This course will examine theories regarding the fraught relationship between violence, justice and the institution of the law across key texts in French, German, Italian and English. Taking the recent centennial of Walter Benjamin’s “Toward the Critique of Violence” (1921) as its impetus and conceptual center, the class will examine that essay’s influences (Georges Sorrel, Carl Schmitt) as well as its influence on later thinkers (Giorgio Agamben, Werner Hamacher, Jacques Derrida, Judith Butler). Readings and discussions in English, though students are invited to read in the original wherever possible.

Fulfills CIMS Format & Theory attribute.