•  1316
    This article discusses the theological implications of Adorno’s writings on Beckett by specifically examining their constellative motifs of death, reconciliation and redemption. It addresses not only their content but also their form, suggesting a mutually stimulating relationship between the two as based both on a negative-dialectical approach and an inverse-theological trajectory. Focusing on Adorno’s discussion of Beckett’s oeuvre as a “metaphysical entity,” I argue that Adorno’s reading of B…Read more
  •  1225
    This essay explores the works of German artist Gustav Metzger as a potential response to Theodor W. Adorno’s dictum “Nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch” (“To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric”). It argues that culture, as understood in the Adornian sense, is inextricably barbaric as a result of simply being after Auschwitz. Culture must acknowledge the finitude in its own ability to live up to an ethical demand in response to justice, whose arrival is infinitely defer…Read more
  •  587
    This study seeks to critically explore the link between sovereignty, violence and war in Giorgio Agamben’s Homo Sacer series and Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan. From a brief rereading of Leviathan’s main arguments that explicitly revolves around the Aristotelian distinction between actuality/ potentiality, it will conclude that Hobbesian pre-contractual violence is primarily based on what Hobbes terms “anticipatory reason” and the problem of future contingency. Relying on Foucauldian insights, it wil…Read more
  •  522
    Felix Maschewski und Anna-Verena Nosthoff untersuchen Facebook als Beispiel einer besonders eindringlichen Form „kybernetischer Gouvernementalität“ und nehmen das „soziale“ Netzwerk dazu als psychopolitisches System von Affekten und Aktivierungen in den Blick. Dabei analysieren sie v.a. die zugrundeliegende »Sozialphysik des Anstoßes« und ihre implizite kybernetische Logik, um den so forcierten (behavioristischen) Subjektbegriff zu beleuchten. In diesem Konnex wird nicht nur dargestellt, wie das…Read more
  •  445
    Der Aufsatz diskutiert das Steuerungs- und Regelungsdenken zeitgenössischer neokybernetischer Governance-Ansätze (Pentland/ Khanna/ Noveck/ Thaler & Sunstein) unter besonderer Berücksichtigung früher Modelle politischer Kybernetik. Erstere werden dabei als Weiterentwicklung kybernetischer Staatstheorien charakterisiert, wobei insbesondere deren implizite kybernetische Grundannahmen problematisiert werden: Das Paradigma einer kontrollierbaren Freiheit, die Fixierung auf systemische Ultrastabilitä…Read more
  •  368
    Barbarism: Notes on the Thought of Theodor W. Adorno
    Critical Legal Thinking. Law and the Political. 2014.
    Adorno’s use of the term “barbarism” has probably been most often referred to in the context of his much- cited dictum that “to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric” (Adorno 1983: 34). While, nowadays, the term is usually and fortunately presented within the broader context of his works, his intended meaning was frequently misunderstood particularly after Adorno had articulated it for the first time. For clarity, the aforementioned dictum was not a verdict intended to silence poets or artist…Read more
  •  353
    Die Gesellschaft der Wearables. Digitale Verführung und soziale Kontrolle
    with Felix Maschewski
    Nicolai Publishing & Intelligence. 2019.
