Romand Coles here explores the writings of Augustine, Foucault, and Merleau-Ponty in order to fashion an ethos that emphasizes the value of dialogical relationships between the self and others. In his view, each of these thinkers has made significant contributions that must figure in any reconsideration of the relationship between the self, ethics, and power.Whereas Augustine saw depth as the dimension of freedom and truth, according to Coles's reading, Foucault regarded depth as "that dimension in which we rout out the other and constitute ourselves in light of hegemonic norms implanted deep within us." After drawing out those aspects of Foucault's thought which point toward a "dialogical artistic ethics," Coles explores Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of depth, arguing that it elucidates the "intercorporeality" of the world in a way that emphasizes the value of our dialogical relations with different others. In conclusion, he brings the three thinkers together to assess their rhetorical and philosophical similarities and differences, and to argue against the tendency to see all postmodern thought as nihilistic and incapable of developing an ethico-political stance.Coles's highly original work seeks to provide an alternative to the positions that have structured most recent debate in political philosophy. Thus, his book points up difficulties in both the individualist and the communitarian readings of politics and ethics, even as it seriously explores the ethical dimensions and possibilities of postmodernist thought. His attempt to develop an ethos based on a specific conception of selves and the world enables him to cast provocative light on the continuing dialogue between rationalists and relativists about the nature of both selves and our social and political institutions.

Self/Power/Other: Political Theory and Dialogical Ethics

Politics & Social Sciences

Coles, Romand

Philosophy

Cornell Univ Pr

Romand Coles explores how we might understand and motivate generosity in a world in which no theological or secular position can claim absolute privilege for itself. He argues that unless our generosity is fashioned in the context of a radical receptivity, we tend to undermine our best aspirations. In the agonistic dialogic character of human beings, Coles argues, is a practice of receptive generosity, an openness to the specific being and voices of others, and a concern to give them something of value. Ethical relations between people should be animated by receptive generosity, he suggests, but they are always fallible and rarely free of a tragic aspect that calls us critically to renew our efforts.

Rethinking Generosity: Critical Theory and the Politics of Caritas (Contestations)

NCROL

Romand Coles explores how we might understand and motivate generosity in a world in which no theological or secular position can claim absolute privilege for itself. He argues that unless our generosity is fashioned in the context of a radical receptivity, we tend to undermine our best aspirations. In the agonistic dialogic character of human beings, Coles argues, is a practice of receptive generosity, an openness to the specific being and voices of others, and a concern to give them something of value. Ethical relations between people should be animated by receptive generosity, he suggests, but they are always fallible and rarely free of a tragic aspect that calls us critically to renew our efforts.The word caritas is taken by Coles to signify a transfiguration of what he thinks is most worthy in the Christian tradition. 'Post-secular caritas' refers to the hope of advancing this project through more receptive efforts to engage others, in ways less prone to violence, imperialism, and assimilation than are many aspects of Christianity and liberalism.In support of his theory, Coles offers provocative readings of Kant, Nietzsche, Adorno, and Habermas, bringing Adorno's ethical stance critically to bear upon the discourse ethics of Habermas. He then considers practical political implications, particularly for relations in civil society and among progressive social movements.

Cornell University Press

Beyond Gated Politics: Reflections for the Possibility of Democracy

In the early years of the new millennium, the practice of democracy in America and around the world faces tremendous dangers: the proliferation of transnational corporations, the spread of oppressive fundamentalism, and environmental collapse. Within the United States, opposition to increasingly antidemocratic political and economic policies has been either nonexistent or unsuccessful. This trend includes, but far exceeds, the Bush administration’s policies from the Patriot Act and the war on Iraq to the “Clear Channelization” of the media and the private development of public lands. In Beyond Gated Politics, political theorist and grassroots activist Romand Coles argues that the survival of democracy depends on recognizing the failings of disengaged liberal democracy—the exclusions and subjugations that accompany every democratic “we,” for example—and experimenting with more radical modes of democratic theory and action. Among those brought into the conversation are John Howard Yoder, John Rawls, Alisdair MacIntyre, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Nancy, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Audre Lorde. Coles, whose work is deeply informed by his own experiences as an activist, pays close attention to the actual practice of democracy with particular interest in emerging social movements. In doing so, he not only moves beyond the paradigms of political liberalism, deliberative democracy, and communitarian republicanism, but also cultivates multidimensional modes of public discourse that reflect and sustain the creative tension at the heart of democratic life and responsibility. Romand Coles is professor of political theory at Duke University. His previous books include Rethinking Generosity: Critical Theory and the Politics of Caritas and Self/Power/Other: Political Theory and Dialogical Ethics.

