The Criterion of Immanence and the Transformation of Structural Causality: From Althusser to Théorie Communiste
Setting out from a critique of Althusser’s reliance upon references to the “structured whole,” Chapter 9 pursues a revision of the Althusserian theory of structural causality through the work of the group Théorie Communiste. Disentangling Althusser’s concept from its Spinozist framework, I show that Althusser’s references to the whole compromise his emphasis on the immanence of historical causality. I reconstruct an approach to the relation between immanence and lack through Théorie Communiste’s “theory of rift.” In the process, I engage with Jacques Rancière and Paul Mattick to assess the difference between humanist and anti-humanist approaches to proletarian revolution, and the chapter concludes with a consideration of Althusser’s influence upon Théorie Communiste.