Melancholic Freedom: Agency and the Spirit of Politics PDF
Preview Melancholic Freedom: Agency and the Spirit of Politics
Melancholic Freedom reflection and theory in the study of religion series series editor JamesWetzel,VillanovaUniversity APublicationSeriesofTheAmericanAcademyofReligion andOxfordUniversityPress LESSING’SPHILOSOPHYOFRELIGIONANDTHEGERMANENLIGHTENMENT ToshimasaYasukata AMERICANPRAGMATISM AReligiousGenealogy M.GailHamner OPTINGFORTHEMARGINS PostmodernityandLiberation inChristianTheology EditedbyJoergRieger MAKINGMAGIC Religion,Magic,andScience intheModernWorld RandallStyers THEMETAPHYSICSOF DANTE’SCOMEDY ChristianMoevs PILGRIMAGEOFLOVE MoltmannontheTrinityandChristianLife JoyAnnMcDougall MORALCREATIVITY PaulRicoeurandthePoeticsofMoralLife JohnWall Melancholic Freedom Agency and the Spirit of Politics david kyuman kim 1 2007 3 OxfordUniversityPress,Inc.,publishesworksthatfurther OxfordUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellence inresearch,scholarship,andeducation. Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright(cid:1)2007byTheAmericanAcademyofReligion PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NewYork10016 www.oup.com OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Kim,DavidKyuman. Melancholicfreedom:agencyandthespiritofpolitics/DavidKyumanKim. p.cm.—(Reflectionandtheoryinthestudyofreligionseries) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-0-19-531982-8 1. Liberty. 2. Agent(Philosophy) 3. Conductoflife. 4. Motivation(Psychology) I. Title. B105.L45K562007 128'.4—dc22 2006027831 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica onacid-freepaper For my family whose love sustains, My parents, Charles Jae Heub Kim and Anne Young Ok Kim My sister, Helen Gyulsun Kim My children, Noah Joonho Hoffman Kim and Josiah Hanul Hoffman Kim And my wife, Diane Hoffman-Kim, whose hope carries us all forward. This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments Fromaveryyoungage,Iwastaughttheimportanceofreciprocityas a personal andsocial value. In the Confucian-infused household of my childhood, reciprocity was not considered a utilitarian exchange of favors. Instead,my familyviewedthe practice of reciprocity and mutualresponsibility as a measure ofmoralcharacter.Despite my commitmentstoradicaldemocracy,IfindthatIstillmaintainastrong commitment to reciprocity. And frankly itis an honorto have an opportunity to make accountto friends, family, and colleagueswho havetakenthetimeandenergytohelpmethinkthroughthemyriad strandsofthis project. Many friends and colleagues have shown me great generosity in reading and commenting on individual chapters. Let me thank Tom Arnold, Lawrie Balfour, Courtney Bickel Lamberth, Craig Calhoun, Sarah Coakley, Tom Dumm, Francis Schu¨ssler Fiorenza, Edward Hoffman, Russell Jeung, Gordon Kaufman, Kwok Pui Lan, David Lamberth, Kimerer LaMothe, Steve Marshall, Fumitaka Matsuoka, Richard Niebuhr, Jock Reeder, Doris Sommer, David Tracy, and Jim Wetzel. Rom Coles read the entire manuscript after its completion and responded with what I have come to expect of this extraordi- naryscholar: a critical yet receptive generosity and affirmation. Jane IwamuraandRudyBustohavebeenconsistentbuoystomyspiritsas well as voices of conscience that have helped me keep a hand if not my whole mind (at times) in Asian American studies. Judith Butler offered well-timed and much-appreciated words of encour- agement as I began the process of finding a publisher. As I hope willbeevidentandcleartothosewho readthis book,my admiration viii acknowledgments for Judith’s work as a theorist and philosopher is deep and genuine. I am indebted to the editorial staff at Oxford University Press: Cynthia Read, exec- utive editor; Julia Ter Maat, assistant editor; Daniel Gonzalez, editorial assis- tant;SuzanneAustin,copyeditor;andGwenColvin,productioneditor.Itwas anhonorandapleasuretoworkwiththisgroupoftop-notchprofessionals.I want to extend particular thanks to Jim Wetzel, the editor of the American Academy of Religion series on Theory and Reflection in the Study of Reli- gion, for including this book in the series. Jim is a terrific reader and critic. No doubt, I was able to write an immeasurably better book by working with a first-rate philosopherof religionlike Jim. I am especially grateful to Wayne Proudfoot and Mark Cladis, the official readers of the manuscript for Oxford University Press, both of whom gave insightful, challenging, and construc- tivecriticismsandsuggestions.IhopethatIhaverendereddueservicetothe serious attention these readers have given this text. It remains, nonetheless, thatIamwhollyaccountablefortheconclusionsand,alas,theshortcomingsof thebook. A word of thanks goes to the members of the Theology Colloquium at Harvardwhoreadandcommentedonearlyversionsofchapters2and3.Iam