From Violence to Speaking Out: Apocalypse and Expression in Foucault, Derrida and Deleuze

321 Pages·2016·2.12 MB·English

by  Leonard Lawlor

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advocates life and non-violence

Leonard Lawlor’s groundbreaking book draws from a career-long
exploration of the French philosophy of the 1960s in order to find a
solution to ‘the problem of the worst violence’. the worst violence is Out
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the reaction of total apocalypse without remainder. it is the reaction of e
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complete negation and death. it is nihilism.
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Lawlor argues not simply that transcendental violence must be minimised, r
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he then offers new ways of speaking which will best achieve the least L apocalypse and
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deleuze and guattari as ‘speaking-freely’, ‘speaking-distantly’ and over d LO expression in
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Leonard LawLor is edwin earle Sparks Professor of Philosophy at : w
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From Violence to Speaking Out
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Incitements
Series editors: Peg Birmingham, DePaul University and Dimitris Vardoulakis,
University of Western Sydney
An incitement is a thought that leads to a further thought or an action that
solicits a response, while also testing the limits of what is acceptable or lawful.
The books in this series, by prominent, world class scholars, will highlight the
political import of philosophy, showing how concepts can be translated into
political praxis, and how praxis is inextricably linked to thinking.
Editorial Advisory Board
Étienne Balibar, Andrew Benjamin, Jay M. Bernstein, Rosi Braidotti, Wendy
Brown, Judith Butler, Adriana Cavarero, Howard Caygill, Rebecca Comay,
Joan Copjec, Simon Critchley, Costas Douzinas, Peter Fenves, Christopher
Fynsk, Moira Gatens, Gregg Lambert, Leonard Lawlor, Genevieve Lloyd,
Catherine Malabou, James Martel, Christoph Menke, Warren Montag,
Michael Naas, Antonio Negri, Kelly Oliver, Paul Patton, Anson Rabinbach,
Gerhard Richter, Martin Saar, Miguel Vatter, Gianni Vattimo, Santiago Zabala
Available
Return Statements: The Return of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy
By Gregg Lambert
The Refusal of Politics
By Laurent Dubreuil, translated by Cory Browning
Plastic Sovereignties: Agamben and the Politics of Aesthetics
By Arne De Boever
From Violence to Speaking Out: Apocalypse and Expression in Foucault, Derrida and Deleuze
By Leonard Lawlor
Forthcoming
Agonistic Mourning: Political Dissidence and the Women in Black
By Athena Athanasiou
Lawlor.indb 2 28/07/2016 16:50:18
From Violence to
Speaking Out
Apocalypse and Expression in Foucault,
Derrida and Deleuze
Leonard Lawlor
Lawlor.indb 3 28/07/2016 16:50:18
In Memory of Hugh J. Silverman
Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK.
We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across
the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting-edge scholarship with
high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting
importance. For more information visit our website:
www.edinburghuniversitypress.com
© Leonard Lawlor, 2016
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
The Tun – Holyrood Road, 12(2f) Jackson’s Entry, Edinburgh EH8 8PJ
Typeset in Bembo
by R. J. Footring Ltd, Derby, UK, and
printed and bound in Wales by
Gomer Press, Ceredigion
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4744 1824 9 (hardback)
ISBN 978 1 4744 1826 3 (webready PDF)
ISBN 978 1 4744 1825 6 (paperback)
ISBN 978 1 4744 1827 0 (epub)
The right of Leonard Lawlor to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988, and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003
(SI No. 2498).
lawlor prelims.indd 4 18/08/2016 12:09:08
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Preface ix
Introduction: From Violence to Speaking Out 1
Part I: On Transcendental Violence
[1] A New Possibility of Life: The Experience of
Powerlessness as a Solution to the Problem of the
Worst Violence 15
[2] What Happened? What Is Going to Happen? An
