The Liberal Mind and its Mutants

Authors

  • Tomasz Sikora Pedagogical University of Cracow

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51151/identities.v10i1-2.281

Keywords:

liberalism, difference, community, immunization, X-Men

Abstract

The following observations have been occasioned by the 2011 Marvell comic adaptation X-Men: First Class. Rather than a comprehensive analysis of the movie, however, the essay is a collection of more general observations on the modern “liberal mind” and how it imagines and structures community, difference and the political itself. One of my central claims, drawing on the work of Roberto Esposito, is that the modern model of liberal humanism has developed largely in terms of what he calls the “immunization paradigm.” In this model, the inclusion of difference into the political may be interpreted in terms of immunization: a body politic internalizes a certain amount of what seems to constitute a danger in order to immunize itself against that very danger. Present-day liberalism differs from its earlier forms in that it recognizes the idea of difference and folds it into its own projections of a “common good.” But not all forms of difference are equally welcome, and the liberal regime maintains its hegemony by bargaining some kinds of difference against others. One of the key questions for the present, therefore, is which kinds of difference the dominant regime considers more worthy of life and legal protection, and which other kinds are implicitly considered less worthy or, indeed, deserving extinction.

Author(s): Tomasz Sikora

Title (English): The Liberal Mind and its Mutants

Journal Reference: Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 10, No. 1-2 (Summer-Winter 2013)

Publisher: Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities – Skopje 

Page Range: 63-70

Page Count: 8

Citation (English): Tomasz Sikora, “The Liberal Mind and its Mutants,” Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, Vol. 10, No. 1-2 (Summer-Winter 2013): 63-70.

Author Biography

Tomasz Sikora, Pedagogical University of Cracow

Assistant Professor, Pedagogical University of Cracow.

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Published

2013-01-01

How to Cite

Sikora, T. (2013). The Liberal Mind and its Mutants. Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture, 10(1-2), 63-70. https://doi.org/10.51151/identities.v10i1-2.281

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1-2 (2013): Vol. 10, No. 1-2 (Summer - Winter 2013) - Issues No. 20-21 | Vol. 10, No. 1, Topic: Science, Media, Necropolitics and Bastard Trans-feminism(s), edited by Marina Gržinić | Vol. 10, No. 2, Topic: The Post-Human, the Non-Human and its Political Revolt

Section

Articles

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