also deeply appreciative to the Department of Religious Studies at Brown UniversityandtotheDepartmentofReligiousStudiesatConnecticutCollege fortheopportunitytodevelopcoursesthatwerecriticalformythinkingabout the problem of agency. I can think of no better initiation into the vocation of teachingthanthetimeIspentatBrownandmyongoingworkatConnecticut. The students at Brown and Connecticut who took the various versions of my courses‘‘FreedomandtheDiscontentsofModernity’’and‘‘TheSpiritofPoli- tics’’wereexactingintheirintellectualdemandsandchallenges.Theirenthu- siasm and openness to our collective intellectual experiments speak volumes about the high quality of their minds and their sense of adventure. Con- necticut College has been an auspicious place for me to teach. My colleagues intheDepartmentofReligiousStudies––RogerBrooks,GeneGallagher,Gary Green, Lindsey Harlan, and Nora Rubel––have been marvelous in their sup- port and collegiality. I am especially indebted to Gene, one of our nation’s master teachers, for his generosity in team teaching with me when I first ar- rivedatConnecticutCollegeandforbeinganexemplarycolleague,andtoRoger for his consistent and thoughtful counsel. Fran Hoffman, dean of the faculty at Connecticut College, has been a terrific advocate, perhaps most clearly evidentinthefaithsheshowedinappointingmetheinauguraldirectorofthe Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at the College––a position that has afforded me invaluable experiences and insights. Other colleagues at Connecticut––most notably Armando Bengochea, Sunil Bhatia, Dave Canton, Patricia Dallas, David Dorfman, Teja Ganti, Simon Hay, Can- dace Howes, Andrea Lanoux, Cybele Locke, Merrilee Mardon, Jackie Olvera, Andy Pessin, Julie Rivkin, Mab Segrest, Catherine Spencer, Cathy Stock, acknowledgments ix Derek Turner, Larry Vogel, and Abby Van Slyck––have shown me great conviviality and friendship. SharonKrause,RonThiemann,TuWeiming,andCornelWesteachreadthe entire manuscript and offered incisive and invaluable comments and criti- cisms. I remain humbled and amazed that people of such deep and broad intelligenceandcreativitynotonlyhavesharedaconsistentinterestandenthu- siasmforthedevelopmentofmyintellectuallifebutalsohavebeenunflagging intheirinsistentreminderstomethat‘‘thework’’isimportant.SharonandI continue to share a long and abiding concernfor the problem of agency. She has been an indispensable interlocutor and friend, especially in her willing- ness to hear out my latest intellectual forays, pasta recipes, and rants and raves. Ron has been exceptional in helping me find practical judgment and wisdominthestrangespaceandtimethatmarksthetransitionfromgraduate school to life as a teacher and scholar. His example of good humor and compassion remains a touchstone for me in my ongoing adventures in the academy.Mypursuitofthethemeofself-cultivationreallybeganyearsagoin Weiming’sclassroom.Indeed,hewasresponsibleforreintroducingmetothe Confucianworld.IamcertainthatmyownConfucianrootswouldhavegone largely unacknowledged and underarticulated if I had not met Weiming and benefited from his singular effort to sustain Confucianism as a living tradi- tion.Cornelhasbeenamentor,acomrade,andafriend,butIamnotcertain that even those wordscapture the spiritof our relationship. I havelongsince lostcountofthethinkers,critics,andartiststhathehasintroducedtome.In thinkingbackonthecountlesshours wehavespenttogethertalkingoverthe years,Ihavecometorealizethatwehavebeenengagedinanongoingdialogue about philosophy, literature, art, politics, race, religion, and, to my delight, music.Iamhumbleenoughtoacknowledgethatitisattimesdifficulttokeep pacewiththeintellectualmarathonthatCornelhasbeenpursuing.Nonethe- less,Ikeeponrunningwithanappreciativeyetexhilaratingexhaustion. This book is dedicated to my family. Among the themes found in these pages is the centrality of courage and integrity. My father, Charles Jae Heub Kim,andmymother,AnneYoungOkKim,havealwaysbeenparagonsofcour- ageandintegrityinmylife.Theyhavetaughtmethat,thoughcompromiseis inevitable, standing firm in the face of adversity is a premium. For all of the struggles that they have endured, I can, with all honesty, call them the brav- estpeopleIknow.PeopleoftenremarkhowsimilarIamtomysisterHelen.I usually reply that my younger sister has led me more than I have followed. Despitemyhardheadedness,sheremainsgoodhumoredandlovingtowardher brother. My sister Nancy Hoffman is always quick with sincere and genuine careandsupport.MybrotherSelc¸ukAdabagputsthelietoanyonewhoclaims thatbloodtiesarethickest.MynephewEmreandmynieceMinashowmethat thereare alwaysnew heights to pursue.My uncleandaunt,Byung Chuland Kyungsoon Lee, and my cousins Moonyoung and Younyoung Lee continue
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