For Humanism: Explorations in Theory and Politics

Today anti-humanism is a dominant even definitive feature of contemporary theory. Setting out to challenge this tendency editors David Alderson and Kevin Anderson argue that the political moment demands a reappraisal of the humanist tradition. Humanism in all its diversity and complexity may facilitate the renewal of progressive theory through the championing of human subjectivity agency and freedom. Across four extended essays David Alderson Kevin Anderson Barbara Epstein and Robert Spencer engage critically with the Marxist tradition recent developments in poststructuralism postcolonialism and queer theory. Incorporating an overview of the historical context that resulted in socialist humanism’s eclipse in the 1950s and '60s and a strident critique of anti-humanism For Humanism offers a coherent and compelling argument for the rehabilitation of a much maligned tradition.