Donatella Di Cesare's Books

Immunodemocracy

Capitalist Asphyxia

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Immunodemocracy

Capitalist Asphyxia

By: Donatella Di Cesare

A stimulating and profound portrayal of the epochal event that has already left its mark on the twenty-first century. Immunodemocracy offers a stimulating and profound portrayal of the epochal event that has already left its mark on the twenty-first century. Moving from the ecological question to the rule of experts, from the state of exception to immunitarian democracy, from rule by fear to the contagion of conspiracy theory, from forced distancing to digital control, Donatella Di Cesare examines how existence is already changing--and what its future political effects may be. In her own personal style, the author reconstructs the dramatic phases of what she calls "the breathing catastrophe." Coronavirus is a sovereign virus that skirts its way around the walls of patriotism and the sovereignists' imperious frontiers. And it reveals in all its terrible crudeness the immunitarian logic that excludes the weakest and hits the poorest. The Cordon sanitaire of disengagement risks expanding beyond all proportion. The disparity between the protected and the helpless--a challenge to any idea of justice--has never been so blatant. The virus has not introduced, but merely brought out into the open the ruthlessness of the capitalism that is now wrapping us in its devastating spiral, in its compulsive, asphyxial vortex. Is it our final warning? The violent global pandemic shows that it is impossible for us to survive if we don't help each other. We will need to protect ourselves from protection and the specter of absolute immunization. When breathing can no longer be taken for granted, we need to rethink a new way of living together.

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121

Publisher

MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1635901499

ISBN 13

9781635901498

Torture

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Torture

By: Donatella Di Cesare

Torture is not as universally condemned as it once was. From Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib prisons to the death of Giulio Regeni, countless recent cases have shocked public opinion. But if we want to defend the human dignity that torture violates, simple indignation is not enough. In this important book, Donatella Di Cesare provides a critical perspective on torture in all its dimensions. She seeks to capture the peculiarity of an extreme and methodical violence where the tormentor calculates and measures out pain so that he can hold off the victim’s death, allowing him to continue to exercise his sovereign power. For the victim, being tortured is like experiencing his own death while he is still alive. Torture is a threat wherever the defenceless find themselves in the hands of the strong: in prisons, in migrant camps, in nursing homes, in centres for the disabled and in institutions for minors. This impassioned book will appeal to students and scholars of philosophy and political theory as well as to anyone committed to defending human rights as universal and inviolable.

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Page Count

180

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509524401

ISBN 13

9781509524402

Torture

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Torture

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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180

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

150952438X

ISBN 13

9781509524389

The Time of Revolt

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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The Time of Revolt

By: Donatella Di Cesare

As capitalism triumphs on the ruins of utopias and faith in progress fades, revolts are breaking out everywhere. From London to Hong Kong and from Buenos Aires to Beirut, protests flare up, in some cases spreading like wildfire, in other cases petering out and reigniting elsewhere. Not even the pandemic has been able to stop them: as many were reflecting on the loss of public space, the fuse of a fresh explosion was lit in Minneapolis with the brutal murder of George Floyd. We are living in an age of revolt. But what is revolt? It would be a mistake to think of it as simply an explosion of anger, a spontaneous and irrational outburst, as it is often portrayed in the media. Exploding anger is not a bolt from the blue but a symptom of a social order in which the sovereignty of the state has imposed itself as the sole condition of order. Revolt challenges the sovereignty of the state, whether it is democratic or despotic, exposing the violence that underpins it. Revolt upsets the agenda of power, interrupts time, throws history into disarray. The time of revolt, discontinuous and intermittent, is also a revolt of time, an anarchic transition to a space of time that disengages itself from the architecture of politics. This brilliant reflection on the nature and significance of revolt will be of interest to students of politics and philosophy and to anyone concerned with the key questions of politics today.

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106

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509548408

ISBN 13

9781509548408

Utopia of Understanding

Between Babel and Auschwitz

By: Donatella Ester Di Cesare

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Utopia of Understanding

Between Babel and Auschwitz

By: Donatella Ester Di Cesare

Speaking and understanding can both be thought of as forms of translation, and in this way every speaker is an exile in language—even in one's mother tongue. Drawing from the philosophical hermeneutics of Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer, the testimonies of the German Jews and their relation with the German language, Jacques Derrida's confrontation with Hannah Arendt, and the poetry of Paul Celan, Donatella Ester Di Cesare proclaims Auschwitz the Babel of the twentieth century. She argues that the globalized world is one in which there no longer remains any intimate place or stable dwelling. Understanding becomes a kind of shibboleth that grounds nothing, but opens messianically to a utopia yet to come.

