Seyla Benhabib

Interpreting the work of one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt rereads Arendt's political philosophy in light of newly gained insights into the historico-cultural background of her work. Arguing against the standard interpretation of Hannah Arendt as an anti-modernist lover of the Greek polis, author Seyla Benhabib contends that Arendt's thought emerges out of a double legacy: German Existenz philosophy, particularly the thought of Martin Heidegger, and her experiences as a German-Jewess in the age of totalitarianism. This important volume reconsiders Arendt's theory of modernity, her concept of the public sphere, her distinction between the social and the political, her theory of totalitarianism, and her critique of the modern nation state, including her life long involvement with Jewish and Israeli politics.

Interpreting the work of one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt rereads Arendt's political philosophy in light of newly gained insights into the historico-cultural background of her work. Arguing against the standard interpretation of Hannah Arendt as an anti-modernist lover of the Greek polis, author Seyla Benhabib contends that Arendt's thought emerges out of a double legacy: German Existenz philosophy, particularly the thought of Martin Heidegger, and her experiences as a German-Jewess in the age of totalitarianism. This important volume reconsiders Arendt's theory of modernity, her concept of the public sphere, her distinction between the social and the political, her theory of totalitarianism, and her critique of the modern nation state, including her life long involvement with Jewish and Israeli politics.

How can liberal democracy best be realized in a world fraught with conflicting new forms of identity politics and intensifying conflicts over culture? This book brings unparalleled clarity to the contemporary debate over this question. Maintaining that cultures are themselves torn by conflicts about their own boundaries, Seyla Benhabib challenges the assumption shared by many theorists and activists that cultures are clearly defined wholes. She argues that much debate--including that of "strong" multiculturalism, which sees cultures as distinct pieces of a mosaic--is dominated by this faulty belief, one with grave consequences for how we think injustices among groups should be redressed and human diversity achieved. Benhabib masterfully presents an alternative approach, developing an understanding of cultures as continually creating, re-creating, and renegotiating the imagined boundaries between "us" and "them." Drawing on contemporary cultural politics from Western Europe, Canada, and the United States, Benhabib develops a double-track model of deliberative democracy that permits maximum cultural contestation within the official public sphere as well as in and through social movements and the institutions of civil society. Agreeing with political liberals that constitutional and legal universalism should be preserved at the level of polity, she nonetheless contends that such a model is necessary to resolve multicultural conflicts. Analyzing in detail the transformation of citizenship practices in European Union countries, Benhabib concludes that flexible citizenship, certain kinds of legal pluralism and models of institutional powersharing are quite compatible with deliberative democracy, as long as they are in accord with egalitarian reciprocity, voluntary self-ascription, and freedom of exit and association. The Claims of Culture offers invaluable insight to all those, whether students or scholars, lawyers or policymakers, who strive to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of cultural politics in the twenty-first century.

First published in 1995. This volume presents a debate between four of the top feminist theorists in the United States. Seyla Benhabib, Judith Butler, Drucilla Cornell and Nancy Fraser discuss some of the key questions facing feminist theory. Each articulates her own position in an initial essay, then responds to the others in a follow-up essay, making possible a conversation between these influential feminist thinkers. Begun as a symposium on the issue of feminism and postmodernism, the volume evolved into a discussion of broader issues such as the usefulness of postmodernism as a theoretical concept; the role of philosophy in social criticism; how historical narrative is best conceptualized; the status of the subject of feminism; and the political effects of different formulations of all these issues. Unlike many collections which assume a given topic and ask various thinkers to respond to it, this format enables the contributors themselves to articulate their own views on the key questions facing feminist theory and distinguish their views from others.

Moderna samhällen är genompluralistiska och föreställningen om en etik baserad i en homogen social gemenskap är illusorisk - det finns ingen väg tillbaka till »den förtrollade världen». Istället gäller det att ta dialogmodellen på allvar och utforma en »interaktiv universalism» som utgår från från människors individualitet - den »generaliserade» andra måste ersättas med den »konkreta» andra. I denna strävan stöder sig Benhabib på Jürgen Habermas och Karl-Otto Apels kommunikativa etik, och på Hanna Arendts idéer om ett »utvidgat medvetande». Det sista är inte så konstigt som det låter: det handlar om att låta den andra aspekten på den gyllene regeln komma till sin rätt - inlevelseförmågan, förmågan att se ur den andras perspektiv. Men den förmågan ersätter inte, utan kompletterar rättviseperspektivet - empati utan universalism kan lika väl som det rena egenintresset få en att acceptera och t o m stödja orättvisor. Benhabibs bok är full av förståndiga och tänkvärda synpunkter, och för den som orkar tänka litet själv kan den nog också fungera bra som introduktion till mycket av det mest omtalade i de senaste decenniernas moralfilosofiska debatt. /Staffan Carlshamre, Göteborgs-Posten

This book is an attempt to defend the tradition of universalism in the face of a triple-pronged critique by engaging with the claims of feminism, communitarianism, and postmodernism and by learning from them. It situates reason and the moral self more decisively in contexts of gender and community.

Focusing on contemporary debates in moral and political theory, Situating the Self argues that a non-relative ethics, binding on us in virtue of out humanity, is still a philosophically viable project. This intersting new book should be read by all those concerned with the problems of critical theory, the analysis of modernity, and contemporary ethics, as well as students and professionals in philosophy, sociology and political science.

Displaying an impressive command of complex materials, Seyla Benhabib reconstructs the history of theories from a systematic point of view and examines the origins and transformations of the concept of critique from the works of Hegel to Habermas. Through investigating the model of the philosophy of the subject, she pursues the question of how Hegel's critiques might be useful for reforumulating the foundations of critical social theory.

This is an outstanding collection of essays which brings together for the first time the work of a group of writers well-known in the Marxist-feminist tradition. The essays range from Marx to Foucault and go beyond them to offer genuine advances in the way social and political life can be reconceptualized in the light of feminist critique. This is an outstanding collection of essays which brings together for the first time the work of a group of writers well-known in the Marxist-feminist tradition. The essays range from Marx to Foucault and go beyond them to offer genuine advances in the way social and political life can be reconceptualized in the light of feminist critique.