Intelligence, Affirmative Ethics and the Anti-Fascist Life

Abstract

Affirmative ethics, as a collective and radically democratic praxis, must be constructed by subjects who collectively defy unity and actualise a virtual heterogeneous assemblage, while retaining ethical accountability. The composition of an ethically active subjectivity is achieved by transcending the force of the negative and by acknowledging and reworking reactive emotions such as pain, anger, greed and fear. It entails working through negative instances to attain a more profound understanding of their sources – both affective and cognitive – and striving to transform them into affirmation. Ethics demands rigorous effort: it encompasses not only critical intelligence but also the force of affectivity in relational and epistemological operations. Affirmative ethics functions as a critique of power by exposing the despotic instances of contemporary power formations and the undercurrents of molecular molarities or micro-fascisms. It breaks free from the toxic bonds and the acquiescent application of established norm and values. It deterritorialises them by introducing ethical flows that unfold and enhance relational interdependence. Affirmative ethical subjects are not enamoured of power. An affirmative life, therefore, epitomises ‘the anti-fascist life’.