Inheriting Cosmopolitics: Pericles, Whitehead, Stengers
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In: Theory, Culture & Society, Vol. 40, No. 3, 05.2023, p. 3-21.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Inheriting Cosmopolitics
T2 - Pericles, Whitehead, Stengers
AU - Stürmer, Milan
AU - Bella, Daniel
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - Isabelle Stengers’ cosmopolitical proposal is an influential attempt by a European philosopher to transform the burdensome legacy of Western thought. Reconsidering her comprehensive engagement with the cosmology of the British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, this article reveals two concepts as foundational to Stengers’ cosmopolitics: civilization and commerce. While not usually associated with a critical political theory, in her development of what we call a commercial political ontology, Stengers explores the modes of inheriting these ostracized notions. By tracing the genealogy of this political ontology back to Pericles’ first explicit defense of persuasion as a requisite for civilization, we argue that Pericles’ famous funeral oration provides the structure for Whitehead’s cosmology, and, ultimately, Stengers’ cosmopolitics. As such, we understand her cosmopolitical proposal as a dress rehearsal of a funeral eulogy for bourgeois society.
AB - Isabelle Stengers’ cosmopolitical proposal is an influential attempt by a European philosopher to transform the burdensome legacy of Western thought. Reconsidering her comprehensive engagement with the cosmology of the British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, this article reveals two concepts as foundational to Stengers’ cosmopolitics: civilization and commerce. While not usually associated with a critical political theory, in her development of what we call a commercial political ontology, Stengers explores the modes of inheriting these ostracized notions. By tracing the genealogy of this political ontology back to Pericles’ first explicit defense of persuasion as a requisite for civilization, we argue that Pericles’ famous funeral oration provides the structure for Whitehead’s cosmology, and, ultimately, Stengers’ cosmopolitics. As such, we understand her cosmopolitical proposal as a dress rehearsal of a funeral eulogy for bourgeois society.
KW - civilization
KW - commerce
KW - cosmopolitics
KW - inheritance
KW - political ontology
KW - Stengers
KW - Whitehead
KW - Media and communication studies
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/854a19f1-e464-333d-991b-239c95182af8/
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132644405&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/02632764221092300
DO - 10.1177/02632764221092300
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 40
SP - 3
EP - 21
JO - Theory, Culture & Society
JF - Theory, Culture & Society
SN - 0263-2764
IS - 3
ER -