Atomism and Marxism in Louis Althusser

Author(s):  
Panagiotis Sotiris
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Ronald J. Schmidt, Jr

Reading Politics with Machiavelli is an anachronistic reading of certain key concepts in Machiavelli’s The Prince and The Discourses (as well as some of his correspondence). In 1513, soon after the Medici returned to power in Florence, Machiavelli lost his position as First Secretary to the Republic, and he was exiled. On his family farm, he began a self-consciously anachronistic reading of great political figures of antiquity, and, in combination with his own experience as a diplomat, crafted a unique perspective on the political crises of his time. At our own moment of democratic crisis, as the democratic imagination, as well as democratic habits and institutions face multiple attacks from neoliberalism, white nationalism, and authoritarianism, I argue that a similar method, in which we read Machiavelli’s work as he read Livy’s and Plutarch’s, can help us see the contingency, and the increasingly forgotten radical potential, of our politics. Louis Althusser argued that Machiavelli functions for us as an uncanny authority, one whose apparent familiarity is dispelled as we examine his epistolary yet opaque account of history, politics, and authority. This makes his readings a potentially rich resource for a time of democratic crisis. With that challenge in mind, we will examine the problems of conspiracy, prophecy, torture, and exile and use a close reading of Machiavelli’s work to make out new perspectives on the politics of our time.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Savio
Keyword(s):  

El presente libro es la primera traducción al español de una de las obras que más ha infl uido y repercutido en ese dominio del saber que se suele reunir bajo el nombre de “Escuela francesa de Análisis del Discurso”, cuyas fronteras no siempre se han podido trazar con precisión y nitidez. Escrita en francés en 1975 por el fi lósofo del lenguaje Michel Pêcheux (1938-1983), discípulo de Louis Althusser, bajo el título de Les Vérités de La Palice. Linguistique, sémantique, philosophie por la editorial Maspero, es ahora publicada en la Argentina en la colección Historia del Presente de las Ediciones del CCC (editorial del Centro Cultural de la Cooperación “Floreal Gorini”), con la traducción de un equipo interdisciplinario compuesto por Mara Glozman, Pedro Karczmarczyk, Guadalupe Marando y Margarita Martínez.


Sapere Aude ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 250-273
Author(s):  
Émerson Pirola

Um debate de longa data no interior do marxismo é o entre perspectivas que tenderiam para uma leitura da obra marxiana centrada nas análises sobre a constituição de sujeitos políticos de e em luta, na constituição de uma classe social revolucionária que enfrente a exploração capitalista, e perspectivas centradas nas transformações do capitalismo ou nas dinâmicas estruturais da economia. Podemos dizer, esquematicamente, que as primeiras perspectivas são “subjetivistas” e as segundas “objetivistas”. Nos anos 1960 esse debate se viu determinado pela chamada polêmica do anti-humanismo, lançada por Louis Althusser contra o marxismo por ele criticado como humanista, visto que advogaria por uma noção de Sujeito idealista e abstrata, descolada dos processos estruturais da economia política capitalista. Antonio Negri, por sua vez, deu e dá grande importância para a noção de subjetividade na análise crítica e enfrentamento do capitalismo. Negri, entretanto, não ignora as críticas efetuadas por Althusser ao chamado humanismo, tomando-as como pré-requisito para o desenvolvimento original de sua teoria. Mostramos, portanto, como Althusser desenvolve suas críticas do Sujeito e do humanismo para então desenvolver as posições de Negri diante destas, a construção de sua própria teoria da subjetividade, resgatada do Marx dos Grundrisse, e apontar as limitações do pensamento althusseriano no que concerne à subjetividade.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Sujeito. Anti-humanismo. Subjetividade. Negri. Althusser. ABSTRACTA long-standing debate within Marxism is the one between perspectives that would tend towards a reading of the Marxian work centered on analyzes of the constitution of political subjects in and in class struggle, the constitution of a revolutionary social class facing capitalist exploitation, and perspectives centered on the transformations of capitalism or the structural dynamics of the economy in general. We can say, schematically, that the first perspective are "subjectivist" and the second one "objectivist". In the 1960s this debate was determined by Louis Althusser's so-called polemic of anti-humanism, in which he criticized certain Marxism as an humanism, since it would advocate for an idealist and abstract notion of subject detached from the structural processes of capitalist political economy. Antonio Negri, in turn, gave and gives great importance to the notion of subjectivity in the dynamics and confrontation of capitalism. Negri, however, does not ignore the criticisms made by Althusser of the humanism, taking them as a prerequisite for the original development of his theory. We thus show how Althusser develops his criticisms of the Subject and humanism to develop Negri's positions for and against them, the construction of his own theory of subjectivity, rescued from Marx’s Grundrisse, and we point out the limitations of Althusser's thought as regards subjectivity.KEYWORDS: Subject. Antihumanism. Subjeticvity. Negri. Althusser.


2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Anthony Keddie

Abstract The current study attempts to move beyond the fashionable scholarly opinion that apocalyptic literature is essentially posed “against empire” by critically analyzing the ideologies evaluated and advanced by the Testament of Moses. The author employs a theoretical framework derived from the work of the Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser to argue that the schematization of history in the Testament of Moses exposes and criticizes the domination of national rulers and foreign rulers, but for different reasons. While ideology is depicted as a strategy of domination used by both types of rulers, repressive physical violence is typically only associated with foreign domination. Yet, the text is not simply “against empire.” Rather, the ideology of the Testament of Moses is primarily opposed to the priestly ruling class of Judaea, the group thought to be responsible for the socioeconomic hardships experienced by the Judaean masses in the early first century C.E.


1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 308-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Freedman
Keyword(s):  

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Lefort-Favreau

Si l’importance des éditions François Maspero dans les champs politique et intellectuel a été bien démontrée par de nombreux travaux récents, son apport aux mutations survenues dans les politiques de la littérature autour de Mai 68 mérite d’être mis en lumière. Nous soumettons l’hypothèse que l’action de François Maspero en amont et en aval de 68 participe à une politisation du champ littéraire par l’articulation complexe entre théorie politique et création littéraire que l’on peut observer dans l’ensemble de son catalogue. Nous nous intéressons ici à quatre acceptions de la littérature qui circulent chez Maspero et qui incarnent les différentes facettes d’une inscription conflictuelle de la littérature dans l’espace social représentative de 68. Nous portons d’abord notre attention sur les préfaces que signe Jean-Paul Sartre de deux livres publiés par Maspero : Aden Arabie de Paul Nizan et Les damnés de la terre de Frantz Fanon. Nous analysons ensuite une série d’articles de Georges Perec qui paraît au début des années 1960 dans la revue Partisans. La troisième acception que nous observons est perceptible dans les collections consacrées à la création littéraire chez Maspero, notamment à la poésie en traduction. Finalement, notre analyse porte sur la collection « Théorie » dirigée par Louis Althusser et la réflexion qu’elle déploie sur les tensions entre art et idéologie. L’examen de ces quatre déclinaisons du littéraire montre que Maspero constitue le lieu privilégié d’une prise en charge de paroles subalternes provenant du Tiers-Monde, d’une critique virulente des prescriptions esthétiques du PCF et d’un éloignement des principes de la littérature engagée. Il annonce donc des transformations importantes de 1968 et les pérennise au fil des années 1970.


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