Another Universalism: Seyla Benhabib and The Future of Critical Theory

Join us on Saturday, April 6, in the Jerome Greene Annex for the book launch of Another Universalism. Program below.

Please RSVP here.

Seyla Benhabib’s ongoing work has expanded the range and scope of critical theory beyond its origins to address questions of gender, migration, and difference. This book brings together an ensemble of leading theorists and younger voices to explore new dimensions of Benhabib’s thought across critical theory, feminism, and democratic theory, foregrounding the intricate relationship between critique and universality.

Another Universalism provides both a wide-ranging and comprehensive engagement with Benhabib’s path-breaking interventions and a panoramic tour of the cutting edge of critical theory today. Contributors take part in key debates about the field’s past and future, tackling subjects such as the relationship between democracy and cosmopolitanism, the role of law in emancipatory struggles, human domination of nature, the deprovincialization of critical theory concerning questions of race and empire, as well as Hannah Arendt’s continuing significance. Covering a wide range of debates and themes, Another Universalism is united by a core question: How can universal norms of human freedom, equality, and dignity be reconciled with particular contexts, especially ones of exclusion, difference, and adversity? Searching for universalisms that emerge from the concrete struggles of emancipatory movements, this book points toward an expansive, inclusive, and radical democratic vision.

Schedule

3:00 PM – Welcome

3:00 – 4:30 PM – First Panel: Critical Theory, Past and Future

Axel Honneth (Chair; Jack C. Weinstein Professor of the Humanities, Columbia University)
Carmen Dege (Assistant Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy, Radboud University)
Bernard E. Harcourt (Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science, Columbia University)
Anna Jurkevics (Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia)

4:30 PM – Coffee Break 

5:00 – 6:30 PM – Second Panel: Deprovincializing Critical Theory

Turkuler Isiksel (Chair; Associate Professor of Political Science, Columbia University)
Angélica Maria Bernal (Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst) 
Ayten Gündoğdu (Tow Associate Professor of Political Science, Barnard College)
Max Pensky (Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton University)

6:30 PM – Public Reception