Article contents
The Unaccountable Subject: Judith Butler and the Social Conditions of Intersubjective Agency
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2020
Abstract
Judith Butler's Kritik der ethischen Gewalt1 represents a significant refinement of her position on the relationship between the construction of the subject and her social subjection. While Butler's earlier texts reflect a somewhat restricted notion of agency, her Adorno Lectures formulate a notion of agency that extends beyond mere resistance. This essay traces the development of Butler's account of agency and evaluates it in light of feminist projects of social transformation.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2006 by Hypatia, Inc.
References
Bartky, Sandra Lee. 1990. Femininity and domination: Studies in the phenomenology of oppression. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Benhabib, Scyla. 1992. Situating the self: Gender, community, and postmodernism in contemporary ethics. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Benhabib, Scyla. 1995. Subjectivity, historiography, and politics: Reflections on the ‘feminism/postmodernism exchange.’ In Feminist contentions: A philosophical exchange, ed. Benhabib, Seyla, Butler, Judith, Cornell, Drucilla, and Fraser, Nancy. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Benjamin, Jessica. 1988. The bonds of love: Psychoanalysis, feminism, and the problem of domination. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1993. Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of sex. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1997a. Excitable speech: A politics of the performative. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1997b. The psychic life of power: Theories in subjection. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1999a. Subjects of desire: Hegelian reflections in twentieth‐century France, 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1999b. Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity, 10th anniversary ed. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 2003. Kritik der ethischen Gewalt. Adorno Lectures, 2002. Frankfurt am Main: Institut für Sozialforschung an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe‐Universität.Google Scholar
Cavarero, Adriana. 1997. Relating narratives: Storytelling and selfhood. Trans. Kottman, Paul. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Clarke, David, and Rajan, Tolottama, eds. 1995. Intersections: Nineteenth‐century philosophy and contemporary theory. Buffalo: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Fraser, Nancy. 1995. False antitheses: A response to Seyla Benhabib and Judith Butler. In Feminist contentions: A philosophical exchange, ed. Seyla Benhabib, Judith ButlerCornell, Drucilla, and Fraser, Nancy. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. 1986. Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften III. Werke 10. Ed. Moldenhauer, Eva and Markus Michel, Karl. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. 1989. Grundlinien der Philosophic des Rechts. Werke 7. Ed. Moldenhauer, Eva and Markus Michel, Karl. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. 1991. Phänomenologie des Geistes. Werke 3. Ed. Moldenhauer, Eva and Markus Michel, Karl. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Honneth, Axel. 1998. Kampf um Anerkennung: Zur moralischen Grammatik sozialer Konflikte, 3rd ed. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Hyppolite, Jean. 1974. Genesis and structure of Hegel's “Phenomenology of spirit” Trans. Cherniak, Samuel and Heckman, John. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
McNay, Lois. 1999. Subject, psyche, and agency: The work of Judith Butler. Theory, Culture & Society 16 (2): 175–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, Catherine. 2000. Efficacy and vulnerability: Judith Butler on reiteration and resistance. Australian Feminist Studies 159 (32): 265–79.Google Scholar
Oliver, Kelly. 2001. Witnessing: Beyond recognition. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Weir, Allison. 1996. Sacrificial logics: Feminist theory and the critique of identity. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
- 40
- Cited by