Capitalist Sorcery - by P Pignarre & I Stengers (Hardcover)

About the Book

"An English translation of La Sorcellerie Capitaliste - a passionate but pragmatic critique in political philosophy. It diagnoses capitalism as a 'system of sorcery without sorcerers'. Capitalism paralyses us in ways that resembles sorcery and the book is concerned to look at ways we might defend ourselves against such a system"--

Book Synopsis

Capitalist Sorcery neither sets out a new political programme nor offers a new theory. Rather, it aims to encourage all those who are resistant to resignation and inertia, whose stories of partial successes must be told, celebrated and shared.

Review Quotes

'Stengers and Pignarre launch call to invention, against the spell of the infernal alternatives that bind us to the capitalist 'realist' logic of choosing between the lesser of unliveable evils. To counter this capture, they propose a political 'magic' capable of creating new possibilities. But do not be misled: the 'magic' is all in the technique, and the technique is all in relation. Capitalist Sorcery is a veritable toolbox for an anticapitalist politics of collective empowerment, essential reading for all those interested in movement politics post-Seattle.' - Brian Massumi, Communication Department, University of Montreal, Canada.

'...a detailed and thought-provoking pragmatics of resistance...' - Culture Machine

About the Author

PHILIPPE PIGNARRE writer, activist and the director of Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond, at La Découverte in Paris. He has written extensively on the pharmaceutical industry, on psychotherapy and more recently on Olivier Besancenot and the NPA (Nouvelle Parti Anticapitaliste) in France.

ISABELLE STENGERS philosopher of science and the author of more than two dozen books on the philosophy of science and the politics of knowledge. Once a student of Ilya Prigogine, with whom she wrote Order out of Chaos, Stengers has written book length studies of hypnosis and the history of chemistry. Her more recent work - on cosmopolitics and on Alfred North Whitehead - is currently in press in translation.

ANDREW GOFFEY Senior Lecturer in Media, Culture and Communication at Middlesex University, UK. A writer and a translator he researches on the links between philosophy, science and culture and is the author (with Matthew Fuller) of Evil Media. He has translated numerous articles in the field of philosophy by Isabelle Stengers, Barbara Cassin and Eric Alliez, amongst others.