About the Book: Giving an Account of Oneself
What does it mean to lead a moral life? In her first extended study of moral
philosophy, Judith Butler offers a provocative outline for a new ethical
practice—one responsive to the need for critical autonomy and grounded in a new
sense of the human subject. Butler takes as her starting point ones ability to
answer the questions "What have I done?" and "What ought I to do?" She shows
that these questions can be answered only by asking a prior question, "Who is
this 'I who is under an obligation to give an account of itself and to