Vicious Circles

Name: Vicious Circles
Price: 323 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781503645417

Disclosing a History of Critique

Arvi Särkelä

$323

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Stanford University Press
10 March 2026

Literary theory; Semiotics & semiology; Philosophy; Social & political philosophy; History of ideas

Series: Cultural Memory in the Present

How can social critique respond to a catastrophic world? From Emerson to Adorno, a tradition of radical social critique has flourished that utilize methods which disclose rather than judge the form of life: instead of trying to say what is wrong and what would be better, these criticisms seek to show how the world is false and to reveal how we might escape the vicious circles of present society—pointing out its catastrophic state and directing readers to the real possibilities for another form of life.

This book presents an incisive history of critical disclosure by looking at its common metaphors. As Särkelä illuminates, circular metaphors continually interact in the works of 19th and 20th century European and American authors including not just Emerson and Adorno, but also Nietzsche, Tarde, Freud, and Dewey. By reconstructing the driving examples of such disclosing critical gestures, Särkelä articulates their similarities and differences, and considers their potential for contemporary social critique. The result points the way toward the cultivation of critical skills relevant for our own age of catastrophe.

By: Arvi Särkelä
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781503645417
ISBN 10: 150364541X
Series: Cultural Memory in the Present
Pages: 344
Publication Date: 10 March 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Arvi Särkelä is a Lecturer and Researcher at ETH Zurich. He focuses on the philosophy and history of critique, especially in 19th and 20th century Europe and Northern America.

Reviews for Vicious Circles: Disclosing a History of Critique

""Vicious Circles advances an exciting, ambitious, and original vision of disclosive critique. Through the careful excavation of prominent historical exemplars, Särkelä develops a compelling alternative to the normative, juridical conceptions of critique that predominate in contemporary critical theory."" - Amy Allen, Pennsylvania State University ""What are the conditions and nature of effective social criticism? In this groundbreaking study of disclosive critique without conceptual guardrails, Särkelä moves the terms of this long-standing debate decisively forward."" - Espen Hammer, Temple University