University of Brighton Philosophy Society Lecture
Speaker
Lars Cornelissen is doing his Research Master's at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, with a specialisation in political philosophy. He is working on the vexed relationship between neoliberalism and democracy, with a specific focus on neoliberal epistemology. In his spare time he enjoys reading, writing, watching films, and corrupting the minds of the Athenian youth. His two greatest loves may just be (French) cheese and (Belgian) beer.
Abstract
What do Hamlet and the contemporary Left have in common? Why is it that the Left has known for over three decades that it is in the midst of a severe crisis but that there has yet to be found a ‘believable alternative vision’ that it so craves? What is the root cause of this persistent crisis in the first place? Must we resign and admit defeat at the hands of neoliberalism, like the old Adorno would have done? Or must we rally behind Lenin and ask, more forcefully than ever, what is to be done?
In this talk I argue, with political theorist Wendy Brown, that the contemporary Left is best described as melancholic. I consider what this diagnosis implies, why it is helpful, and what course of action it suggests. The central argument I will put forward is that before the Left can engage in any worthwhile 'rethinking', it must first account for its broken theoretical apparatus and mourn some of the attachments reality has brutally slain but it nonetheless still holds dear.
