Cinema, Democracy and Perfectionism

Joshua Foa Dienstag engages in a critical encounter with the work of Stanley Cavell on cinema, focusing skeptical attention on the claims made for the contribution of cinema to the ethical character of democratic life. In Cinema, democracy and perfectionism Joshua Foa Dienstag engages in a critical encounter with the work of Stanley Cavell on cinema, focusing skeptical attention on the claims made for the contribution of cinema to the ethical character of democratic life. Invoking and reworking the celebrated dialogue between Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Jean D'Alembert on theatre, Dienstag's provocative and stylish essay is both a critical homage to Cavell's work and a strikingly original argument concerning the medium of film and its relationship to its audience.The essay builds on Dienstag's well known work on narrative and political theory. It is followed by critical responses from an exceptional group of interlocutors. The volume concludes with a robust response from Dienstag to his critics. LEAD AUTHORJoshua Foa Dienstag is Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Dancing in Chains: Narrative Theory and Memory in Political Theory (1997) and Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit (2006).INTERLOCUTORSTracy B. Strong, University of Southampton and University of California, San DiegoThomas Dumm, Amherst CollegeMargaret Kohn, University of TorontoDavide Panagia, University of California, Los AngelesClare Woodford, University of Brighton In the lead essay for this volume, Joshua Foa Dienstag engages in a critical encounter with the work of Stanley Cavell on cinema, focusing skeptical attention on the claims made for the contribution of cinema to the ethical character of democratic life. In this debate, Dienstag mirrors the celebrated dialogue between Rousseau and Jean D'Alembert on theatre, casting Cavell as D'Alembert in his view that we can learn to become better citizens and better people by observing a staged representation of human life, with Dienstag arguing, with Rousseau, that this misunderstands the relationship between original and copy, even more so in the medium of film than in the medium of theatre. Dienstag's provocative and stylish essay is debated by an exceptional group of interlocutors comprising Clare Woodford, Tracy B. Strong, Margaret Kohn, Davide Panagia and Thomas Dumm. The volume closes with a robust response from Dienstag to his critics.