Social and Political Philosophy

In this collection of essays, Joshua Cohen locates ideas about democracy in three far-ranging contexts. First, he explores the relationship between democratic values and history. He then discusses democracy in connection with the views of defining political theorists in the democratic tradition:...

A essential perspective on Critical Theory, painting the decline of its initial radical potential and the necessity of reviving it. How did a theoretical project that started as a radical rethinking of Marxism, responding to the defeat of the Left in the face of Nazism, lose its radical potential?...

Between 1910 and 1970, Latin America experienced a rapid and radical transformation. Rural societies became urban, and peasants found themselves forced into precarious wage labor. The Latin American novel became the key witness to this upheaval, revealing capitalism’s violent remaking of country and...

Radical lesbian feminist theorist and author Monique Wittig theorizes writing as labor and demonstrates where literature’s political power comes from. The Literary Workshop takes readers inside Monique Wittig’s creative process, unlocking the practice of writing both in material and political...

An original reflection on shame as the central feeling of our age — the expression of an anger that is the necessary condition for new struggles. Can shame become a source of political strength? Faced with injustice, growing inequality and systemic violence, we cry out in shame. We feel ashamed...

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seems to many like a throwback to another age, rattling Europe with memories of past horrors. But since the end of the Second World War there has not been a single day without armed conflict somewhere in the world. Drawing on the great political philosophers, from Plato...

In The Security Principle, French philosopher Frédéric Gros takes a historical approach to the concept of security, looking at its evolution from the Stoics to the social network. With lucidity and rigour, Gros’s approach is fourfold, looking at security as a mental state, as developed by the...