Politics as Radical Creation

"This is a thorough and well-written work of intellectual history that highlights connections rarely made between Herbert Marcuse and Hannah Arendt." -- Stephen Bronner, Department of Political Science, Rutgers University "This is a well-written, illuminating, and analytically-argued read of two of the twentieth century's most penetrating thinkers that presents possibilities for a new type of political action-politics as performance." -- Rick Matthews, Department of Political Science, LeHigh University

Politics as Radical Creation examines the meaning of democratic practice through the critical social theory of the Frankfurt School.

Politics as Radical Creation examines the meaning of democratic practice through the critical social theory of the Frankfurt School. It provides an understanding of democratic politics as a potentially performative good-in-itself, undertaken not just to the extent that it seeks to achieve a certain extrinsic goal, but also in that it functions as a medium for the expression of creative human impulses. Christopher Holman develops this potential model through a critical examination of the political philosophies of Herbert Marcuse and Hannah Arendt.

Holman argues that, while Arendt and Marcuse’s respective theorizations each ultimately restrict the potential scope of creative human expression, their juxtaposition – which has not been previously explored – results in a more comprehensive theory of democratic existence, one that is uniquely able to affirm the creative capacities of the human being. Yielding important theoretical results that will interest scholars of each theorist and of theories of democracy more generally, Politics as Radical Creation provides a valuable means for rethinking the nature of contemporary democratic practice.