Precisely because a living being may die, it is necessary to care for that being so that it may live. Only under conditions in which the loss would matter does the value of the life appear. Thus, grievability is a presupposition for the life that matters.

~ Judith Butler

Judith Butler Grief Grievability Precarious Life War

In other words, they appeal to the state for protection, but the state is precisely that from which they require protection. To be protected from violence by the nation-state is to be exposed to the violence wielded by the nation-state, so to rely on the nation-state for protection from violence is precisely to exchange one potential violence for another. There may, indeed, be few other choices.

~ Judith Butler

Judith Butler Death Grievability Life Nation State Precariousness Precarity Violence War

Precarity designates that politically induced condition in which certain populations suffer from failing social and economic networks of support and become differentially exposed to injury, violence, and death.

~ Judith Butler

Judith Butler Death Grievability Life Precariousness Precarity Violence War

I argue that even as the war is framed in certain ways to control and heighten affect in relation to the differential grievability of lives, so war has come to frame ways of thinking multiculturalism and debates on sexual freedom, issues largely considered separate from foreign affairs.

~ Judith Butler

Judith Butler Grievability Nonviolence Precarious Precarious Life Precariousness Violence War