Martin Shuster Livres

Ever since Kant and Hegel, the notion of autonomy―the idea that we are beholden to no law except one we impose upon ourselves―has been considered the truest philosophical expression of human freedom. But could our commitment to autonomy, as Theodor Adorno asked, be related to the extreme evils that we have witnessed in modernity? In Autonomy after Auschwitz , Martin Shuster explores this difficult question with astonishing theoretical acumen, examining the precise ways autonomy can lead us down a path of evil and how it might be prevented from doing so.Shuster uncovers dangers in the notion of autonomy as it was originally conceived by Kant. Putting Adorno into dialogue with a range of European philosophers, notably Kant, Hegel, Horkheimer, and Habermas―as well as with a variety of contemporary Anglo-American thinkers such as Richard Rorty, Stanley Cavell, John McDowell, and Robert Pippin―he illuminates Adorno’s important revisions to this fraught concept and how his different understanding of autonomous agency, fully articulated, might open up new and positive social and political possibilities. Altogether, Autonomy after Auschwitz is a meditation on modern evil and human agency, one that demonstrates the tremendous ethical stakes at the heart of philosophy.

How to Measure a World? examines the vastness of the Jewish philosophical record and the full intellectual scope and range of Emmanuel Levinas's claim that Judaism is best understood as an anachronism.

Worlds on screen: the ontology of television series and/as the ontology of film -- Storytelling and worldhood: the screen and us -- "This America, man": tragic reconciliation, television, and The Wire -- The gangster, boredom, and family: Weeds, natality, and new television -- "Boyd and I dug coal together": Justified, moral perfectionism, and the United States of America -- Conclusion

Critical Theory: The Basics is an ideal starting point for anyone seeking an accessible but robust introduction to the richness and complexity of this tradition and to its continuing importance today.