Philosophy of Crisis: An Introduction

Crisis entered our vernacular to reference a turning point in a disease where an important change indicates recovery or death. Contemporary philosophers have addressed similar themes of crisis, most notably Alain Badiou's theory of the event. However my colleagues Elizabeth Erker, Isaac Auerbacher and I argue that there is a more metaphysical understanding to crisis that underlies human experience. Our project begins with a genealogy to situate our interpretation of crisis within the greater philosophical canon, and then follows with two distinct arguments. First, Isaac address individual crises, or the ways in which we construct how we ought to react to crises. This moral focus starts with the religious implication on moral systems, and continues to consider the moral crisis introduced with Friedrich Nietzsche's work. Second, I approach political crisis with an attempt to understand how we can act politically in the modern world. I argue for a conception of the state that juxtaposes Foucault's political pastoral power and the theory of sovereignty developed by Schmitt and Agamben.

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