PHILOSOPHY & HOPE BOOKCLUB 9: HYPERPOLITICS

Welcome to Lighthouse’s Philosophy Bookclub, where we will be reading contemporary philosophers that concern themselves with the social! The overarching theme will be readings that engage in social critique that can help take us towards new forms of social hope. We will be reading authors that offer powerful critiques of institutions, big tech, late-stage capitalism, as well as the central political concepts to those discussions (e.g. solidarity, freedom, justice, equality, etc) that, ultimately, equip us to re-evaluate the now in order to re-envision the future. Why Philosophy & Who’s This For?

Philosophy is first and foremost a social activity – it’s about thinking together in communities of inquiry, it’s about synthesising ideas, transforming the categories and concepts which guide our thinking. It is famously characterised as a space “to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term” as one philosopher put it. This bookclub is for both philosophers and non-philosophers alike! For the philosophically initiated, the readings will be contemporary thinkers who you won’t find on a typical reading list. For the uninitiated, these readings will also be highly accessible, short, and relevant to the world we find ourselves in today. It’s an inclusive reading club, welcoming as many people from as many different backgrounds to help give us the best chance of seeing how everything hangs together! Meetings:

Meetings will be hosted by Nic and take place every 5-6 weeks on Monday at Lighthouse from 7pm-8:30pm.

Use the code HOPE-PHILOSOPHY-SOC to get 10% off the bookclub books! What We Are Discussing This Month: What happens when politics is everywhere, yet nothing seems to change? From the abandoned dance floors of Thatcher’s London to the mass mobilizations of Black Lives Matter, Anton Jager traces how pub lic life has become infused with protest, spectacle, and moral urgency - while the old infrastructure of parties, unions, and civic solidarity has been hollowed out. Hyperpolitics revisits the illusions of the “end of history” and dissects the strange energies that replaced them: viral outrage, endless culture wars, and the digital rush of causes that flare and vanish overnight. Jager shows how the promises of post-Cold War liberalism gave way to a restless, unsteady public sphere where private pas sions overflow into politics but rarely build enduring power. Ranging from Guy Debord and Wolfgang Tillmans to Houellebecq’s disenchanted fictions, Hyperpolitics makes sense of a world in which collective action remains fragmented and the social fabric thinner than ever. For anyone trying to grasp why our age feels so charged yet so incon sequential, this book offers a vital map through the new contradictions of our hyperpolitical moment.