October 27 1960 Introduction 1. Conscious Resistance 2. Violent Resistance 3. Resistant Subjectivities 4.Total Domination and the Capacity to Resist 5.The Contemporary Capacity to Resist Outside the Law Bibliography Index
A brilliant overview of the history of theories of resistance from the origins of the idea to contemporary expressions of defiance.
Howard Caygill is Professor of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University London, UK.
There could not be a more timely moment for this book ... Acutely
attuned to this context, which was unfolding as he wrote, the
philosopher Howard Caygill offers a meditation on the history of
resistance as idea and lived experience, a term which, as he states
at the outset, is "strangely unanalysed" ... the book is wholly
inspired by the spirit of resistance whose often unhappy
trajectories it so brilliantly describes ... It is his unique mix
of caution and enthusiasm, his avoidance of blind utopianism and of
defeatism alike, which makes this book so important ... What kind
of human being, On Resistance prompts us to ask, does resistance
promote? Not only what do we want to achieve, but who do we want to
be? ... On Resistance is as much an act as a philosophy of
defiance. It will be indispensable for anyone thinking about
resistance in our times, not least for demonstrating so profoundly
that, for all its perils, resistance still possesses its "own
necessities, its own affirmations and its own joy".
*The Guardian Saturday Review*
This is an extraordinarily rich book, and Caygill’s selection of
struggles and authors is both eclectic and erudite ... one of On
Resistance’s primary virtues is its sheer wealth of novel and
surprising interpretations ... This is an excellent, interesting
and provocative work, and is to be highly recommended.
*Marx & Philosophy Review of Books*
Caygill assembles a constellation of diverse figures from a broad
‘archive of resistance’ and works through them in order to tease
out an interpretation of resistance as a distinctive
experience...This range of reference, along with the warmth of
Caygill’s evident sympathy with most of the many characters he
considers, is enough to set this remarkable book apart from the
great majority of recent philosophical reflections on our
contemporary moment, most of which serve, one way or another, to
help justify quiet acceptance of a version of the status quo.
Though reluctant to return to openly revolutionary motifs (for
reasons I’ll address in a moment), Caygill’s ‘philosophy of
defiance’ marks a stirring and striking break with the prevailing
philosophy of resignation.
*Radical Philosophy*
The breadth of the study is striking, and the manner in which the
author weaves together an array of philosophers, film makers and
activists into a coherent narrative is compelling ... The text
remains a fascinating and timely contribution that escapes the
dangers of philosophy, remaining constantly aware of the practice
of resistance.
*Political Studies Review*
Caygill offers a sophisticated account of a vast archive of
practices and discourses on resistances which include among others
figures like Marx, Lenin, Ghandi, Freud, Luxemburg, Mao and
Fanon.
*European Political Science*
Howard Caygill’s On Resistance is changing the landscape of how the
concept of resistance is understood.
*Journal for Cultural Research*
Whether engaging with Vaneigem's Revolution of Everyday Life,
Clausewitz's On War ... or Kafka's Parable of the Law from The
Trial, what we see, time and time again, is Caygill's ability as a
reader come through as he dramatizes experiences, practices and
concepts of resistance in a way that breathes new life into them
for a contemporary audience. [...] This major work demands our
respect and our attention ... An illuminating, engaging and richly
detailed philosophical meditation on resistance ... [which] careful
readers will find hard to resist
*Contemporary Political Thought*
For the first time in over a generation an internationally
acclaimed philosopher focuses his brilliance on re-thinking the
very grammar of modern politics and war. A stunningly original
re-reading of On War as On Resistance weaves Caygill’s
philosophically situated Clausewitz into a political reappraisal of
the theory and practice of revolutionary and peoples’ war, as well
as anti-colonial struggle. There could be no timelier text for our
newly revolutionary age. In exposing how the strategic interplay of
resistance and counter-resistance continually outplays the
dialectical, both philosophically and politically, Caygill’s book
asks profound questions of modern politics as much as it does of
modern war. On Resistance is a classic.
*Michael Dillon, Emeritus Professor of Politics, Lancaster
University, UK*
A wonderfully philosophical perspective on what it means to
resist
*philosophyfootball.com*
With his great and gorgeous intellectual generosity, Howard Caygill
has charted the emergent politics of our time: resistance! Caygill
constructs a constellation composed of concepts, ideas and
arguments, but also of practices, histories, subjectivities, human
capacities, artworks, movements and political debates that become a
dark and dynamic account of who we are and what needs to be done.
Stretching from Marx to Gandhi, from Freud to Pasolini, from Mao to
the Women of Greenham Common, from Rosa Luxemburg to Jean Genet,
from Fanon to the Zapatistas, Caygill exposes us to the elements
for a different kind of philosophy, one that remembers, adumbrates
and makes resistance possible. Scintillating, timely, and
urgent.
*J.M. Bernstein, University Distinguished Professor, New School for
Social Research, New York, USA*
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