Political and social theorists Jean L. Cohen and Andrew Arato deliver lectures that critically examine the permanence of political theology in contemporary thought and institutions, in particular those associated with the legacy of Carl Schmitt. Together, these influential thinkers address the fact that positive reliance on political theology not only can have a profoundly authoritarian meaning, but could also be helpful in disguising and misrepresenting that meaning. The evening is introduced by CalArts’ Martín Plot and followed by a Q&A, with comments from Victoria Crespo of Morelos’ Universidad Autónoma and Enrique Peruzzotti of Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. Presented in conjunction with the Los Angeles release of Jean L. Cohen's Globalization and Sovereignty: Rethinking Legality, Legitimacy, and Constitutionalism (Cambridge) and Peruzzotti and Plot’s (eds.) Critical Theory and Democracy: Civil Society, Dictatorship, and Constitutionalism in Andrew Arato’s Democratic Theory (Routledge).

For more information, visit aestheticsandpolitics.calarts.edu/lecture-series