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All in the Family – On Community and Incommensurability

Autor Kennan Ferguson
en Limba Engleză Paperback – 18 iun 2012
Western political philosophers since Plato have used the family as a model for harmonious political and social relations. Yet, far from being an uncontentious domain for shared interests and common values, the family is often the scene of intense interpersonal conflict and disagreement. In All in the Family, political theorist Kennan Ferguson reconsiders the family, in its varied forms, as an exemplar of democratic politics and suggests how real rather than idealized family dynamics can help us to better understand and navigate political conflict. By closely observing the attachments that arise in families despite profound disagreements, Ferguson argues, we can imagine a political engagement that accommodates radical differences without sacrificing community. After examining how the concept of the family has been deployed and misused in political philosophy, Ferguson turns to the ways in which families actually operate: the macro-political significance of family coping strategies such as silence and the impact that disability and care-giving have on conceptions of spatiality, sameness, and disparity. He also considers the emotional attachment between humans and their pets as an acknowledgement that compassion and community can exist even under conditions of profound differences.
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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780822351900
ISBN-10: 0822351900
Pagini: 216
Dimensiuni: 155 x 221 x 17 mm
Greutate: 0.3 kg
Editura: MD – Duke University Press

Recenzii

“Are you tired of shop-worn stories about the interdependence of family and politics? With their suspect notions of organic harmony, typically joined to attacks on the plural families of today? Well, then, this is the book for you. Kennan Ferguson addresses the variable intensities, blunted communications across fissures, silences, multiple disabilities, and negotiations across these lines that constitute family life. Now, he says, we are in a position to think about the complexities of family life and politics together, allowing each to illuminate the other. This is an impressive achievement!” William E. Connolly, author of A World of Becoming"When political theorists want to show us what community, authority, and other elusive political goods look like, they often have recourse to examples drawn from family life. Yet as Kennan Ferguson argues, the family relationships imagined by political theorists are too good to be true: real families are riven by conflict, mistrust, and opaqueness, just as political communities are. With an eye for illuminating details, an uncommonly creative theoretical imagination, and a gift for cutting to the heart of a political issue, Ferguson shows us how political theory could profit from attending to the aspects of family life that have been obscured in the rush to make the family signify an extraordinary communal solidarity. All in the Family is an outstanding contribution to contemporary political thinking."—Patchen Markell, author of Bound by Recognition
"Are you tired of shop-worn stories about the interdependence of family and politics? With their suspect notions of organic harmony, typically joined to attacks on the plural families of today? Well, then, this is the book for you. Kennan Ferguson addresses the variable intensities, blunted communications across fissures, silences, multiple disabilities, and negotiations across these lines that constitute family life. Now, he says, we are in a position to think about the complexities of family life and politics together, allowing each to illuminate the other. This is an impressive achievement!" William E. Connolly, author of A World of Becoming "When political theorists want to show us what community, authority, and other elusive political goods look like, they often have recourse to examples drawn from family life. Yet as Kennan Ferguson argues, the family relationships imagined by political theorists are too good to be true: real families are riven by conflict, mistrust, and opaqueness, just as political communities are. With an eye for illuminating details, an uncommonly creative theoretical imagination, and a gift for cutting to the heart of a political issue, Ferguson shows us how political theory could profit from attending to the aspects of family life that have been obscured in the rush to make the family signify an extraordinary communal solidarity. All in the Family is an outstanding contribution to contemporary political thinking." - Patchen Markell, author of Bound by Recognition

Notă biografică


Cuprins

Acknowledgments vii
1. Familial Intensities 1
2. The Functioning Family 13
3. Communities against Politics 33
4. Silence: A Politics 63
5. I [Heart] My Dog 83
6. The Spaces of Disability 107
7. Familiar Languages 125
Notes 153
Bibliography 179
Index 193

Descriere

Ferguson starts with the commonplace assumption within political philosophy that the family provides the ideal model for political association. Yet, as Ferguson points out, families are not necessarily harmonious units. Rather, families are often characterized by strife, unpleasantness, and poor communication. Ferguson asks: what if we started from these places of conflict and incommensurability to think about how political associations should function? He takes up several situations—from the love we have for our pets to the difficulties of taking care of a sick family member—to think about how familial attachments can offer insight into the creation of a pluralistic and democratic society.