ABSTRACT
Another key feature of political philosophies is the issue and methods of political change. This chapter addresses the issue of political violence as a method of change from a psychoanalytic-phenomenological perspective, arguing that political violence, while understandable in some situations, is not justified, whether we are simply addressing interhuman political violence or the political violence directed toward more-than-human species. If political violence is not justifiable as a method for political change, then what methods are available? Here I turn to features of the psychoanalytic political philosophy developed in the previous chapters to argue that care, as a political concept, is a justifiable method for political change because it respects the singularities of all human beings, other species, and the earth. Political forms of care include aggression (e.g., civic transgressions, civil disobedience, and nonviolent protests), but not aggression associated with political violence. Since the issue of political change raises questions of hope, vis-à-vis the systemic obstacles to climate action and mass extinctions discussed in the previous chapter, the last section of the chapter discusses the relation between caring political methods and hope. Here I claim that, given the psychological complexity of human beings, political caring actions are not contingent on hope and, therefore, not necessarily obstructed by eco-despair. Stated differently, I consider climate hope to be a problem, which is resolved by focusing in the present on political care—care for Othered human beings, other species, and the earth.
