Common Ground: Democracy and Collectivity in an Age of Individualism

Description

Draws on past philosophical debates to propose a new way of conceiving the commons in today's neo-liberal era. Under neoliberalism the cult of individualism reigns supreme, forced upon us through culture, media and politics, it fatally limits our capacity to escape the current crisis of democratic politics. In Common Ground, Jeremy Gilbert asks us to reimagine the philosophical relationship between individuality, collectivity, affect and agency, proposing a radically non-individualist mode of imagining social life. The book considers how opponents of neoliberal hegemony, and of the individualist tradition in Western thought, might protect collective creativity and democratic possibility. Examination of the historical roots of individualism's 'Leviathan logic' and fresh readings of theorists such as Hobbes, Lazzarato, Simondon, Lyotard, Laclau and Deleuze and Guattari, force us to confront longstanding assumptions about the nature of the individual and of collectivity. Exploration of this fundamental faultline in contemporary politics is accompanied by analysis of the different ideas and practices of collectivity, from conservative notions of hierarchical and patriarchal communities to the politics of 'horizontality' and 'the commons' which lie at the heart of radical movements today. Through an understanding of the philosophy shaping contemporary relations and disrupting hegemonic values, we can re-imagine the present moment. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 7 Preface......Page 9 1. Postmodernity and the Crisis of Democracy......Page 16 2. A War of All Against All: Neoliberal Hegemony and Competitive Individualism......Page 44 3. Leviathan Logics: Group Psychology from Hobbes to Laclau......Page 64 4. The State of Community Opened: Multitude and Multiplicity......Page 84 5. The Non-Fascist Crowd: Individuation and Infinite Relationality......Page 114 6. Feeling Together: Affect, Identity and the Politics of the Common......Page 158 7. On the Impossibility of Making Decisions: Affect, Agency and the Democratic Sublime......Page 187 8. Conclusions......Page 225 Notes......Page 232 References......Page 245 Index......Page 264