Towards Radical Politics of Care or How to Think of Interdependence in the Catastrophic World

Abstract

This article raises the need to redefine the foundations of humans, as they have been considered since modernity, in light of the profound crisis in which we find ourselves. It argues that the feminist uprising that has taken place over the last decade has been decisive in promoting a philosophical critique of the concept of humanity and the subject that accompanies it. First, I propose several keys to understanding this crisis and why it could be said that we are facing a catastrophe-like world. Once this context has been identified, second, I present the conditions under which vulnerability, understood in an ontological sense, following Emmanuel Lévinas, Adriana Cavarero, and Judith Butler, can be transformative and not a simple label that victimizes or cancels out more structural changes. Finally, I point out the nuances I consider necessary for a reading of vulnerability that fosters a care that is neither essentialist nor individualist (an interdependence without a priori moral content). This radical politics of care is what I would ultimately like to contrast as a source of hope to the widespread sense of defeat inherent in this catastrophic world.