Being at Large
Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts
Format:Paperback
Publisher:McGill-Queen's University Press
Published:16th Apr '20
Should be back in stock very soon
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£95.00(9780228001911)
This book explores the concept of freedom through a hermeneutical perspective, challenging modern political narratives and advocating for interpretive disruptions to reclaim autonomy.
In Being at Large, Santiago Zabala delves into the intricate relationship between freedom and existence through a hermeneutical lens. He examines how contemporary political and philosophical figures have positioned themselves as the ultimate arbiters of truth, creating a new societal framework that threatens open critique and fosters a pervasive sense of emergency. This narrative not only constrains individual interpretation but also normalizes fear as a means of maintaining control over the populace.
The book critically analyzes the intellectual connections between notable academics, such as Jordan Peterson and Christina Hoff Sommers, and right-wing populists like Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen. Zabala argues that these alliances perpetuate a false sense of objectivity, undermining the complexities of human experience. He draws on the insights of modern thinkers, including Bruno Latour, Judith Butler, and Giorgio Agamben, to highlight the urgency of addressing contemporary crises, such as biodiversity loss and the implications of data manipulation revealed by whistleblower Christopher Wylie.
Ultimately, Being at Large poses a fundamental question for the twenty-first century: how can we achieve true freedom in the face of a new realist order? Zabala advocates for interpretive disruptions that challenge authoritarian narratives, emphasizing the anarchic potential of hermeneutics as a means to reclaim our sense of autonomy and navigate a world filled with alternative facts.
"This is a much-needed path-breaking book, systematically showing how widespread appeals to facts, whether pure or alternative, are not only yet another claim to power, but also a new and dangerous recall to order. Indispensable reading for anyone interested in the possibility of freedom and survival in our time, this book fully illustrates the strength of Zabala's philosophy and its potential for emancipation." Chiara Bottici, author of A Philosophy of Political Myth and Imaginal Politics: Images beyond Imagination and the Imaginary
"Timey and engagingly written, Being at Large advances a thesis developed in Zabala's previous work, namely, that we live in times of a dominant "absence of emergency," despite being surrounded by and immersed in emergency. This means that a long list of ongoing emergencies - including climate change, military conflicts, refugee movements, homelessness, rising inequality, the manipulation of personal information and, of course, pandemics such as the spread of COVID-19 - are framed by those in power as somehow normal, leading Zabala to the Heideggerian notion that "the only emergency is the lack of a sense of emergency."" Public Seminar
"[Being at Large] is an invitation to take an existential stand for freedom. Zabala cannot tell anyone what to do, but he can invite participation in the interpretive openness of Being at large, and from that freedom one can take an existential stand." Hong Kong Review of Books
“Zabala … manages, in this erudite book, to walk readers through a genealogy of interpretation as an “active practice” (with detailed attention to Augustine and Luther), and to say a great deal about metaphysics and ontology. Moreover, all thinkers will find in Zabala’s theory of ‘being at large’ a call to action, to intellectual work as an urgent task for our times.” Religious Studies Review
ISBN: 9780228001928
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 454g
200 pages