This classic work by one of the most important philosophers and critics of our time charts the genesis and trajectory of the desiring subject from Hegel's formulation in Phenomenology of Spirit to its appropriation by Kojeve, Hyppolite, Sartre, Lacan, Deleuze, and Foucault. Judith Butler plots the French reception of Hegel and the successive challenges waged against his metaphysics and view of the subject, all while revealing ambiguities within his position. The result is a sophisticated reconsideration of the post-Hegelian tradition that has predominated in modern French thought, and...

It is often said that Jane Austen in the countryside remained isolated from the great events of her time. But as Marilyn Butler points out in Jane Austen and the War of Ideas, Austen was not isolated from reading novels, and novels carried controversy. The sentimental novel of the previous generation, the Jacobin novel of William Godwin, the philosophical comedy of Robert Bage and Maria Edgeworth--all conveyed their own kind of ideological meaning. By recognizing Austen's relationship to the literature of ideas, Butler offers acute readings of each of the novels and an intellectual context in...

This volume provides a complete and authoritative English translation of Parts I, II, and III of the Russian Civil Code, which entered into force in complete form in March 2002. The Civil Code is the central document of market reforms in Russia, dealing with the law of persons (including companies), ownership, contract in all forms, tort, unjust enrichment, inheritance, and private international law. It has been translated from the Russian by Professor Butler, an acknowledged expert in the field, and benefits from a detailed article-by-article table of contents, a thorough subject-index to...

Judith Butler follows Edward Said's late suggestion that through a consideration of Palestinian dispossession in relation to Jewish diasporic traditions a new ethos can be forged for a one-state solution. Butler engages Jewish philosophical positions to articulate a critique of political Zionism and its practices of illegitimate state violence, nationalism, and state-sponsored racism. At the same time, she moves beyond communitarian frameworks, including Jewish ones, that fail to arrive at a radical democratic notion of political cohabitation. Butler engages thinkers such as Edward Said,...

The public inquiry that followed the death of Maria Colwell in 1973 had profound implications for the developing profession and practice of social work in the UK. This book describes the politics, professional concerns, and public interest both local and national that surrounded the inquiry and its aftermath, and it shows how the concerns of this landmark child abuse case still have not found a satisfactory resolution today."