Security: Politics, Humanity, and the Philology of Care

Security: Politics, Humanity, and the Philology of Care is book by American literary scholar and musician John T. Hamilton. It was published in 2013 by Princeton University Press. The book offers a philological exploration of the concept of security, a term frequently invoked in contemporary political and cultural discourse yet one that remains largely undefined. Hamilton delves into the historical and linguistic origins of the word, analyzing its dual connotations of meaning both "carefree" and "careless." Spanning a wide range of texts from ancient Greek poetry to the works of modern philosophers such as Kant, Nietzsche, and Heidegger, the book critically examines how security is intertwined with notions of safety, negligence, confidence, and ignorance. Hamilton questions whether the pursuit of security, often at the expense of freedom and human rights, truly alleviates fear or exacerbates it, and whether contemporary obsessions with achieving absolute security pose significant risks to society.