  •  332
    Following media-theoretical studies that have characterized digitization as a process of all-encompassing cybernetization, this paper will examine the timely and critical potential of Günther Anders’s oeuvre vis-à-vis the ever-increasing power of cybernetic devices and networks. Anders has witnessed and negotiated the process of cybernetization from its very beginning, having criticized its tendency to automate and expand, as well as its circular logic and ‘integral power’, including disruptive …Read more
  •  329
    Various media-theoretical studies have recently characterized the fourth industrial revolution as a process of all-encompassing technicization and cybernetization. Against this background, this paper seeks to show the timely and critical potential of Günther Anders’s magnum opus Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen vis-à-vis the ever-increasing power of cybernetic devices and networks. Anders has both witnessed, and negotiated, the process of cybernetization from its very beginning, having criticised…Read more
  •  301
    In einem diskursiv ausgeruhten Beitrag zu einem kurzzeitig viral hocherhitzten Artikel zur ‚Big-Data-Bombe’ beobachtet Jan Lietz vor einigen Wochen eine problematische Diskursverknappung: Blinde Annahme auf der einen und unausgewogene Kritik auf der anderen Seite hätten zum Ausbleiben eines produktiven Dissenses geführt. Mit dieser Diagnose hat Lietz sicherlich recht. Doch scheint sich in den Reaktionen auf den Artikel und ihrer Dynamik nicht allein eine ‚Verknappung’ des Diskurses abzuzeichnen;…Read more
  •  293
    Ziel des Beitrages ist die differenzierende Beschreibung des Projekts Cybersyn sowie die anschließende kritische Perspektivierung ausgewählter neokybernetischer Governance-Konzepte, die in den letzten Jahren verstärkt im Policy-Kontext diskutiert wurden. Die „Entscheidungsmaschine“ Stafford Beers, die der Management-Kybernetiker unter Salvador Allende in den frühen Siebzigern konzipierte, wird zumeist als Projekt eines technisch avancierten, ökonomischen Organisationskonzepts, eines „dritten Weg…Read more
  •  270
    Res Publica ex Machina: On Neocybernetic Governance and the End of Politics
    with Felix Maschewski
    In Anna-Verena Nosthoff & Felix Maschewski (eds.), Let's Get Physical, INC Reader, . pp. 196-211. 2020.
    The article critically investigates various approaches to “smart” governance, from algorithmic regulation (O’Reilly), fluid technocracy (P. Khanna), “smart states” (Noveck), nudge theory (Thaler/ Sunstein) and social physics (Alex Pentland). It specifically evaluates the cybernetic origins of these approaches and interprets them as pragmatic actualisations of earlier cybernetic models of the state (Lang, Deutsch) against the current background of surveillance capitalism. The authors argue that c…Read more
  •  239
    Im Beitrag wird die Apple-Watch vor dem Hintergrund ihrer „Ästhetik der Existenz“ als biopolitisches Artefakt und kontrollgesellschaftliches Dispositiv, vor allem aber als kybernetische Black Box aufgefasst und analysiert. Ziel des Aufsatzes ist es, aufzuzeigen, dass sich in dem feedbacklogischen Rückkopplungsapparat nicht nur grundlegende Diskurse des digitalen Zeitalters (Prävention, Gesundheit, bio- und psychopolitische Regulierungsformen etc.) verdichten, sondern dass dieser schon ob seiner …Read more
  •  220
    Louise Amoore: Cloud Ethics. Algorithms and the Attributes of Ourselves and Others
    with Felix Maschewski
    Behemoth. A Journal on Civilisation 14 (2). 2021.
  •  219
    Big Tech won't make health care any better
    with Felix Maschewski
    Jacobin 25 (10): 1. 2021.
    Apple CEO Tim Cook claimed in 2019 that his company’s greatest achievement will be “about health.” But the pandemic has shown that Big Tech’s involvement in health care is all about data collection.
  •  213
    Überwachungskapitalistische Biopolitik: Big Tech und die Regierung der Körper
    with Felix Maschewski
    Zeitschrift Für Politikwissenschaft. forthcoming.
