Alienation

Rahel Jaeggi

Rahel Jaeggi

Alienation

In: New Directions in Critical Theory, 4

Translated by: Frederick Neuhouser and Alan Smith
Edited by: Frederick Neuhouser

Columbia University Press | 2014

https://doi.org/10.7312/jaeg15198

Overview
Contents

About this book

In this book, Rahel Jaeggi draws on the Hegelian philosophical tradition, phenomenological analyses grounded in modern conceptions of agency, and recent work in the analytical tradition to reconceive alienation as the absence of a meaningful relationship to oneself and others, which manifests in feelings of helplessness and the despondent acceptance of ossified social roles and expectations. By severing alienation's link to a problematic conception of human essence while retaining its social-philosophical content, Jaeggi provides resources for a renewed critique of social pathologies. Her work revisits the arguments of Rousseau, Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger, placing them in dialogue with Thomas Nagel, Bernard Williams, and Charles Taylor.

A bold defense of a neglected concept and its relevance for critical social theory.

Author information

Rahel Jaeggi is professor of social and political philosophy at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research focuses on ethics, social philosophy, political philosophy, philosophical anthropology, social ontology, and critical theory.

Reviews

Frederick Neuhouser:
[A]n excellent representative of the work of a new generation of German philosophers who...seem well positioned to reanimate Western philosophy.

Rahel Jaeggi's Alienation is an important contribution to – and rejuvenation of – the philosophical literature on the phenomenon of alienation.

This insightful and learned book will appeal to anyone interested in social philosophy.

Frederick Neuhouser, Barnard College:
Alienation is one of the most exciting books to have appeared on the German philosophical scene in the last decade. It not only rejuvenates a lagging discourse on the topic of alienation; it also shows how an account of subjectivity elaborated two centuries ago can be employed in the service of new philosophical insights.

Matthias Fritsch, Concordia University:
Jaeggi's scholarship and writing in this book is excellent, and the resuscitation of the concept of alienation in critical social theory is a welcome event in the literature.

Terry Pinkard, Georgetown University:
Alienation, the concept Hegel and Marx made so central to European political and social thought, has receded in importance in recent political philosophy. Like self-deception and weakness of will, it is extremely resistant to analysis even though it continues to be a major theme of modern life and accounts for the features of contemporary life. Jaeggi's great accomplishment is to provide the outlines of a new theory of an old term and thereby show its linkage to major ethical and political concerns. With this book, an entire tradition of political and social philosophy receives a new lease on life.

Nancy Fraser, The New School:
With this masterful reconstruction of the concept of alienation, Jaeggi opens fruitful new avenues for critical theory. She also claims her place as a powerful exponent of social philosophy and a thinker of the first rank. Her book is a tour de force of cogent argumentation and rich phenomenological description.

Daniel Brudney, University of Chicago:
Through a compelling combination of acute analysis and rich phenomenological description, Rahel Jaeggi brings alienation back to the center of political philosophy. She argues alienation concerns a failure to appropriate oneself in the right way, a problem with how one comes to be what one is, rather than an inability to realize some pregiven identity. Jaeggi is not only thoroughly learned in both the continental and analytic traditions. She does what is quite rare: she brings these traditions into a highly productive synthesis. A very impressive achievement.

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	v
Foreword Axel Honneth Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	vii
Translator’s Introduction Frederick Neuhouser Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	xi
Preface and Acknowledgments Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	xix
Part 1. The Relation of Relationlessness: Reconstructing a Concept of Social Philosophy
1. “A Stranger in the World That He Himself Has Made”: The Concept and Phenomenon of Alienation Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
2. Marx and Heidegger: Two Versions of Alienation Critique Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	11
3. The Structure and Problems of Alienation Critique Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	22
4. Having Oneself at One’s Command: Reconstructing the Concept of Alienation Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	32
Part 2. Living One’s Life as an Alien Life: Four Cases
5. Seinesgleichen Geschieht or “The Like of It Now Happens”: The Feeling of Powerlessness and the Independent Existence of One’s Own Actions Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	43
6. “A Pale, Incomplete, Strange, Artificial Man”: Social Roles and the Loss of Authenticity Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	68
7. “She but Not Herself”: Self-Alienation as Internal Division Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	99
8. “As If Through a Wall of Glass”: Indifference and Self-Alienation Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	131
Part 3. Alienation as a Disturbed Appropriation of Self and World
9. “Like a Structure of Cotton Candy”: Being Oneself as Self-Appropriation Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	155
10. “Living One’s Own Life”: Self-Determination, Self-Realization, and Authenticity Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	199
Conclusion: The Sociality of the Self, the Sociality of Freedom Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	216
Notes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	221
Works Cited Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	251
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	261

Alienation

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