The Egalitarian Sublime
A Process Philosophy
- Reassesses historical theories of the sublime from philosophers including Burke, Kant, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer
- Critiques the recent return to the sublime in Adorno, Lyotard, Brady, Nye, Zepke, Spuybroek and Lloyd
- Finds some of the most influential philosophies of the sublime to be unequal and unjust
- Takes a process philosophy approach to map the sublime through its effects
Against the unjust legacies of the traditional sublime, James Williams defends a new, anarchist sublime: multiple, self-destructive and temporary; opposed to any idea of highest value to be shared by all but always imposed on the powerless.
We call 'sublime' those things and experiences supposed to be the very best. But what if the best encourages the worst? What if the best leads to inequality and exploitation? Williams critiques the sublime over its long history and in recent returns to sublime nature and technologies. Deploying a new critical method that draws on process philosophy, he shows how the sublime has always led to inequality. This holds true even where it underpins ideas of cosmopolitan enlightenment, and even when refined by Burke, Kant, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and Žižek.
1. Introduction
2. Microcritique and the Sublimei. Between Historical Objectivity and Radical Innovationii. Microhistoryiii. Method and the Problem of Exclusioniv. Patterns of Fragments
3. Nietzsche Against the Egalitarian Sublimei. Only for the Fewii. The sublime as Effectiii. Untimely, Sublimeiv. Sublime Individuals Against Cohesive Communitiesv. Through the Few, but for the Many?vi. Individuals and Masses
4. The Return to the Sublimei. The Search for Valueii. Nostalgic Social Sublimeiii. Diagrams of the Technological Sublimeiv. The Environmental Sublime
5. Sublime Miseriesi. From High to Lowii. Kant: Equality in Universalityiii. Schopenhauer’s Sublime Consolationsiv. Žižek: A Depressing Lesson About Horror and Sufferingv. The Abject and Egalitarian Sublime
6. Defining the Egalitarian Sublimei. The Sublime and Egalitarian Politicsii. Unequal by Definitioniii. Not After the Sublime
7. Conclusion: The Sublime as Crisis
BibliographyNotes
In this exceptional work James Williams provides a fresh and wide-ranging examination of the sublime. He provides a series of valuable insights into classical modern theories of the sublime, such as we find in Burke, Kant and Schopenhauer, but he also sheds much light on figurations of the sublime we encounter in provocative thinkers such as Nietzsche and Žižek. With this book Williams demonstrates that he is one of the finest philosophical minds of his generation, a truly original and uniquely critical voice. The book is highly instructive and will appeal to students and scholars in philosophy and across the humanities. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
