Suffering, Politics, Power: A Genealogy in Modern Political Theory

By Cynthia Halpern

Suffering and politics in the thought of Luther, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Nietzsche.

Suffering, Politics, Power argues that human suffering on a global scale constitutes the most urgent and least understood question of contemporary politics and political theory. In the modern age, the experience of suffering is primarily a political problem, constructed out of crucial, conflicting perspectives. The book draws on a genealogy of suffering through the conflicting perspectives of four major political theorists: Martin Luther, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Although supplying contradictory accounts of the nature of suffering and human response to it, these theorists, when examined together, provide a historical foundation for the political structures of our time and a trajectory for the problematic of suffering which defies all limits. This book works to foster a contemporary political response to suffering, addressing the techniques of its production and representation and the dilemmas of ascertaining causes and responsibilities.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791451046
• ISBN13: 9780791451045
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 334 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher