From Emerson to Adorno, a tradition of radical social critique has flourished that utilize methods which disclose rather than judge life's form: instead of trying to say what is wrong and what would be better, these criticisms seek to show how the world is false and to reveal how we might escape the vicious circles of present society--pointing out its catastrophic state and directing readers to the real possibilities for another form of life.

This book presents an incisive history of disclosing critique of society. It reconstructs methods of critical disclosure by telling the story of a metaphor of society, "vicious circle," and a metaphor for disclosure "drawing a circle around the circle." As Särkelä illuminates, these two metaphors continually interact in the works of 19th and 20th century European and American authors including not just Emerson and Adorno, but also Nietzsche, Tarde, Freud, and Dewey. By reconstructing the driving examples of such disclosing critical gestures, Särkelä articulates their similarities and differences, and considers their potential for contemporary social critique. The result points the way toward the cultivation of critical skills relevant for our own age of catastrophe.