Research Seminar Aesthetics of Politics

Research Seminar on the Aesthetics of Politics. In
this course, we will read and analyze key
conceptual contributions of Jewish/German/American
political thinker Hannah Arendt, and American
philosophers Judith Butler and Linda Zerilli to
the field of aesthetics and politics. In
particular, the seminar will seek to develop an
aesthetic understanding of "the political" by
analyzing how Arendt's political thought dealt
with, on the one hand, "action" in terms of a
performative, egalitarian, and plural appearance
and with, on the other hand, "judgment" as a
consequence of her political reading of Kant's
aesthetic judgment. In this way, Arendt will help
us introduce a foundational vocabulary and
conceptual framework based on her notions of the
space of appearance, the performativity of action,
and an aesthetic understanding of political
judgment. Contemporary thinkers Butler and Zerilli
are the most influential political and democratic
theorists making use of this Arendtian
aesthetico-political theorizing of action and
judgment. During the week, our daily discussions
will be organized as follows: First day, we'll
read sections from Arendt's The Human Condition
and On Revolution. Second day, we'll read sections
from Butler's Parting Ways and Notes Toward a
Performative Theory of Assembly. Third day, we'll
discuss sections of Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem
and The Life of the Mind. Finally, in our fourth
class we'll analyze sections of Zerilli's A
Democratic Theory of Judgment. As a consequence of
our intertwining of these three authors, we will
be in a position to pose poignant questions
involving a novel approach to aesthetico-political
regimes understood as theological, epistemic, and
aesthetic horizons for the configuration of
collective life. During the week, students will
meet at least once with the instructor during
office hours to discuss the paper topic and other
themes related to the workshop.