Vulnerability, Grief, and Interdependence:

Critical Reflections on Neoliberal Individualism from the Perspective of Judith Butler

Abstract

This article offers a critique of the neoliberal moral framework of individual accountability through the lens of the category of primordial vulnerability, as developed by Judith Butler. It argues that, although vulnerability is inherent to the human condition, neoliberalism manages it in ways that deepen precariousness and legitimize an ethic of self-sufficiency. The analysis is structured around three main axes: (1) neoliberal rationality, entrepreneurial subjectivity, and the precarization of life; (2) the ethical-political implications of grief; and (3) propositions for an ethics of vulnerability. The article concludes that the recognition of shared vulnerability holds ethical and political potential to strengthen the bonds of social interdependence, which have been weakened by neoliberal individualism.