Indeed it may be only by risking the incoherence of identity that connection is possible.
Judith ButlerRead
Life has to be protected. It is precarious. I would even go so far as to say that precarious life is, in a way, a Jewish value for me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is fragile and must be valued, reflecting a moral perspective.
Judith Butler emphasizes the precariousness of life, suggesting that its fragile nature demands protection and respect. This notion aligns with certain ethical values she associates with Jewish thought, indicating that the acknowledgment of life's vulnerability encapsulates a profound moral obligation to safeguard it.
Themes
LifePrecariousValueProtectionEthics
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of valuing life.
More from Judith Butler
All quotes βWhen we say gender is performed, we usually mean that we've taken on a role or we're acting in some way and that our acting or our role playing is crucial to the gender that we are and the gender that we present to the world.
Judith ButlerRead
It's my view that gender is culturally formed, but it's also a domain of agency or freedom and that it is most important to resist the violence that is imposed by ideal gender norms, especially against those who are gender different, who are nonconforming in their gender presentation.
Judith ButlerRead
I do not deny certain kinds of biological differences. But I always ask under what conditions, under what discursive and institutional conditions, do certain biological differences - and they're not necessary ones, given the anomalous state of bodies in the world - become the salient characteristics of sex.
Judith ButlerRead
Sexual harassment law is very important. But I think it would be a mistake if the sexual harassment law movement is the only way in which feminism is known in the media.
Judith ButlerRead
We act and walk and speak and talk in ways that consolidate an impression of being a man or being a woman.
Judith ButlerRead
Similar quotes
One of the guiding beliefs of our consuming age is that we are all free and independent individuals. That we can choose to do pretty much what we want, and if we can't, then it's bad. But at the same time, co-existing alongside this, there is a completely different, parallel universe where we all seem meekly to do what those in power tell us to do.
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I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
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In a crowd, on a journey, at a banquet even, a line of thought can itself provide its own seclusion.
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I know how easy it is for one to stay well within moral, ethical, and legal bounds through the skillful use of words - and to thereby spin, sidestep, circumvent, or bend a truth completely out of shape. To that extent, we are all liars on numerous occasions.
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You may not believe in magic but something very strange is happening at this very moment. Your head has dissolved into thin air and I can see the rhododendrons through your stomach. It's not that you are dead or anything dramatic like that, it is simply that you are fading away and I can't even remember your name.
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You may fetter my leg, but Zeus himself cannot get the better of my free will.
EpictetusRead