Castoriadis
In Search of a New Left, Then and Now
January 25th, 2014
“In Search of a New Left, Then and Now,” is a short autobiographical-philosophical essay published in a collective volume called Living with Class. Philosophical Reflections on Identity and Material Culture, edited by Ron Scapp and Brian Seitz (Routledge, 2013), pp. 25-31).
The important parallels come from the attempts to renew a left gone static, whether it was that of the Old Left of communist-marxist vintage, or the attempt to draw implications from the Occupy … movements. The collection tries to draw some lessons, or better– to reflect on: the Occupy movements and the question whether the concept of “class” makes sense today. Younger contributors offer newer views; but interesting is that the essay following mine is by Stanly Arownowitz, who contributed to the 1971 volume edited with Karl Klare, The Unknown Dimension, in which we tried to make inroads into received opinion, as does this volume.
“Foreword” to Martin Breaugh, THE PLEBEIAN EXPERIENCE. A DISCONTINUOUS HISTORY OF POLITICAL FREEDOM
December 4th, 2013
Series Editor’s Foreword (pp. xi-xiv) to Martin Breaugh, The Plebeian Experience. A Discontinuous History of Political Freedom (Columbia University Press “Studies in Political Thought/Political History”). Breaugh’s provocative study begins with the historical examples of the Roman republic, the Ciompi in Florence, the Carnival in Romans, and the Mansaniello in Naples. It turns then to the “philosophical genesis ” of what he calls the “plebeian principle” from Marchiavelli through Rancière. The study then turns to the French revolution, the English Jacobins and the Paris Commune. The third part of the book tries briefly, in 40 suggestive pages, to draw some contemporary conclusions concerning what Breaugh calls the “social bond of fraternity” (from the Sans-Culottes), the “political bond of plurality” (from the English Jacobins) and the “political bond of association association” (from the Commune).
The editorial Foreword puts this study also in the context of the CUP “Studies in Political Thought/Political History” edited by Dick Howard.
Un parcours philosophique et politique franco-américain, via Castoriadis, Lefort et Gorz etc.
May 26th, 2013
Interview paru primitivement dans Platypus Review, reprise dans la revue du MAUSS avec une nouvelle préface.
Lire: Un parcours philosophique