RT Book
T1 Naming violence: a critical theory of genocide, torture, and terrorism
T2 New directions in critical theory
A1 Thaler, Mathias 1978-
LA English
PP New York
PB Columbia University Press
YR 2018
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1023060035
AB Much is at stake when we choose a word for a form of violence: whether a conflict is labeled civil war or genocide, whether we refer to “enhanced interrogation techniques” or to “torture,” whether a person is called a “terrorist” or a “patriot.” Do these decisions reflect the rigorous application of commonly accepted criteria, or are they determined by power structures and partisanship? How is the language we use for violence entangled with the fight against it? In Naming Violence, Mathias Thaler articulates a novel perspective on the study of violence that demonstrates why the imagination matters for political theory. His analysis of the politics of naming charts a middle ground between moralism and realism, arguing that political theory ought to question whether our existing vocabulary enables us to properly identify, understand, and respond to violence. He explores how narrative art, thought experiments, and historical events can challenge and enlarge our existing ways of thinking about violence. Through storytelling, hypothetical situations, and genealogies, the imagination can help us see when definitions of violence need to be revisited by shedding new light on prevalent norms and uncovering the contingent history of ostensibly self-evident beliefs. Naming Violence demonstrates the importance of political theory to debates about violence across a number of different disciplines from film studies to history.
NO Includes bibliographical references and index
CN a
SN 9780231188142
K1 Political Violence : Philosophy
K1 Genocide : Political aspects
K1 Torture : Political aspects
K1 Terrorism : Political aspects
K1 Critical Theory
K1 Gewalttätigkeit
K1 Klassifikation
K1 Völkermord
K1 Folter
K1 Terrorismus
K1 Begriffsbildung
K1 Definition
K1 Begriff
K1 Sprachgebrauch
K1 Politische Theorie
K1 Kritische Theorie
K1 Gewalt : Politische Theorie