Four Lectures on Critical Theory

By

Gil Eyal

Publisher Van Leer Institute Press and Hakibbutz Hameuchad
Language Hebrew
Year of Publication 2012
Series Theory and Criticism in Context Series

What is critical theory? Who needs it, and why? What is the significance of the fact that we think one way and not another at a given historical moment? What is the meaning of the historical moment we are living in Israel today? What political and philosophical tasks does it entail? The lectures collected in this volume, delivered at a symposium to mark the twentieth anniversary of publication of Theory and Criticism, grapple with these questions. The texts are almost unretouched from their oral delivery, in an attempt to preserve the sense of historical urgency that marks them and their inherent vitality. The lecturers—Adi Ophir and Yehouda Shenhav-Shaharabani, the former editors of Theory and Criticism, Liora Bilsky, the current editor, and Hanan Hever, who has been associated with it since the very first issue, wrestle with the dead end into which Israeli political thought has driven itself and attempt to expand the boundaries of what is deemed possible from the political or theoretical perspective. The volume concludes with the response of Gabriel Motzkin, the director of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, in which he dialogues and debates with the lecturers.

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