‘The Interrupters’. Third, I consider the limits and possibilities of these theories and practices of nonviolence in connection with large-scale racialized geographies of violence in the city.
In this essay, I read Mark Twain as a practitioner of what Deleuze and Guattari call an "active m... more In this essay, I read Mark Twain as a practitioner of what Deleuze and Guattari call an "active micropolitics," focusing especially on his depictions of race and racism. In his popular stories, essays, speeches and autobiography Twain gave voice not only to marginal and underprivileged characters, but also to minoritarian, changeable sentiments circulating amongst popular majorities. Moreover, he suggested these sentiments might comprise not only actual counter-majorities, but also potential counter-majorities, linking personal complexity to democratic potential. Despite his appreciation for the inertia of popular prejudice, his appeals to minoritarian sentiments, and the popularity thereof, testify against Tocqueville's fatalism concerning majority opinion in general, and of white supremacism in particular.
In this essay I reflect on Fredric Jameson’s suggestion that ‘an aesthetic of cognitive mapping [... more In this essay I reflect on Fredric Jameson’s suggestion that ‘an aesthetic of cognitive mapping [of social processes] is an integral part of any socialist political project’ in light of recent theories of embodied cognition. I first explore mappings of social processes in connection with popular media accounts of the global economy of coltan (a metal used in consumer electronics). I then consider possibilities for a reflexive orientation to the processes shaping such mappings. That is, I consider what happens when we try to map the political economy of our embodied and mediated perceptions of political economies. Reflexive mapping of this kind leads quickly to a series of limits and paradoxes. However, I argue that an encounter with such limits comprises an important component of a materialist politics. Moreover, I find encounters of this kind are also staged in popular media. Insofar as this is the case, I conclude, such media can contribute to what John Dewey called a properly ‘aesthetic’ experience of global life, namely a rhythmic movement between emotional provocations, critical reflections and practical itineraries.
This essay takes the performance artworks of Tehching Hsieh as instructive allegories for a globa... more This essay takes the performance artworks of Tehching Hsieh as instructive allegories for a global ethics as theorized by a variety of left academics (including Slavoj Žižek, Alain Badiou, Etienne Balibar, Jacques Rancière, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri) who ground universalism in a singularity that escapes the predicates of identity. Hsieh's projects, I argue, also place universal estrangement in the service of liberation for particular marginalized groups whose lives confound our fantasies of recognition. At the same time, they illustrate some of the challenges facing attempts to treat particular struggles as embodiments of universal conflicts.
This essay explores the relationship between theology and politics as conceived by Carl Schmitt a... more This essay explores the relationship between theology and politics as conceived by Carl Schmitt and Walter Benjamin, challenging common readings of both authors. According to these readings, Schmitt and Benjamin both place spirit in the world, but for opposite purposes, either as a transcendent source of legitimate law and authority, or a messianic agent of destruction and “nihilism.” However, focusing especially on his Catholic writings, I argue that for Schmitt spirit lives not only in the transcendent “decision” of a sovereign authority but also in the worldly habits, affections and beliefs on which this authority depends. In turn, I show that Benjamin describes not only a messianic shattering of traditional values and authorities, but also a redemptive process of assembly, whereby collective habits are formed from their fragments.
In a work that mirrors the complexity and confusion of global life in (not entirely) condensed fo... more In a work that mirrors the complexity and confusion of global life in (not entirely) condensed form, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri describe a world without borders; then they take sides. As they explain, their approach has two, distinct methodological strains: "The first is critical and deconstructive [...] the second is ethico-political." 1 In the critical mode, they map the rise of "Empire," a global form of sovereignty that subsumes all categories and distinctions in an encompassing relational network. In their "ethicopolitical" mode, they discern in this morass a struggle for liberation on the part of the "Multitude," a global revolutionary subject on the verge of radical self-authorization.
This essay revisits Vilfredo Pareto’s attempt in his Treatise on General Sociology (1916) to clas... more This essay revisits Vilfredo Pareto’s attempt in his Treatise on General Sociology (1916) to classify the non-rational sentiments animating social and political life, considering implications for recent theories of affective politics. Long known for having combined an irrational psychology with a model of elite rule, Pareto has more recently been cited as a predecessor for behavioral economists. However, I show, Pareto described sentiments as sources of creativity as well as inertia and supposed they are modified by complex, reciprocal interactions with ideologies and environmental conditions. As I argue, Pareto’s dynamic account of residues jeopardized his methodological aspirations, portending challenges for those seeking to identify and manage popular sentiments today. By the same token, it prefigured theories of “affect” developed by scholars who envision sentiments not only as determinants of preferences and alignments but also as sources of their undoing and transformation. In light of Pareto’s problematic attempts to reconcile tensions in his study, I examine challenges facing those who align theories of affect with radical democratic programs. I conclude that radical democratic approaches to affective politics, like their managerial counterparts, are neither logically derived from nor precluded by human psychology per se, but instead compromised by prevailing configurations of sentiments, ideologies, and practices.
Although it arrives long after its original's effects have been felt, this first English translat... more Although it arrives long after its original's effects have been felt, this first English translation of Ravaisson's 1838 Of Habit is in some ways quite timely. Lest one neglect its historical significance, the brief text arrives surrounded, outnumbered even, by extensive critical, exegetical and promotional apparatuses. As the editors show, Ravaisson redeems habit from Enlightenment detractors who saw it as a stultifying mechanism, recovering the ontological and ethical centrality it had for Aristotle while merging it with a pantheistic Christian metaphysics. His work occupies a key place in post-Kantian philosophy, its influence passing through Hegel to the phenomenology of Heidegger and the vital materialism of Bergson and Deleuze. It therefore provides us with an occasion to reflect on the importance of habit in the philosophy of these later thinkers and in the political thought their work inspires.
