Cut of the Real: Subjectivity in Poststructuralist Philosophy
Katerina Kolozova
Abstract
This book reclaims the relevance of categories traditionally rendered “unthinkable” by postmodern feminist philosophies, such as “the real,” “the one,” “the limit,” and “finality,” thus critically repositioning poststructuralist feminist philosophy and gender/queer studies. It follows François Laruelle's nonstandard philosophy and the work of Judith Butler, Drucilla Cornell, Luce Irigaray, and Rosi Braidotti. It argues that poststructuralist (feminist) theory sees the subject as a purely linguistic category, as multiple, nonfixed, and fluctuating, as something for limitless discursivity and as ... More
This book reclaims the relevance of categories traditionally rendered “unthinkable” by postmodern feminist philosophies, such as “the real,” “the one,” “the limit,” and “finality,” thus critically repositioning poststructuralist feminist philosophy and gender/queer studies. It follows François Laruelle's nonstandard philosophy and the work of Judith Butler, Drucilla Cornell, Luce Irigaray, and Rosi Braidotti. It argues that poststructuralist (feminist) theory sees the subject as a purely linguistic category, as multiple, nonfixed, and fluctuating, as something for limitless discursivity and as constitutively detached from the instance of the real. It goes on to argue that this re-conceptualization is based on the exclusion of and dichotomous opposition to notions of the real, the one (unity and continuity) and the stable. It makes the case that the non-philosophical reading of postructuralist philosophy engenders new forms of universalisms for global debate and action, and that these can be expressed in a language the world can understand. It also liberates theory from ideological paralysis, recasting the real as an immediately experienced human condition determined by gender, race, and social and economic circumstances.
Keywords:
postmodern feminist philosophies,
poststructuralist theory,
François Laruelle,
nonstandard philosophy,
Judith Butler,
Drucilla Cornell,
Luce Irigaray,
Rosi Braidotti
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2014 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780231166102 |
| Published to Columbia Scholarship Online: November 2015 |
DOI:10.7312/columbia/9780231166102.001.0001 |
