Reviews

Giving an Account of Oneself by Judith Butler

caseygripps's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.25

Butler never lets me down. The book was heavy on the exegesis, which was useful for me, but it also made the book’s independent conclusions feel fairly minimal.

pingu23's review against another edition

3.0

Perhaps most importantly, we must recognize that ethics requires us to risk ourselves precisely at moments of unknowingness, when what forms us diverges from what lies before us, when our willingness to become undone in relation to others constitutes our chance of becoming human. To be undone by another is a primary necessity, an anguish, to be sure, but also a chance—to be addressed, claimed, bound to what is not me, but also to be moved, to be prompted to act, to address myself elsewhere, and so to vacate the self-sufficient "I" as a kind of possession.

this book was dry but then Butler brought Foucault in and let him do his thing and he won me over (again and again and again) ((curse you, Foucault))

royperez's review against another edition

5.0

i don't even know what "post-hegelian" means but i really like how she reimagines the self/other bond.

tdwightdavis's review against another edition

5.0

In this book, Butler takes her work on language and performativity and develops a notion of ethics based on address and confession. She begins her work by examining the work of Adorno and Foucault, moving to the possibility of giving an account of oneself. She argues that we remain opaque to ourselves, thus it is an impossibility to truly give an account of our selves and our formation. The self is constantly re-narrating itself, giving inconsistent narratives as to how the self was formed. We are incapable of articulating ourselves coherently and consistently. This breeds an ethic of humility and generosity, an ethic in which we understand that the other remains opaque to themselves in the same way that we are opaque to ourselves. While most would argue that this renders ethics impossible, Butler argues for an ethic of risk, an ethic against ethical violence and demands that the other be fully intelligible and coherent. Rather, "we must recognize that ethics requires us to risk ourselves precisely at moments of unknowingness, when what forms us diverges from what lies before us, when our willingness to become undone in relation to others constitutes our chance of becoming human. To be undone by another is a primary necessity, an anguish, to be sure, but also a chance—to be addressed, claimed, bound to what is not me, but also to be moved, to be prompted to act, to address myself elsewhere, and so to vacate the self-sufficient 'I' as a kind of possession. If we speak and try to give an account from this place, we will not be irresponsible, or, if we are, we will surely be forgiven." (136)

I really loved this book. I think that Butler is at her best here. The ideas are dense and difficult, but I think she writes in a more clear and understandable way than she did in Gender Trouble and Bodies That Matter. What we get here is a clear, succinct ethic of self-formation that takes seriously linguistic and social construction, that avoids narcissistic individualism, and that offers a relation to the other that takes responsibility both for the other and for the self. Not to mention that Butler's writing here is at its most beautiful of anything I've read from her so far.

psychephoenix's review against another edition

4.0

Hard work to read and think through, useful in understanding feminist ethics - I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of conclusion. I will have to go back and read again.

iambriam's review against another edition

4.0

While difficult to read (I will probably need a few re-reads), I found this book to interrogate many assumptions and ideas I take for granted about selfhood, the "I", and how it is possible (or not) to understand oneself. It has really challenged my research (in a good way) about how democracy asks you to know yourself in order to contribute who you are and what you need to the political process. But how do you know who you are? Where does you come from? What allows you to know who you are, and what are the limits and costs of those practices?

stefhyena's review against another edition

4.0

Butler summarises Foucault, Adorno, Levinas and Laplanche well (and critically). I particularly love the bit where she used Foucault to interrogate Foucault and found an incoherence in him (by his own rules) which is really relatable and kind of cute. Even the "greats" can't make sense of themselves.

I really enjoyed this book and thought a lot about subjectivity, ethics and feel a bit better about the incomprehensibility of everything after reading it. Weirdly my intention was to make myself OK with a shift to atheism but I don't think anything here demands atheism so I am stuck still believing in God (without requiring anyone else to). Now I am getting personal about why I read the book which is not at all useful to other readers. I probably didn;t take everything in as it's pretty complex and now I want to read all the people Butler was citing even though they are probably long-winded and will irritate me.

Anyway I like brevity but I wanted something a little bit more. Butler gives us what each of the others says but I would like her to draw it together or push it further or synthesize it a bit. It's a good start but I definitely want more.