On this episode of Rendering Unconscious, Philosopher Simon Critchley presents “Infinitely Demanding: Politics of Resistance, Ethics of Commitment” to Das Unbehagen: A Free Association for Psychoanalysis at The New School for Social Research on April 18, 2013.
This lecture is also available to view with Q&A:
Simon Critchley “Infinitely Demanding: Politics of Resistance, Ethics of Commitment” from NSSR Philosophy Department Blog on Vimeo.
“It is at this intensely situational, indeed local level that the atomising, expropriating force of neo-liberal globalisation is to be met, contested and resisted. That is, resistance begins by occupying and controlling the terrain upon which one stands, where one lives, works, acts and thinks. This needn’t involve millions of people. It needn’t even involve thousands. It could involve just a few at first. Resistance can be intimate and can begin in small affinity groups. The art of politics consists in weaving such cells of resistance together into a common front, a shared political subjectivity. What is going to allow for the formation of such a political subjectivity – the hegemonic glue, if you will – is an appeal to universality, whether the demand for political representation, equality of treatment or whatever. It is the hope, indeed the wager, of this book that the ethical demand – the infinite responsibility that both constitutes and divides my subjectivity – might allow that hegemonic glue to set into the compact, self-aware, fighting force that motivates the subject into the political action.” – Simon Critchley, Infinitely Demanding
Rendering Unconscious is a podcast about psychoanalysis, culture and more hosted by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, a psychoanalyst from New York City, now based in Stockholm. Dr. Sinclair sees patients internationally, specializing in online and remote treatment for entrepreneurs, creatives and business people who travel, offering continuity and quality of care for modern people on the go, as well as for those who are home-bound or live in remote locations and may not otherwise have access to psychoanalytic treatment.
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Become a Patron!Dr. Sinclair is the author of The Pathways of the Heart (Trapart Books, 2021), Scansion in Psychoanalysis and Art: the Cut in Creation (Routledge, 2020) and Switching Mirrors (Trapart Books, 2016).
Dr. Sinclair is the editor of Rendering Unconscious: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Politics & Poetry (Trapart Books, 2019) Outsider Inpatient: Reflections on Art as Therapy (Trapart Books, 2021) with Dr. Elisabeth Punzi, On Psychoanalysis and Violence: Contemporary Lacanian Perspectives (Routledge, 2018) co-edited with Dr. Manya Steinkoler, and The Fenris Wolf, vol 9 (Trapart, 2017) co-edited with Carl Abrahamsson.
The song at the end of the episode is “Present and Future within its Invisible Walls” by Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson from the album “The Pathways of the Heart” available from Highbrow Lowlife.
Many thanks to Carl Abrahamsson, who created the intro and outro music for Rendering Unconscious podcast.
Photo of Simon Critchley