Page 1. Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. LIBERAL DgmOCRftCY AND THE SOCIAL ACCELERATION OF T1me The pace o... more Page 1. Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. LIBERAL DgmOCRftCY AND THE SOCIAL ACCELERATION OF T1me The pace of American society has quickened exponentially since the founding fathers first mapped the Constitution. Information travels at the speed of light; so does money. ...
This essay considers the relevance of Walter Benjamin’s conception of nonviolent means for those ... more This essay considers the relevance of Walter Benjamin’s conception of nonviolent means for those seeking alternatives to law-enforcement on the streets of Chicago. It consists of three parts. First, I elaborate on Benjamin’s suggestion in his ‘Critique of Violence’ that politeness and technique comprise the subjective preconditions and objective manifestations of nonviolent means, respectively, drawing from several of his lesser-known texts that address related terms and concepts. Second, I reflect on and critically revise Benjamin’s concepts of nonviolent means in light of the nonviolent practices of ‘Cure Violence Chicago’ (formerly ‘CeaseFire’), an organization that trains mediators to “interrupt” cycles of interpersonal violence, as depicted in the film ‘The Interrupters’. Third, I consider the limits and possibilities of these theories and practices of nonviolence in connection with large-scale racialized geographies of violence in the city.
In this essay, I read Mark Twain as a practitioner of what Deleuze and Guattari call an "active m... more In this essay, I read Mark Twain as a practitioner of what Deleuze and Guattari call an "active micropolitics," focusing especially on his depictions of race and racism. In his popular stories, essays, speeches and autobiography Twain gave voice not only to marginal and underprivileged characters, but also to minoritarian, changeable sentiments circulating amongst popular majorities. Moreover, he suggested these sentiments might comprise not only actual counter-majorities, but also potential counter-majorities, linking personal complexity to democratic potential. Despite his appreciation for the inertia of popular prejudice, his appeals to minoritarian sentiments, and the popularity thereof, testify against Tocqueville's fatalism concerning majority opinion in general, and of white supremacism in particular.
In this essay I reflect on Fredric Jameson’s suggestion that ‘an aesthetic of cognitive mapping [... more In this essay I reflect on Fredric Jameson’s suggestion that ‘an aesthetic of cognitive mapping [of social processes] is an integral part of any socialist political project’ in light of recent theories of embodied cognition. I first explore mappings of social processes in connection with popular media accounts of the global economy of coltan (a metal used in consumer electronics). I then consider possibilities for a reflexive orientation to the processes shaping such mappings. That is, I consider what happens when we try to map the political economy of our embodied and mediated perceptions of political economies. Reflexive mapping of this kind leads quickly to a series of limits and paradoxes. However, I argue that an encounter with such limits comprises an important component of a materialist politics. Moreover, I find encounters of this kind are also staged in popular media. Insofar as this is the case, I conclude, such media can contribute to what John Dewey called a properly ‘aesthetic’ experience of global life, namely a rhythmic movement between emotional provocations, critical reflections and practical itineraries.
This essay takes the performance artworks of Tehching Hsieh as instructive allegories for a globa... more This essay takes the performance artworks of Tehching Hsieh as instructive allegories for a global ethics as theorized by a variety of left academics (including Slavoj Žižek, Alain Badiou, Etienne Balibar, Jacques Rancière, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri) who ground universalism in a singularity that escapes the predicates of identity. Hsieh's projects, I argue, also place universal estrangement in the service of liberation for particular marginalized groups whose lives confound our fantasies of recognition. At the same time, they illustrate some of the challenges facing attempts to treat particular struggles as embodiments of universal conflicts.
This essay explores the relationship between theology and politics as conceived by Carl Schmitt a... more This essay explores the relationship between theology and politics as conceived by Carl Schmitt and Walter Benjamin, challenging common readings of both authors. According to these readings, Schmitt and Benjamin both place spirit in the world, but for opposite purposes, either as a transcendent source of legitimate law and authority, or a messianic agent of destruction and “nihilism.” However, focusing especially on his Catholic writings, I argue that for Schmitt spirit lives not only in the transcendent “decision” of a sovereign authority but also in the worldly habits, affections and beliefs on which this authority depends. In turn, I show that Benjamin describes not only a messianic shattering of traditional values and authorities, but also a redemptive process of assembly, whereby collective habits are formed from their fragments.
In a work that mirrors the complexity and confusion of global life in (not entirely) condensed fo... more In a work that mirrors the complexity and confusion of global life in (not entirely) condensed form, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri describe a world without borders; then they take sides. As they explain, their approach has two, distinct methodological strains: "The first is critical and deconstructive [...] the second is ethico-political." 1 In the critical mode, they map the rise of "Empire," a global form of sovereignty that subsumes all categories and distinctions in an encompassing relational network. In their "ethicopolitical" mode, they discern in this morass a struggle for liberation on the part of the "Multitude," a global revolutionary subject on the verge of radical self-authorization.
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Papers by Kam Shapiro
Full paper (behind paywall) available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8675.12465
Books by Kam Shapiro
Full paper (behind paywall) available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8675.12465