With the book Violence and Civility, Czech readers have the opportunity to become acquainted for the first time with the thoughts of Étienne Balibar, one of the most significant political philosophers of our time. The texts by Balibar included in this publication can be characterized as original treatises on the relationship between violence and politics within the philosophical tradition. Balibar returns to the roots of political philosophy in the works of Hobbes and Hegel and examines what he refers to as the 'conversion of violence', that is, the ability to transform violence into a positive and productive historical force. He uses this starting point to formulate his own 'topos of violence'. In dialogue with Deleuze, Foucault, Rancière, Lacan, and others, the author develops more broadly conceived reflections on political strategies associated with the concept of civility. Violence and Civility thus represents a coherent development of Balibar's thinking over recent decades and is also an important contribution to post-Marxist political philosophy. The Czech edition of the book is a significant event also because its author has made and continues to make a substantial contribution to shaping Czech intellectual life. Since the 1980s, Balibar has been involved with the Parisian Jan Hus Association and is currently its president following the death of Jacques Derrida.
