Judith Butler - Lectures / Workshops / Seminars

HANNAH ARENDT: Ethics and Responsibility (3 Credits)

Judith Butler, Ph.D.

Description: This course examines Hannah Arendt and the idea of legality, responsibility and ethics. After the trial of Eichmann, Hannah Arendt embarked on a series of reflections about how to make judgements and exercise responsibility without recourse to existing law, especially when existing law is itself criminal. Although sometimes she understands judgment as a social act - an act performed in common - other times she seeks recourse to an idea of sovereign mind. What kind of "act" is judgment? And how do we understand those acts that make us criminals in light of one law, but dissenters from a criminal law in another? How do we account for lawless law?

Objectives: Students shall deal with the importance of Hannah Arendt in political theory. This course aims to broaden students knowledge on ideas of judgment, law, and action. As we move through the material we will gain a firm grasp on the concept of law and Hannah Arendt’s perspectives. This course is designed to enrich students ability to think critically and write about ideas of subjective and objective judgment. We will also prepare for the future political problems that face the ever changing political world of today as we examine the historical buildup to current ideas on sovereignty, nationality, law and ethics.

Required Readings:

Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem. Penguin Classics. September 22, 2006. Language English, ISBN: 9780143039884. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Agamben, Giorgio and Kevin Attell (Translator). State of Exception. University Of Chicago Press. January 15, 2005, Paperback, 104 pages, Language: English, ISBN: 0226009254. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Butler, Judith. Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence. Verso. May 6, 2004. Hardcover, 160 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1844670058. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Butler, Judith and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Who Sings the Nation-State?: Language, Politics, Belonging. Seagull Books. November 13, 2007. Hardcover, 128 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1905422571. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Arendt, Hannah. Responsibility and Judgement. Schocken. August 9, 2005. Language English, ISBN: 0805211627. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Recommended Readings:

Schmitt, Carl. Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty. University of Chicago Press. 2006. Paperback, 116 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0226738892. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Schmitt, Carl. Legality and Legitimacy. Duke University Press. 2004. Paperback, 216 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0822331748. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

General Assembly of the United Nations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. December 10, 1948 USA Patriot Act. (The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act). HR 3162 RDS. 107th Congress. 1st Session. H. R. 3162 in the Senate of the United States. October 24, 2001

Physician's for Human Rights. Evaluation of the Use of Force in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Medical and Forensic Investigation. November 3, 2000.

ETHICS AND POLITICS: The Idea of The Subject (3 Credits)

Judith Butler, Ph.D.

Description: This course is a seminar about the idea of the subject and what it means in relation to postmodern deconstruction of ethics and politics. In the face of the unknown how does one make an ethical or political decision that no longer clings to subjectivity as such. This course will go over contemporary feminist critique. This course will deeply cover the postmodern deconstruction of the subject and what it means for critical theory today. Addressing ethics and political subjectivity in today’s world is examined with a critical lens aimed towards recovering ethics in a new sense of the term.

Objectives: The objective of this course is for students to gather a theoretical vocabulary that will enable informed criticism. This course aims specifically to help students who are working on the ideas of subjectivity to write about the possibility of ethics and politics. We aim to broaden our learning horizons through intensive readings combined with classroom discussion.

Learning Outcomes: Students will gain a deeper understanding of the call to ethics and the weight of the political call to action. As we examine subjectivity through the lens of Antigone we gain a sense of literary criticism and the work of deconstructing. Students will bring in their personal projects as a way of enriching the course discussions. At the end of the course students will be equipped to enter contemporary debates about subjectivity and gender studies.

Required Readings: Sophocles. Antigone. Dover. 1993, Paperback, 74 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0486278042. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Butler, Judith. Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of 'Sex'. Routledge. London, New York, October 1993. Paperback, 288 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0415903661. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Butler, Judith. Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable? Verso. May 19, 2009. Hardcover, 193 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1844673332. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Butler, Judith and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Who Sings the Nation-State?: Language, Politics, Belonging. Seagull Books. November 13, 2007. Hardcover, 128 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1905422571. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Butler, Judith. The Psychic Life of Power: Theories of Subjection. Stanford University Press. Stanford, June 1997, Hardcover, ISBN: 0804728119. Buy it at Amazon.com. Paperback, ISBN: 0804728127. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.de, or Amazon.fr.

Butler, Judith. Antigone's Claim: Kinship between Life and Death. Columbia University Press. October 2000. Hardcover, ISBN: 0231118945. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Recommended Readings:

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge. November 15, 1989. Paperback, 192 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0415900433. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Butler, Judith. Giving an Account of Oneself. Fordham University Press. November 1, 2005. Paperback, 149 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0823225046. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Butler, Judith. Undoing Gender. Routledge. August 27, 2004. Paperback, 288 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0415969239. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.

Butler, Judith. Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence. Verso. May 6, 2004. Hardcover, 160 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1844670058. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.