Politics & Government

Univ. of Minnesota Press

As neoliberal capitalism destroys democracy, commonwealth, and planetary ecology, the need for radically rethinking and generating transformative responses to these catastrophes is greater than ever. Given that, Romand Coles presents an invigorating new mode of scholarship and political practice he calls "visionary pragmatism." Coles explores the profound interrelationships among everyday micropractices of grassroots politics and pedagogy, institutional transformation, and political protest through polyfocal lenses of political and social theory, neuroscience research, complex systems theory, and narratives of his cutting-edge action research. Visionary Pragmatism offers a theory of revolutionary cooptation that, in part, selectively employs practices and strategies of the dominant order to radically alter the coordinates of power and possibility. Underscoring the potential, vitality, and power of emerging democratic practices to change the world, Visionary Pragmatism's simultaneous theoretical rigor and grounding in actual political and ecological practices provokes and inspires new ways of cocreating knowledge and action in dark times.  

Visionary Pragmatism: Radical and Ecological Democracy in Neoliberal Times

Duke University Press Books

<p>As neoliberal capitalism destroys democracy, commonwealth, and planetary ecology, the need for radically rethinking and generating transformative responses to these catastrophes is greater than ever. Given that, Romand Coles presents an invigorating new mode of scholarship and political practice he calls "visionary pragmatism." Coles explores the profound interrelationships among everyday micropractices of grassroots politics and pedagogy, institutional transformation, and political protest through polyfocal lenses of political and social theory, neuroscience research, complex systems theory, and narratives of his cutting-edge action research. Visionary Pragmatism offers a theory of revolutionary cooptation that, in part, selectively employs practices and strategies of the dominant order to radically alter the coordinates of power and possibility. Underscoring the potential, vitality, and power of emerging democratic practices to change the world, Visionary Pragmatism's simultaneous theoretical rigor and grounding in actual political and ecological practices provokes and inspires new ways of cocreating knowledge and action in dark times.  </p>

Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations Between a Radical Democrat and a Christian (Theopolitical Visions)

<p>In Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary, theologian Stanley Hauerwas and political theorist Romand Coles reflect about possibilities and practices of radical democracy and radical ecclesia that take form in the textures of relational care for the radical ordinary. They seek to shift political and theological imaginations beyond the limits of contemporary political formations (such as global capitalism, the mega-state, and empire), which they argue are based upon both the denial and production of death. Hauerwas and Coles call us to a revolutionary politics of ""wild patience"" that seeks transformation through attentive practices of listening, relationship-building, and a careful tending to places, common goods, and diverse possibilities for flourishing. Both authors translate back and forth across--as well as dwell in the tensions between--the languages of radical democracy and of trial, cross, and resurrection. Engaging each other through a variety of genres--from essays, to letters, to cowriting and dialogue--Hauerwas and Coles seek to enact a politics that is evangelical in its radical receptivity across strange differences and that cultivates power in relation to vulnerability. The authors argue that there is a strong relation between hope and imagination, as well as between imagination and the encounter with and memory of those who have lived with receptive generosity toward the radical ordinary. Hence, throughout this book they think extensively in relation to specific lives and practices: from Ella Baker and the early Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizing efforts for beloved community and civil rights, to L'Arche communities founded by Jean Vanier, to contemporary faith-based radical democratic organizing efforts in dozens of cities by the Industrial Areas Foundation. Pushing and pulling each other into new and insightful journeys of political imagination, this conversation between a radical Christian and a radical democratic trickster spurs us toward a politics that acknowledges, tends to, and enacts the powers of the radical ordinary.</p>

History

Hauerwas, Dr Stanley

World

Wipf and Stock

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Coles, Romand. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Coles, Romand

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Coles, Romand. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Self/Power/Other: Political Theory and Dialogical Ethics

Rethinking Generosity: Critical Theory and the Politics of Caritas (Contestations)

Rethinking Generosity: Critical Theory and the Politics of Caritas (Contestations)

Beyond Gated Politics: Reflections for the Possibility of Democracy

Beyond Gated Politics: Reflections for the Possibility of Democracy

Visionary Pragmatism: Radical and Ecological Democracy in Neoliberal Times

Visionary Pragmatism: Radical and Ecological Democracy in Neoliberal Times

Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations Between a Radical Democrat and a Christian (Theopolitical Visions)