1st Edition

Imaginaries of Modernity Politics, Cultures, Tensions

By John Rundell Copyright 2017
316 Pages
by Routledge

314 Pages
by Routledge

314 Pages
by Routledge

This book offers a new perspective on the issue of modernity through a series of interconnected essays. Drawing centrally on the works of Castoriadis, Luhmann, Heller and Lefort, and in critical discussion with Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, Adorno, Habermas and Taylor, the author argues that modernity is not only a unique historical creation but also a multiple one. With a focus on five broad... Read more

Introduction: Modernity is Out of Joint Page





Part 1: Tensions of Modernity



1. From Communicative Modernity to Tensions of Modernity Page



2. Modernity, Contingency, Dissonance Page



3. The City and Fear: Citizens, Strangers, Outsiders Page





Part 2: Political modernities



4. Durkheim and the Reflexive Condition of Modernity Page



5. Democratic Revolutions, Power and The City Page



6. Autonomy, Oligarchy, Statesman: Weber, Castoriadis and the Fragility of Politics Page



7. Power, Politics and its Closure – On the Work of Claude Lefort Page



8. Tensions of Citizenship in the Age of Diversity Page



9. From Indigenous Civilisation to Indigenous Modernities Page



10. Intersections and Tensions Between Civilisations and Modernities:



The Case of Oman Page



11. Cosmopolitanism as an Open Universal Page





Part 3: In Search of Transcendence



12. Multiple Modernities, Sacredness and the Democratic Imaginary:



Religion as a Stand-in Category Page



13. In search of transcendence: Charles Taylor’s Critique of Secularisation Page



14. Modernity, Love and Imagination Page



15. Musicality and modernity: Music as a Space of Possibilities Page

Biography

John Rundell is Principal Honorary and Associate Professor and Reader in Social Theory at The University of Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of The Origins of Modern Social Theory from Kant to Hegel to Marx, the editor of Aesthetics and Modernity: Essays by Agnes Heller, and the co-editor of Between Totalitarianism and Postmodernity; Rethinking Imagination: Culture and Creativity; Culture and Civilization: Classical and Critical Readings; Blurred Boundaries: Migration, Ethnicity, Citizenship; Critical Theory After Habermas: Encounters and Departures; Contemporary Perspectives in Social and Critical Philosophy; and Recognition, Work, Politics: New Directions in French Critical Theory.