A Critical Sense introduces and discusses the work of today's most important thinkers. In a series of interviews with foremost intellectuals, this book offers an overview of current radical theory. From marxism to psychoanalysis, deconstruction to queer theory, this book reveals the differing traditions and lines of thought which make up the interdisciplinary culture of today's intellectual Left. The thinkers discussing their work in this collection include Judith Butler, Cornelius Castoriadis, Drucilla Cornell, Axel Honneth, Istvan Meszaros, Edward Said, Renata Salecl, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Cornel West and Slavoj Zizek . The interviews have the same underlying structure: starting out from questions about the participant's influences and formative years, they move on to critical exchanges about key concepts and ideas, to reflections on political issues and recent events. The Introduction situates these interviews within the broader history of the relations between philosophers, academics and public intellectuals.
A Critical Sense will be welcomed by new readers needing an introduction to the work of today's most important thinkers, which is accessible without sacrificing the intellectual rigour or political implications of their theories. For those already aquainted with the writings of these thinkers, the books broad context, dialogical structure will throw new and often surprising light on familiar ground.