A philosophy for communism : : rethinking Althusser / / by Panagiotis Sotiris.

• Superior document: Historical materialism book series ; Volume 211
• VerfasserIn: Sotiris, Panagiotis,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Historical materialism book series ; Volume 211.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

In A Philosophy for Communism: Rethinking Althusser Panagiotis Sotiris attempts a reading of the work of the French philosopher centered upon his deeply political conception of philosophy. Althusser’s endeavour is presented as a quest for a new practice of philosophy that would enable a new practice of politics for communism, in opposition to idealism and teleology. The central point is that in his trajectory from the crucial interventions of the 1960s to the texts on aleatory materialism, Althusser remained a communist in philosophy. This is based upon a reading of the tensions and dynamics running through Althusser’s work and his dialogue with other thinkers. Particular attention is paid to crucial texts by Althusser that remained unpublished until relatively recently.

Table of Contents

Introduction -- Part One: Structure, Conjuncture, Encounter -- 1 The Many Readings and Misreadings of Althusser -- 1.1 The polemic against theoreticist structuralism -- 1.2 Althusser as the repetition of communist orthodoxy -- 1.3 Althusser’s work as rupture of the dialectic of theory and practice -- 1.4 The possibility of another reading -- 2 Althusser and Hegel: The Never-ending Confrontation -- 2.1 The 1947 Thesis -- 2.2 The polemics against French Hegelianism -- 2.3 The Critique of Hegel -- 3 ‘This man is indeed alone in facing his task’: Althusser on Montesquieu -- 3.1 Montesquieu’s revolution in method -- 3.2 Montesquieu’s politics -- 3.3 Montesquieu as anti-teleology -- 4 Structure Revisited -- 4.1 ‘Althusser of the structure’ vs. ‘Althusser of the conjuncture’? -- 4.2 High Althusserianism revisited -- 4.3 Structures without structuralism? -- 4.4 Althusser’s self-criticism: From structures to enduring relations -- 4.5 The critique of Feuerbach as critique of Phenomenology and Structuralism -- 4.6 From structure to the conjuncture -- 5 Materialism as Philosophy of the Encounter -- 5.1 An Althusserian Kehre? -- 5.2 Rethinking the genealogy of the encounter -- 5.3 The encounter as anti-teleology and as new practice of politics -- 6 From the Critique of Natural Law to the Void of the Forest and the Inexistence of the Origin: Althusser on Rousseau -- 6.1 The 1956 course -- 6.2 The 1958–59 course -- 6.3 The 1965–66 course -- 6.4 The 1972 course -- 6.5 A comparison between the three courses -- 7 From the ‘Hidden God’ to the Materialism of the Encounter: Althusser and Pascal -- 7.1 Althusser in captivity and Pascal -- 7.2 Lucien Goldmann and the ‘Hidden God’ -- 7.3 From the materiality of ideological practices to aleatory materialism -- 8 The Difficulties of Being a Materialist in Philosophy: Assessing Aleatory Materialism -- 8.1 The genealogy of aleatory materialism -- 8.2 A philosophy of the encounter -- 8.3 Pierre Raymond on aleatory materialism -- 8.4 Contradictions of aleatory materialism -- 8.5 Contingent encounter or materialist dialectic? -- 9 Spinoza in Althusser-as-Laboratory -- 9.1 Spinozist epistemology -- 9.2 Spinoza and singularity -- 9.3 Spinoza and the rejection of classical theories of knowledge -- 9.4. Spinoza in the genealogy of the materialism of the encounter -- 10 Structure and/as Conjuncture -- 10.1 Rethinking singularity -- 10.2 Contradiction and antagonism -- 10.3 Specific historicities -- 10.4 The dialectic of structure and conjuncture and the recurring necessity of philosophical interventions -- Part Two: A New Practice of Philosophy -- 11 Althusser’s Struggle with the Definition of Philosophy -- 11.1 The aporiasb of theoretical practice -- 11.2 The politics of the epistemological break -- 11.3 Philosophical self-criticism -- 11.4 Philosophy and/as politics -- 11.5 The spontaneous philosophy of the scientists -- 11.6 Philosophy as class struggle -- 12 Philosophy as Laboratory -- 12.1 Redrawing the line of demarcation with idealism -- 12.2 The margin and the encounter -- 12.3 Philosophy and ideology -- 12.4 Different practices of philosophy -- 12.5 Philosophy and abstraction -- 12.6 Practice revisited -- 12.7 Philosophy and practice -- 12.8 How can anybody be a philosopher? -- 13 A Philosopher Always Catches a Moving Train -- 13.1 The return of philosophical metaphors -- 13.2 The new practice of philosophy revisited -- 13.3 Portrait of a materialist philosopher -- 14 Althusser and Gramsci on Philosophy -- 14.1 Gramsci and the philosophy of praxis -- 14.2 Althusser and Gramsci: a missed encounter? -- 14.3 The open question of Marxist philosophy -- Part Three: Is There an Althusserian Politics? -- 5 Althusser 1960–65: Attempting a Theoretical Correction of a Political Strategy in Crisis -- 15.1 Althusser’s political engagement -- 15.2 The politics of the 1960–65 texts -- 15.3 The debate on ‘student problems’ -- 16 The Politics of Theoretical Anti-Humanism -- 16.1 Theoretical anti-humanism as a theoretical and political strategy -- 16.2 Marx’s Sixth Thesis revisited -- 16.3 The combination of historicism and humanism as the main danger -- 16.4 The debate at Argenteuil -- 16.5 The Humanist Controversy revisited -- 16.6 Theoretical anti-humanism in the 1970s -- 17 Althusser’s Self-Criticism -- 17.1 1966: The turning point -- 17.2 Althusser on the Cultural Revolution -- 17.3 May 1968 and the new challenges -- 17.4 On the Reproduction of Capitalism as a political statement -- 17.5 Balibar and the new practice of politics -- 17.6 The left-wing criticism of Stalinism -- 18 Althusser in the 1970s: Break and Open Criticism of Communist Reformism -- 18.1 The French debate and the abandonment of the dictatorship of the proletariat -- 18.2 Althusser’s confrontation with the crisis of the communist movement -- 18.3 Facing the crisis of the Party -- 18.4 The confrontation with the crisis of Marxism -- 18.5 Marx in his Limits -- 18.6 Traces of communism -- 18.7 The debate on the state -- 18.8 Confronting Gramsci -- 19 The Politics of the Encounter: Machiavelli and Beyond -- 19.1 The first confrontation -- 19.2 The founder of a theory without precedent -- 19.3 Thinking under the conjuncture -- 19.4 A philosophical reading of Machiavelli -- 19.5 The encounter and the New Prince -- 19.6 Throwing the dice: Machiavelli in the 1980s texts -- 19.7 Althusser’s solitude -- 19.8 A Convergence for Liberation : Althusser in the 1980s -- 19.9 How to organise good encounters? -- 20 How to Make Lasting Encounters: Althusser and Political Subjectivity -- 20.1 The subject as problem and not answer -- 20.2 The return of the subject? -- 20.3 A non-subjectivist theory of subjectivity -- 20.4 Political organisations and collectivities as knowledge processes and forms of collective intellectuality -- 21 The Limits of Althusserian Politics -- Conclusion -- References -- Index --.