Egalitarian Sublime

James Williams is Honorary Professor of Philosophy and member of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization at Deakin University.

• 1. Introduction2. Microcritique and the Sublimei. Between Historical Objectivity and Radical Innovationii. Microhistoryiii. Method and the Problem of Exclusioniv. Patterns of Fragments3. Nietzsche Against the Egalitarian Sublimei. Only for the Fewii. The sublime as Effectiii. Untimely, Sublimeiv. Sublime Individuals Against Cohesive Communitiesv. Through the Few, but for the Many?vi. Individuals and Masses4. The Return to the Sublimei. The Search for Valueii. Nostalgic Social Sublimeiii. Diagrams of the Technological Sublimeiv. The Environmental Sublime5. Sublime Miseriesi. From High to Lowii. Kant: Equality in Universalityiii. Schopenhauer’s Sublime Consolationsiv. Žižek: A Depressing Lesson About Horror and Sufferingv. The Abject and Egalitarian Sublime6. Defining the Egalitarian Sublimei. The Sublime and Egalitarian Politicsii. Unequal by Definitioniii. Not After the Sublime7. Conclusion: The Sublime as CrisisBibliographyNotes

In this exceptional work James Williams provides a fresh and wide-ranging examination of the sublime. He provides a series of valuable insights into classical modern theories of the sublime, such as we find in Burke, Kant and Schopenhauer, but he also sheds much light on figurations of the sublime we encounter in provocative thinkers such as Nietzsche and Žižek. With this book Williams demonstrates that he is one of the finest philosophical minds of his generation, a truly original and uniquely critical voice. The book is highly instructive and will appeal to students and scholars in philosophy and across the humanities. I cannot recommend it highly enough.