Towards a Post-Modern Understanding of the Political : From Genealogy to Hermeneutics

While claiming that liberalism is the dominant political theory and practice of modernity, this book provides two alternative post modern theoretical approaches to the political. Concentrating on Nietzsche's and Foucault's work, it offers a novel interpretation of their genealogical projects. It argues that genealogy can be applied to analyze different forms of cultural kitsch vis-à-vis the dominant political institutions of consumer capitalism. The problem with consumer capitalism is not so much that it exploits individuals, but that it fosters cheap human existence saturated with the artefacts of kitsch. Contrasting genealogy with hermeneutic philosophy, it calls for a renewal of hermeneutics within the Thomistic tradition. Starting from the claim that contemporary liberalism, as developed by John Rawls, is a continuation of the Enlightenment project, this book asks how it is possible to think the political beyond liberalism. Concentrating on Nietzsche's later work, in particular The Genealogy of Morals, it reinterprets his philosophical thought in relation to Foucault's genealogy. Andrius Bielskis applies his novel interpretation of Nietzschean genealogy to the analysis of kitsch, showing not only how kitsch forms our subjectivity but also how it is linked to contemporary political institutions. While claiming that neither Nietzsche nor Foucault can provide a substantive account of political community, the book presents Gadamer and MacIntyre as providing an alternative to both liberalism and Nietzschean genealogy. It argues that hermeneutics necessarily presupposes an affirmative relation to tradition. Applying such a conception of hermeneutics to the Thomistic tradition along with MacIntyre the book argues that the possibility of envisaging an alternative Aristotelian understanding of the political today is possible only with reference to local communities "Starting from the claim that contemporary liberalism, as developed by John Rawls, is a continuation of the Enlightenment project, this book asks how it is possible to think the political beyond liberalism. Concentrating on Nietzsche's later work, in particular The Genealogy of Morals, it reinterprets his philosophical thought in relation to Foucault's genealogy. Andrius Bielskis applies his novel interpretation of Nietzschean genealogy to the analysis of kitsch, showing not only how kitsch forms our subjectivity but also how it is linked to contemporary political institutions. While claiming that neither Nietzsche nor Foucault can provide a substantive account of political community, the book presents Gadamer and MacIntyre as providing an alternative to both liberalism and Nietzschean genealogy."--BOOK JACKET While claiming that liberalism is the dominant political theory and practice of modernity, this book provides two alternative post-modern theoretical approaches to the political. It argues that genealogy can be applied to analyze different forms of cultural kitsch vis-a-vis the dominant political institutions of consumer capitalism. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction: Moving Beyond Liberalism....Pages 1-29 A Genealogical Approach to the Political....Pages 30-94 A Hermeneutic Approach to the Political....Pages 95-162 Hermeneutics Beyond Genealogy....Pages 163-184 Back Matter....Pages 185-216 1. Introduction : Moving Beyond Liberalism -- 2. Genealogical Approach To The Political -- 3. Hermeneutic Approach To The Political -- 4. Hermeneutics Beyond Genealogy. Andrius Bielskis. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 207-213) And Index.