The moral and political challenges of Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonance

Abstract This paper explores a series of challenges presented by Hartmut Rosa’s concept of resonance viewed in the context of the normative and political dimensions of critical theory, a tradition in which he explicitly places his work (even as he draws on a wide range of other scholarly fields and...

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Main Author: Amanda Anderson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2023-03-01
Series:The Journal of Chinese Sociology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40711-023-00182-9
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author Amanda Anderson
author_facet Amanda Anderson
author_sort Amanda Anderson
collection DOAJ
description Abstract This paper explores a series of challenges presented by Hartmut Rosa’s concept of resonance viewed in the context of the normative and political dimensions of critical theory, a tradition in which he explicitly places his work (even as he draws on a wide range of other scholarly fields and domains). First, a tension between the anthropological and sociocultural aspects of his project raises questions about whether the avowed political commitments of the project can be incorporated into its theoretical framework. Second, the variability with which resonance can present, and its fundamentally pathic nature, makes it difficult to imagine how it might serve an emancipatory interest. Beyond this, the critical diagnosis of forms of impaired or deficient resonance introduces methodological questions with moral consequences. Despite these challenges, Rosa’s project importantly calls for a renewed relation to the world, one that shares affinities with parallel developments within the humanities.
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spelling doaj.art-5508bb30ff1c409f950dcd3d535076b92023-03-22T11:20:11ZengSpringerOpenThe Journal of Chinese Sociology2198-26352023-03-0110111310.1186/s40711-023-00182-9The moral and political challenges of Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonanceAmanda Anderson0The Cogut Institute for the Humanities, Brown UniversityAbstract This paper explores a series of challenges presented by Hartmut Rosa’s concept of resonance viewed in the context of the normative and political dimensions of critical theory, a tradition in which he explicitly places his work (even as he draws on a wide range of other scholarly fields and domains). First, a tension between the anthropological and sociocultural aspects of his project raises questions about whether the avowed political commitments of the project can be incorporated into its theoretical framework. Second, the variability with which resonance can present, and its fundamentally pathic nature, makes it difficult to imagine how it might serve an emancipatory interest. Beyond this, the critical diagnosis of forms of impaired or deficient resonance introduces methodological questions with moral consequences. Despite these challenges, Rosa’s project importantly calls for a renewed relation to the world, one that shares affinities with parallel developments within the humanities.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40711-023-00182-9ModernityAccelerationResonanceCritical theoryEnvironmentalismDisability
spellingShingle Amanda Anderson
The moral and political challenges of Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonance
The Journal of Chinese Sociology
Modernity
Acceleration
Resonance
Critical theory
Environmentalism
Disability
title The moral and political challenges of Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonance
title_full The moral and political challenges of Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonance
title_fullStr The moral and political challenges of Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonance
title_full_unstemmed The moral and political challenges of Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonance
title_short The moral and political challenges of Hartmut Rosa’s theory of resonance
title_sort moral and political challenges of hartmut rosa s theory of resonance
topic Modernity
Acceleration
Resonance
Critical theory
Environmentalism
Disability
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40711-023-00182-9
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