Book Review: Other Areas: Ethics for a Broken World: Imagining Philosophy after Catastrophe

Published date01 May 2013
Date01 May 2013
AuthorJustin Moss
DOI10.1111/1478-9302.12016_20
Subject MatterBook Review
Sovereign Justice: Global Justice in a World of Nations by Diogo P. Aurelio, Gabriele De Angelis and Regina Queiroz (eds). Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011. 250pp., 99.95, ISBN 978311024573 238
P O L I T I C A L T H E O R Y
and the present, but also on wider structural transfor-
Marcuse believed desperately in the need to resusci-
mations and effects initiated by the experiment in
tate the sensuality and joy of Eros in society. He felt
neo-liberalism.
that the rationalisation of consumerism had distorted
the individual’s ability to conceive of alternatives to the
Andy Knott
imposed structure and needs of everyday life. Miles
(Brighton University)
breathes fresh confidence into Marcuse’s energised calls
to revolt against the confines of popular society and
Herbert Marcuse: An Aesthetics of Liberation by
truly live as art.
Malcolm Miles. London: Pluto Press, 2012. 194pp.,
This is an important and valuable introduction and
£19.99, ISBN 978 0 7453 3038 9
accompaniment to the reading of Marcuse’s many
Malcolm Miles has produced a comprehensive over-
works. He is a provocative philosopher who has not
view of the history of Marcuse’s aesthetic theory which
been encountered nearly enough in theory that con-
also functions as an introduction to the entirety of
siders the malaise and disconnect within today’s public
Marcuse’s philosophy. In his inviting prose, he success-
spaces and institutions. The primary idea in this book,
fully captures both the inherently cross-disciplinary
and in the writings of Marcuse himself, that creativity
nature of Marcuse’s writings and the passionate spirit of
can rejuvenate both individuals and society, should be a
Eros imbued in all of them. Miles begins the work by
vital source for reflection and change as we move
explaining why Marcuse’s aesthetic theory is again – in
further into the twenty-first century.
the throes of globalised capitalism – timely and
Diana Boros
uniquely important. Echoing Marcuse, Miles argues
(St Mary’s College of Maryland)
that when...

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