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270

Publisher

State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438442548

ISBN 13

9781438442549

Gadamer

A Philosophical Portrait

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Gadamer

A Philosophical Portrait

By: Donatella Di Cesare

Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002), one of the towering figures of contemporary Continental philosophy, is best known for Truth and Method, where he elaborated the concept of "philosophical hermeneutics," a programmatic way to get to what we do when we engage in interpretation. Donatella Di Cesare highlights the central place of Greek philosophy, particularly Plato, in Gadamer's work, brings out differences between his thought and that of Heidegger, and connects him with discussions and debates in pragmatism. This is a sensitive and thoroughly readable philosophical portrait of one of the 20th century's most powerful thinkers.

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280

Publisher

Indiana University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0253007682

ISBN 13

9780253007681

Heidegger and the Jews

The Black Notebooks

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Heidegger and the Jews

The Black Notebooks

By: Donatella Di Cesare

Philosophers have long struggled to reconcile Martin Heidegger's involvement in Nazism with his status as one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century. The recent publication of his Black Notebooks has reignited fierce debate on the subject. These thousand-odd pages of jotted observations profoundly challenge our image of the quiet philosopher's exile in the Black Forest, revealing the shocking extent of his anti-Semitism for the first time. For much of the philosophical community, the Black Notebooks have been either used to discredit Heidegger or seen as a bibliographical detail irrelevant to his thought. Yet, in this new book, renowned philosopher Donatella Di Cesare argues that Heidegger's "metaphysical anti-Semitism" was a central part of his philosophical project. Within the context of the Nuremberg race laws, Heidegger felt compelled to define Jewishness and its relationship to his concept of Being. Di Cesare shows that Heidegger saw the Jews as the agents of a modernity that had disfigured the spirit of the West. In a deeply disturbing extrapolation, he presented the Holocaust as both a means for the purification of Being and the Jews' own "self-destruction": a process of death on an industrialized scale that was the logical conclusion of the acceleration in technology they themselves had brought about. Situating Heidegger's anti-Semitism firmly within the context of his thought, this groundbreaking work will be essential reading for students and scholars of philosophy and history as well as the many readers interested in Heidegger's life, work, and legacy.

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Page Count

288

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509503862

ISBN 13

9781509503865

Conspiracy and Power

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Conspiracy and Power

By: Donatella Di Cesare

Conspiracy theories are neither delusions nor lies, neither simplistic fallacies nor psychological quirks: rather, they are a political problem. They are not so much about truth as about power. Rather than seeking to debunk conspiracy theories as the work of fringe groups and cranks, Donatella Di Cesare develops an original account that portrays conspiracy as the spectre of a shattered community. With the proliferation of conspiracy theories, the distrust of politics and politicians turns into a boundless and pervasive suspicion. Who is behind the scenes? Who is pulling the strings? The world, which seems increasingly confusing and impossible to read, must have a hidden side, a secret realm, that of the Deep State and the New World Order, where plans are hatched, information is gathered and thoughts are controlled. It is no longer a matter of a one-off plot or intrigue. Conspiracy is the very form in which citizens who feel condemned to a frustrating impotence, helpless before a techno-economic juggernaut, and manipulated by a faceless power relate to the world. This is why conspiracy, which exposes the emptiness of democracy, proves to be a fearsome weapon of mass depoliticisation.

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509554890

ISBN 13

9781509554898

If Auschwitz is Nothing

Against Denialism

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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If Auschwitz is Nothing

Against Denialism

By: Donatella Di Cesare

Ever since the end of World War II, when the sheer enormity of the Nazi crime against the Jews became apparent, there have been repeated attempts to deny that the Holocaust really happened. The existence of gas chambers was questioned and the testimony of survivors was thrown into doubt; the more witnesses spoke out, the more they were intimidated and attacked by a denialism that sought to present itself as a search for historical truth. The accusation of trickery and deception – so central to the centuries-old anti-Jewish hatred – continues to thrive in the present. Today, denialism takes a new and more insidious form: Jews are accused of exploiting the ‘cult of the Holocaust’ to justify the state of Israel and to take the reins of political power. Holocaust denial has merged with conspiracy theories, alleging the existence of a Jewish-controlled New World Order. Concisely and authoritatively, acclaimed philosopher Donatella Di Cesare reconstructs the evolution of denialism and sheds new light on one of the most troubling phenomena of our time.

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109

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509555722

ISBN 13

9781509555727

Terror and Modernity

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Terror and Modernity

By: Donatella Di Cesare

We are inclined to see terrorist attacks as an aberration, a violent incursion into our lives that bears no intrinsic relation to the fundamental features of modern societies. But does this view misconstrue the relationship between terror and modernity? In this book, philosopher Donatella Di Cesare takes a historical approach and argues that terror is not a new phenomenon, but rather one that has always been a key part of modernity. At its most basic level, terrorism is about the struggle for power and sovereignty. The growing concentration of power in the hands of the state, which is a constitutive feature of modern societies, sows the seeds of terrorism, which is deployed as a weapon by those who are exposed to the violence of the state and feel that they have no other recourse. As Di Cesare illustrates her argument with examples ranging from the Red Brigades and 9/11 to jihadism and ISIS, her sophisticated analysis will appeal to anyone who wishes to understand contemporary terrorism more deeply, as well as to students and scholars of philosophy and political theory.

