UNDONE BY EACH OTHER: LEGAL SUBJECTIVITY AND THE ETHICS OF VULNERABILITY IN JUDITH BUTLER

Abstract

This essay proposes an articulation of Judith Butler's theoretical complex, with an emphasis on her reflections on the relationship between body, violence, and ethics, in order to address the epistemological crisis that permeates the category of the "subject of rights" in the face of the various modes of dehumanization operated by state racism. It re-evaluates, thus, the canon of modern political and moral theory, which conceived the subject as self-determined, using Judith Butler's critiques to foster a potential shift in the category toward democratic contestation. To this end, it draws on Butler's reflections on the disembodiment of the Cartesian subject and her revision of the theory of performativity. By conceiving the subject as an autonomous reason, dissociated from the body, Descartes paves the way for thinking about forms of subjectivity that neglect vulnerability in favor of the ideals of autonomy and individuality. Subsequently, we analyze the relationship between these ideals and political subjectivity in the Hobbesian metanarrative of the state of nature, highlighting how Butler interprets the foundational myth that situates violence as the primary political affect. We point out that this approach to violence, already present in the political theory of sovereignty, creates a rift between the social body and the barbarity of the state of nature, which persists as its constitutive phantom. This specter of violence resurfaces in Butler's critique of Immanuel Kant's ethics, which sought to provide a purely rational foundation for morality through a universal imperative. Finally, we demonstrate how the philosopher proposes an opening of the categories that determine the recognition of subjects, especially the "subject of rights," by employing concepts such as performativity, vulnerability, and citationality.