The Politics of Exodus: Soren Kierkegaard's Ethics of Responsibility (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy, No. 20)

In The Politics of Exodus , Mark Dooley offers a lively interpretation of Kierkegaard as a precursor of the ethical and political insights of Jacques Derrida. While many connections have been forged in recent years between these two quintessentially "Continental" figures, Dooley's book argues that these affiliations run much deeper than any previous commentators have suggested. Indeed, his most controversial claim is that Kierkegaard is anything but a proponent of asocial individualism, but is one whose writings bear witness to the notion of an "open quasi-community" which has driven much of Derrida's work over the past decade. In vigorously challenging conventional wisdom surrounding the place of Kierkegaard in contemporary thought and political theory, Dooley shows how powerfully postmodern and politically charged the latter's specifically 'religious' ideas are. As such, Kierkegaard ought to be read as someone who anticipated Derrida's claim that genuine responsibility in the political sphere depends upon a phophetic call for justice on behalf of the least among us. will appeal to anyone interested in the intersection of religion and postmodernism, as well as to those with interests in ethics and politics from a Continental perspective. It will undoubtedly change the way we read Kierkegaard in the new millennium. In The Politics of Exodus, Mark Dooley offers a lively interpretation of Kierkegaard as a precursor of the ethical and political insights of Jacques Derrida. While many connections have been forged in recent years between these two quintessential 'Continental' figures, Dooley's book argues that these affiliations run much deeper than any previous commentators have suggested. Indeed, his most controversial claim is that Kierkegaard is anything but a proponent of asocial individualism, but is one whose writings bear witness to the notion of an "open quasi-community" which has driven much of Derrida's work over the past decade. In vigorously challenging conventional wisdom surrounding the place of Kierkegaard in contemporary thought and political theory, Dooley shows how powerfully postmodern and politically charged the latter's specifically 'religious' ideas are. As such, Kierkegaard ought to be read as someone who anticipated Derrida's claim that genuine responsibility in the political sphere depends upon a prophetic call for justice on behalf of the least among us. The Politics of Exodus will appeal to anyone interested in the intersection of religion and postmodernism, as well as to those with interests in ethics and politics from a Continental perspective. It will undoubtedly change the way we read Kierkegaard in the new millennium. 0_Frontmatter 1_Acknowledgments_page_ix 2_List_of_Abbreviations_for_Works_by_Kierkegaard_page_xi 3_Introduction_Loosening_the_Lutheran_Thread_page_xiii 4_1_What_the_Age_Demands_page_1 5_2_The_Centrality_of_Hegel_page_24 6_3_The_Ethics_of_Irony_page_43 7_4_Repetition_and_Selfhood_page_74 8_5_The_God-Man_As_Unconditioned_Ethical_Prototype_page_115 9_6_A_Politics_of_the_migr_page_144 9_6_A_Politics_of_the_migr_page_144_2 10_Afterword_page_247 10_Afterword_page_247_2 11_Bibliography_page_249 11_Bibliography_page_249_2 12_Index_page_279