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186

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509531513

ISBN 13

9781509531516

The Political Vocation of Philosophy

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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The Political Vocation of Philosophy

By: Donatella Di Cesare

It is time for philosophy to return to the city. In today’s crisis-ridden world of globalised capitalism, increasingly closed in on itself, it may seem harder than ever to think of ways out. Philosophy runs the risk of becoming the handmaiden of science and of a hollowed-out democracy. Donatella Di Cesare calls on philosophy instead to return to the political fray and to the city, the global pólis, from which it was banished after the death of Socrates. Suggesting a radical existentialism and a new anarchism, Di Cesare shows that Western philosophy has been characterised by a political vocation ever since its origins in ancient Greece, and argues that the separation of philosophy from its political roots robs it of its most valuable and enlightening potential. But critique and dissent are no longer enough. Mindful of a defeated exile and an inner emigration, philosophers should return to politics and forge an alliance with the poor and the downtrodden. This passionate defence of the political relevance of philosophy and its radical potential in our globalised world will be of great interest to students and scholars of philosophy and to a wide general readership.

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Page Count

146

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509539433

ISBN 13

9781509539437

Immunodemocracy

Capitalist Asphyxia

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Immunodemocracy

Capitalist Asphyxia

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Page Count

121

Publisher

MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1635901499

ISBN 13

9781635901498

The Tradition of the Actor-author in Italian Theatre

By: Donatella Fischer

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The Tradition of the Actor-author in Italian Theatre

By: Donatella Fischer

The central importance of the actor-author is a distinctive feature of Italian theatrical life, in all its eclectic range of regional cultures and artistic traditions. The fascination of the figure is that he or she stands on both sides of one of theatre's most important power relationships: between the exhilarating freedom of performance and the austere restriction of authorship and the written text. This broad-ranging volume brings together critical essays on the role of the actor-author, spanning the period from the Renaissance to the present. Starting with Castiglione, Ruzante and the commedia dell'arte, and surveying the works of Dario Fo, De Filippo and Bene, among others, the contributors cast light on a tradition which continues into Neapolitan and Sicilian theatre today, and in Italy's currently fashionable 'narrative theatre', where the actor-author is centre stage in a solo performance.

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Page Count

397

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351191659

ISBN 13

9781351191654

Marranos

The Other of the Other

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Marranos

The Other of the Other

By: Donatella Di Cesare

Marranos were Spanish or Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted to Christianity to avoid being massacred or forced to flee following the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain in 1391 but they continued to practice Judaism in secret. They outwardly embraced Catholicism but preserved Judaism in their hearts. While the Marranos are commonly associated with the persecution of Jews at the time of the Spanish Inquisition, Donatella Di Cesare sees the Marranos as the quintessential figure of the modern condition: the Marranos were not just those that modernity has cast out as the ‘other’, but were those ‘others’ who were forced to disavow their beliefs and conceal themselves. They were ‘the other’s other’, the product of a double exclusion, condemned to a life of existential duplicity with no way out, spurned by both Catholics and Jews and unable fully to belong to either community. But this double life of the Marrano turned out also to be a secret source of strength. Doubly estranged, with no possibility of redemption, the Marrano was the protagonist not only of an external emigration but also of an internal migration: the exploration of the inner territory of the self and a predisposition towards radical thinking that would become hallmarks of modernity. By treating the history of the Marranos as a prism through which to grasp the defining features of modernity, this highly original book that will be of interest to wide readership.

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Page Count

126

Publisher

Polity

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509542043

ISBN 13

9781509542048

The Time of Revolt

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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The Time of Revolt

By: Donatella Di Cesare

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Page Count

106

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509548408

ISBN 13

9781509548408

Book's by Donatella Di Cesare

Immunodemocracy

Immunodemocracy

Torture

Torture

Torture

Torture

The Time of Revolt

The Time of Revolt

Utopia of Understanding

Utopia of Understanding

Gadamer

Gadamer

Heidegger and the Jews

Heidegger and the Jews

Conspiracy and Power

Conspiracy and Power

If Auschwitz is Nothing

If Auschwitz is Nothing

Terror and Modernity

Terror and Modernity

The Political Vocation of Philosophy

The Political Vocation of Philosophy

Immunodemocracy

Immunodemocracy

The Tradition of the Actor-author in Italian Theatre

The Tradition of the Actor-author in Italian Theatre

Marranos

Marranos

The Time of Revolt

The Time of Revolt

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