The Force of Nonviolence Audiobook By Judith Butler cover art

The Force of Nonviolence

An Ethico-Political Bind

Preview

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

The Force of Nonviolence

By: Judith Butler
Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.19

Buy for $17.19

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Judith Butler's new book shows how an ethic of nonviolence must be connected to a broader political struggle for social equality. Further, it argues that nonviolence is often misunderstood as a passive practice, or as an individualist ethical relation to existing forms of power. But, in fact, nonviolence is an ethical position found in the midst of the political field. An aggressive form of nonviolence accepts that hostility is part of our psychic constitution, but values ambivalence as a way of checking the conversion of aggression into violence. One contemporary challenge to a politics of nonviolence points out that there is a difference of opinion on what counts as violence and nonviolence. The distinction between them can be mobilized in the service of ratifying the state's monopoly on violence.

Considering nonviolence as an ethical problem within a political philosophy requires a critique of individualism as well as an understanding of the psychosocial dimensions of violence. Butler draws upon Foucault, Fanon, Freud, and Benjamin to consider how the interdiction against violence fails to include lives regarded as ungrievable. By considering how "racial phantasms" inform justifications of state and administrative violence, Butler tracks how violence is often attributed to those who are most severely exposed to its lethal effects.

©2020 Judith Butler (P)2020 Tantor
Freedom & Security History & Theory Philosophy Psychology Thought-Provoking Political Philosophy
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Force of Nonviolence

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    22
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    21
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

a great treatise to prevent the loss of life

I loved it. I appreciate when the author talked about grievability and also the structures of violence. Great ideas!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great, succinct overview of a more complicated than it seems at first glance.

Great overview of the considerations that go into discussions and the philosophy of nonviolence and protest, with references to related and more extensive works on the topic.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Butler and Brilliance

Judith Butler demands a readership by the mere quality of their work. Butler reminds us that "violence" and "nonviolence" can only debated through moral frameworks that present us pre-packaged definitions of these terms. They then propose a definition of their own, rooted in an egalitarian imaginary--one that argues for an equal distribution of grievability. When grievability is distributed equally, legalistic and individualistic notions of self-defense become incoherent as they presuppose a dependent "I." Selves are only ever interdependent, and must include the self to be defended as well as the self to be defended against. This work contains powerful arguments for militant pacifism as a political force. What "we" must do now is put such pacifism into practice.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!