Essay on the Experience of the Event 44
[3] Is it Happening? Or, the Implications of Immanence 68
[4] The Flipside of Violence, or Beyond the Thought of
Good Enough 87
Part II: Three Ways of Speaking
[5] Auto-Affection and Becoming: Following the Rats 115
[6] The Origin of Parrēsia in Foucault’s Thinking: Truth
and Freedom in The History of Madness 143
[7] Speaking Out for Others: Philosophy’s Activity in
Deleuze and Foucault (and Heidegger) 174
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contents
[8] “The Dream of an Unusable Friendship”: The
Temptation of Evil and the Chance for Love in
Derrida’s Politics of Friendship 206
[9] Three Ways of Speaking, or “Let Others be Free”:
On Foucault’s “Speaking-Freely”; Derrida’s
“Speaking-Distantly”; and Deleuze’s “Speaking in
Tongues” 241
Conclusion: Speaking Out Against Violence 277
Bibliography 292
Index 303
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Daniel J. Smith, who provided invaluable
insights on a draft of this book. I would also like to thank
Janae Sholtz and Daniel J. Palumbo for their contributions to
Chapters 7 and 6 respectively; Claire Griffin provided essential
research for Chapter 8. My longtime friend, and interlocutor,
Fred Evans, read most of the chapters in draft form. I cannot
thank him enough for his feedback, guidance, and inspiration.
Finally, as always, I must thank my family for enduring my
almost-obsessive work habits. No one has shown more patience
with me than my wife, Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor.
The following journals and presses have granted me
permission to reproduce material for this book.
Lawlor, Leonard. “The Flipside of Violence, Beyond the
Thought of Good Enough,” in A Blackwell Companion to
Derrida, eds., Zeynep Direk and Leonard Lawlor (London:
Wiley Blackwell, 2014). 565–81.
Lawlor, Leonard. “Is it Happening? Or the Implications of
Immanence,” in Research in Phenomenology (Brill Publishing),
volume 44, issue 3 (2014). 347–61.
Lawlor, Leonard. “What Happened? What is Going to Happen?
vii
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acknowledgements
An Essay on the Experience of the Event,” in The Ends of
History: Questioning the Stakes of Historical Reason, edited
by Amy Swiffen and Joshua Nichols (Abingdon, Oxon:
Routledge, 2013). 179–95.
Lawlor, Leonard. “Following the Rats: An Essay on the Concept
of Becoming-Animal in Deleuze and Guattari.” Sub-Stance
37.3 (2008). 169–87. © by the Board of Regents of the
University of Wisconsin System. Reproduced courtesy of
the University of Wisconsin Press.
Lawlor, Leonard. “Speaking out for Others: Philosophi-
cal Activity in Deleuze and Foucault (and Heidegger),”
co-authored with Andrea Janae Sholtz, for Between Deleuze
and Foucault, edited by Daniel W. Smith, Thomas Nail, and
Nicolae Morar (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
2016).
viii
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Preface
Like most prefaces, this one is being written from the completion
of this book and it is written with a view to future projects.
I anticipate writing another book to be called Violence against
Violence (which will appear with Edinburgh University Press).
In it, I hope to develop more thoroughly the ideas presented
in From Violence to Speaking Out. In particular, Violence against
Violence will develop the ethical position that is only hinted at
here. Although it does not appear so, From Violence to Speaking
Out is a work in ethics, taking the word “ethics” in its broadest
sense. The position I am advocating here and in my next book
is opposed to any ethical (or political) position that advocates
the repression of potentiality or that aims to control potentiality
by imposing relative ends on what’s possible. The opposition to
relative ends is why From Violence to Speaking Out starts with
globalization and ends with poverty.
Being opposed to the imposition of relative ends, From
Violence to Speaking Out takes its inspiration from Kant. Yet, the
argumentation and position advocated here do not resemble any
of the contemporary Kantian discourses. The lack of Kantian
argumentation, however, does not mean that the argumenta-
tion resembles utilitarianism. In fact, it is exactly the opposite.
ix
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