Prompt/Notes for Precarious Life

Use these points to help you unpack ideas--please make sure that you find a connection to service.

Make sure to notice where Butler identifies issues and presents alternative formulations, often in the form of questions, sometimes as very clear statements.

The rise of anti-intellectualism—what does Butler mean by this/how does she illustrate this phenomenon/ what are the implications?
Terminology and framing of events: why is it crucial to think/critique the ways in information (through language/narratives/images etc) that we receive about violence: “the frame works both to preclude certain kinds of questions [and] historical inquiries, and to function as a moral justification for retaliation” (4). Find examples of the dangers and the alternatives that Butler suggests.

Find other places in the text to unpack what Butler mean when she asks, “Can we find another meaning, and another possibility, for the decentering of the first-person narrative within the global framework?” (7).


Butler asks, “What social conditions help to form the very ways that choice and deliberation proceed? . . .” (16) Explore her discussion around these questions.

“Who counts as human?” (20). Why are the experiences of loss, vulnerability, grief, mourning integral to Butler’s thesis? Do we agree that these are universal human experiences that might be a source of moral response?

“Let’s face it, we’re undone by each other. And if we’re not, we’re missing something (23). Do you have a significant moment from service that illustrates this?

Significance of the discussion of identity/autonomy/the body (24-38). Tie back to other points. This leads into important discussion of vulnerability—how does she then tie this back into the previous points she has built?

Dehumanization of the Other 32-49. Crucial points here and she weaves in all the other points.

“We do not need to ground ourselves in a single model of communication, a single model of reason, a single notion of the subject before we are able to act” (48). Think about this in relation to the thesis Butler has built and, if possible, in relation to your service-learning experience.

Do you see echoes of Arendt in any of Butler’s points? Where? There are also many points about vulnerability that remind me of the reading from On Kindness. Also, think back to Deo and the violence and loss he experienced, does his story illustrate some of Butler's ideas as well? What about the Cornell piece on the "Moral Obligations of Living in a Democratic Society" and the necessary struggles and asking of hard questions. . .? (Finding common themes, that are also illuminated through your service experience, will help you formulate your final paper.)