Good

Aesthetic Politics

What is the good life—for me, for us, for the cosmos?

Good is an ecocritical enquiry into ethical and political dimensions of aesthetics. Following Aristotle’s lead, it starts with ethics as the question concerning what is the good life for me, moving on to  politics as the good life for us. Like Aristotle, between ethics and politics it inserts the question of the good life for you and me—the question of love. In the end—which is where we all live today—it goes beyond Aristotle’s human-centred approach, insisting that the good life cannot be thought or lived without including technologies and ecologies. A truly cosmopolitan politics is a politics of the cosmos. Learning from indigenous cultures, it speaks from and with nature and machines in the form of gods and ancestors. Packed with examples from banking apps to cave art, economic manifestos to cookery, passing through music, painting, poetry, and film, the book evokes critical traditions from across the world to present a lucid and accessible case for decolonial and ecocritical aesthetics.
Table of Contents

  • Wealth (personal good)
  • Love (interpersonal)
  • Equality and freedom (political)
  • Imagination (ecological)
  • Coda on the commons
Seán Cubitt is Professor of Screen Studies at the University of Melbourne. He was previously Professor and head of the department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London (2011–2019), the University of Melbourne (2005–2010), the University of Waikato, NZ (2000–2005) and Liverpool John Moores University (1989-199). An elected fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and of the Academia Europe, he has held visiting posts at Chicago, Harvard, Oslo and Dundee. He has keynoted over 50 events on four continents, curated exhibitions in Istanbul, Lima, Liverpool and Melbourne, and is currently working on funded research projects with colleagues in Australia, Austria, Norway, the UK, the USA and China.

About

What is the good life—for me, for us, for the cosmos?

Good is an ecocritical enquiry into ethical and political dimensions of aesthetics. Following Aristotle’s lead, it starts with ethics as the question concerning what is the good life for me, moving on to  politics as the good life for us. Like Aristotle, between ethics and politics it inserts the question of the good life for you and me—the question of love. In the end—which is where we all live today—it goes beyond Aristotle’s human-centred approach, insisting that the good life cannot be thought or lived without including technologies and ecologies. A truly cosmopolitan politics is a politics of the cosmos. Learning from indigenous cultures, it speaks from and with nature and machines in the form of gods and ancestors. Packed with examples from banking apps to cave art, economic manifestos to cookery, passing through music, painting, poetry, and film, the book evokes critical traditions from across the world to present a lucid and accessible case for decolonial and ecocritical aesthetics.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

  • Wealth (personal good)
  • Love (interpersonal)
  • Equality and freedom (political)
  • Imagination (ecological)
  • Coda on the commons

Author

Seán Cubitt is Professor of Screen Studies at the University of Melbourne. He was previously Professor and head of the department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London (2011–2019), the University of Melbourne (2005–2010), the University of Waikato, NZ (2000–2005) and Liverpool John Moores University (1989-199). An elected fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and of the Academia Europe, he has held visiting posts at Chicago, Harvard, Oslo and Dundee. He has keynoted over 50 events on four continents, curated exhibitions in Istanbul, Lima, Liverpool and Melbourne, and is currently working on funded research projects with colleagues in Australia, Austria, Norway, the UK, the USA and China.

Three Penguin Random House Authors Win Pulitzer Prizes

On Monday, May 5, three Penguin Random House authors were honored with a Pulitzer Prize. Established in 1917, the Pulitzer Prizes are the most prestigious awards in American letters. To date, PRH has 143 Pulitzer Prize winners, including William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Josh Steinbeck, Ron Chernow, Anne Applebaum, Colson Whitehead, and many more. Take a look at our 2025 Pulitzer Prize

Read more

Books for LGBTQIA+ Pride Month

In June we celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual + (LGBTQIA+) Pride Month, which honors the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. Pride Month is a time to both celebrate the accomplishments of those in the LGBTQ+ community and recognize the ongoing struggles faced by many across the world who wish to live

Read more