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Hunting for Justice

Hunting for Justice

By Nikolopoulou, Kalliopi

Published by State University of New York Press

English 266 pages 2025
Estimated reading time: 4 h 53 min
PDF

About this book

Utilizes Greek tragedy to investigate the fundamentally arbitrary and violent nature of justice. A purely political understanding of justice does not convey the cosmological origins of the ancient conception of justice, Dikē, in Aeschylus's Oresteia. Drawing from Walter Burkert's anthropology of the hunt in Homo Necans, which articulates an ancient cosmology and implies a theory of (tragic) seriousness that parallels Aristotle's naturalist interpretation of tragedy, Hunting for Justice argues that justice is rooted in predation as exemplified by the Furies. Although the Oresteia has been read as the passage from the violence of nature to civic justice, Kalliopi Nikolopoulou offers an original interpretation of the trilogy: the ending of the feud is less an instance of political deliberation (as Hegel maintained), and more an instance of nature's necessary halting of its own destructiven'ess for life to resume. Extending to contemporary contexts, she argues that nature's arbitrariness continues to underpin our notions of justice, albeit in a distorted form. In this sense, Hunting for Justice offers a critique of the political infinitization and idealization of justice that permeates our current discourses of activism and social justice.

Availability

Hunting for Justice is available as PDF at 9 online bookshops. Bookshops carrying it include Bajalibros Argentina, Bajalibros Latam, Bookshop Uruguay.

Language
English
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In what formats is Hunting for Justice available?
Hunting for Justice is available as PDF at 9 online bookshops.
Where can I buy Hunting for Justice?
You can buy Hunting for Justice at Bajalibros Argentina, Bajalibros Latam, Bookshop Uruguay. Compare every option in the list on this page.
How long does it take to read Hunting for Justice?
At an average reading pace, Hunting for Justice takes about 4 h 53 min to read (266 pages).

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