Talk:Judith Butler

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2004 – July 2006 July 2006 – August 2006

[edit] Philosopher Bio

So, I tried to make a philosopher bio thing for her and it didn't post, but when I go into the history and click on the most recent one, then it shows it to me. What's going on? Does someone not like the philosopher bio thing? 66.102.80.219 13:39, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Never mind, now it shows up. Does anyone have any idea of what people (if any) have been influenced by Judith Butler? 66.102.80.219 13:41, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] CONTROVERSY

One controversy about Butler is her personal/political stance as it relates to feminism. She has criticized mainstream feminism for overemphasizing sexual behavior--making issues of personal choice political. She herself has quite openly pursued sexual relationships with students--a violation of both academic ethics and most university policies. She has been defended by her prominence, and her sexuality, whereas a less-famous male colleague who engaged in similar pursuits would not be tolerated. The whole issue is dealt with, in a sort of code, in her book Gender Trouble but she has not succesfully shown how violations of such public codes are anything other than an exercise of her class/cultural priviledge.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by user 66.65.116.205 (talk • contribs) 1 February 2007, 13:08 (UTC).

[edit] Influences

I removed several names because I don't think they are important or crucial influences, and the list as it stands is very long and not very useful as a quick summary. I also reordered the names from most to least important influences on her work (i.e. Foucualt first, then the French Feminists, etc.). Here are the names I removed and why:

• Laplanche -- She discusses him in Giving an Account of Oneself, but he is neither crucial to her own position in that book and completely absent in her early work
• Levinas -- Again, she discusses him in Giving an Account but he is not central to her argument nor present in her other works.
• Benjamin, Kripke, Kierkegaard - As far as I know she doesn't really discuss these thinkers except very periperally.

If you can please demonstrate why these are substantial influences for reasons I have maybe overlooked, I would appreciate it... Becuase we really do need to trim this list down...--Agnaramasi 13:55, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Butler is moving away from the focus on gender that was her earlier work to turn to questions of ethics and violence. This is where thinkers such as Levinas, Laplanche, and others are becoming crucial. I agree you'll only see the influence of Benjamin in talks and seminars she's giving now, not in books she's published (yet). Whether Laplanche is a crucial ongoing influence could be debated, but he is important to her argument in Giving an Account of Oneself to frame the question of responsibility with which she concludes the book. The one thinker who must be on this list is Levinas. His thinking is crucial to her argument in Precarious Life and returns again with great importance in Giving an Account of Oneself and will be an ongoing influence in her thinking. -- Rebecca Kennison 15:33, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Well until there is published work indicating that Benjamin is a pivotal influence, I will remove him. Laplanche, in relation to her work as a whole, is only peripheral, and so I will remove him as well (she really focuses on Foucault and Adorno in formulating her concluding argument about responsibility and critique at the end of Giving an Account). I will also remove Kripke and Kierkegaard as they are also either entirely or mostly absent from her published work. Please keep in mind that this is supposed to be a short list of obvious, predominent influences... so in removing these names I am not saying they have no interesting or relevent connections to Butler, but that for the purposes of this summary box they are just not major enough to be included. --Agnaramasi 16:19, 12 February 2007 (UTC)