Being at Large

This insightful work examines freedom through a hermeneutical lens, challenging contemporary narratives and advocating for interpretive disruptions. Being at Large offers a compelling critique of modern authority.

In Being at Large, Santiago Zabala embarks on a profound hermeneutical exploration of freedom, focusing on the intricate relationship between existence, interpretation, and the concept of emergencies. The author critiques the current political and cultural landscape, where politicians and philosophers alike present themselves as the ultimate arbiters of truth. This new order, he argues, has led to unprecedented technological advancements and cultural shifts that undermine open-ended critique, creating a pervasive sense of threat that serves to maintain control over the populace.

Zabala traces an intellectual alliance among various figures, including academics like Jordan Peterson and Christina Hoff Sommers, and right-wing populists such as Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen. He denounces the framings that claim objectivity while simultaneously eroding the interpretive practices that allow for genuine critique. By engaging with contemporary thinkers like Bruno Latour, Judith Butler, and Giorgio Agamben, as well as discussing significant events such as the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower's revelations and the urgent issue of biodiversity loss, the author sheds light on the pressing question of our time: not whether freedom is attainable, but how we can navigate the constraints imposed by the new realist order.

Being at Large ultimately calls for a reclamation of freedom through interpretive disruptions of authoritarian narratives. Zabala emphasizes the anarchic power of hermeneutics as a tool for resisting the normalization of control and embracing a more liberated existence. This exploration provides a vital framework for understanding the complexities of freedom in an age characterized by alternative facts and emergent crises.