    The article introduces the concept of "surveillance-capitalist biopolitics" to problematize the recent expansion of "data extractivism" in health care and health research. As we show, this trend has accelerated during the ongoing Covid pandemic and points to a normalization and institutionalization of self-tracking practices, which, drawing on the "quantified self", points to the emergence of a "quantified collective". Referring to Foucault and Zuboff, and by analyzing key examples of the leadin…Read more
  •  192
    This essay re-explores the tie between ethics and politics in the thought of French phenomenologist Emmanuel Levinas and is specifically concerned with the political consequences that might be drawn from his unique account of ethics. In response to Victoria Tahmasebi-Birgani's recent reading of Levinasian politics as ethicoliberatory praxis, this essay attempts to exemplify such politics in relation to the silent standing protest that occurred throughout Occupy Gezi. As will be illustrated, this…Read more
  •  184
    Netzwerkaffekte
    with Felix Maschewski
    In Anja Breljak, Rainer Mühlhoff & Jan Slaby (eds.), Affekt Macht Netz, Transcript. pp. 55-80. 2019.
  •  180
    L'Utopia del tecnostato
    with Felix Maschewski
    Internazionale 1264 (13 luglio 2018): 54-58. 2018.
  •  178
    Hacia una teoría crítica de la digitalidad. Günther Anders en la era del capitalismo de plataformas y las tecnocracias inteligentes
    with Felix Maschewski
    Constelaciones. Revista de Teoría Crítica 14 (2022): 322-346. 2022.
    Towards a Critical Theory of Digitality: Günther Anders in the Age of Platform Capitalism and Smart Technocracies Diversos estudios teóricos sobre los medios de comunicación han caracterizado recientemente la cuarta revolución industrial como un proceso de tecnificación y cibernetización omniabarcante. En este contexto, este artículo pretende mos-trar el potencial pertinente y crítico de la obra magna de Günther Anders La obsolescencia del hombre frente al poder cada vez mayor de los dispositivo…Read more
  •  173
    Big Tech and the Smartification of Agriculture
    with Felix Maschewski
    Https://Projects.Itforchange.Net/State-of-Big-Tech/Big-Tech-and-the-Smartification-of-Agriculture-a-Critical-Perspective/. 2022.
    The paper outlines critical aspects concerning the increasing use of big data in agriculture and farming. In particular, the aim is to shed light on the emerging dominance of the platform economy in the field of agriculture and food production. To analyze those power structures shaping this dynamic, we start with brief observations on the general relationship between digitization and agriculture and explain the platform economy, its general business model, and the proprietary forms of market pow…Read more
  •  166
    Big Tech und die Pandemie – Smarte Retter in der Not?
    with Felix Maschewski
    Zeitschrift LuXemburg 1 (1): 1. 2021.
  •  165
    The platform economy’s infrastructural transformation of the public sphere: Facebook and Cambridge Analytica revisited
    with Felix Maschewski
    Philosophy and Social Criticism 50 (1): 178-199. 2024.
    From a socio-theoretical and media-theoretical perspective, this article analyses exemplary practices and structural characteristics of contemporary digital political campaigning to illustrate a transformation of the public sphere through the platform economy. The article first examines Cambridge Analytica and reconstructs its operational procedure, which, far from involving exceptionally new digital campaign practices, turns out to be quite standard. It then evaluates the role of Facebook as an…Read more
  •  162
    Editorial: Futures of Critique in the Digital Age
    with Felix Maschewski and Janosik Herder
    Behemoth. A Journal on Civilisation 14 (2): 1-5. 2021.
  •  158
    Agnes Heller and "Everyday Revolutions"
    Public Seminar 14 (1). 2015.
    A biographical and philosophical portrait of the Hungarian philosopher Agnes Heller.
  •  158
    Das vermessene Selbst
    with Felix Maschewski
    Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung 3 (1): 39. 2021.
  •  148
    Pandemic solutionism: the power of big tech during the COVID-19 crisis
    with Felix Maschewski
    Digital Culture and Society 8 (1): 43-65. 2023.
    In this article, we investigate how Big Tech companies have used the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic to increase their social, political, infrastructural, and epistemic power. We focus on four companies that were outspoken in their efforts to combat the virus: Alphabet (also known as Google), Apple, Facebook, and Amazon (GAFA). During the crisis, these companies evolved as adaptive entities that responded to the state of emergency by promptly rolling out various technological solut…Read more