Encountering Althusser: Politics and Materialism in Contemporary Radical Thought

Description

French philosopher Louis Pierre Althusser (1918 -1990) helped define the politico-theoretical conjuncture of pre- and post-1968. Today, there is a recrudescence of interest in his thought, especially in light of his later work, published in English as Philosophy of the Encounter (Verso, 2006). This has led to renewed debates on the reformulation of conflicting notions of materialism, on the event as both philosophical concept and political construction, and on the nature of politics and the political. These original essays by leading scholars aim to provide a new assessment of Althusser's thought, especially in relation to contemporary debates. Organized in four sections that represent the main currents in Althusser's scholarship, the book discusses materialism and the different formulations of the relationship between politics and philosophy, Althusser's interpretations of political thinkers (including Machiavelli, Deleuze and Gramsci), the resources he provides to critique political economy and politics in post-Marxist thought, and the theorization of ideology and politics. Encountering Althusser is a groundbreaking resource that highlights Althusser's continuing relevance to contemporary radical thought.

Katja Diefenbach is Advising Researcher in the Theory Department, Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht. She has taught at the University of Arts, Berlin and Humboldt University. Recent publications include texts on post-structuralism and post-workerism in Inventionen, I. Lorey et al. eds. (Diaphanes 2011), Becoming Major, Becoming Minor, V. Brito et al. eds (JVE 2011). Sara R. Farris is a sociologist and political theorist. She is the author of numerous articles on sociological and political theory, international migrations and gender studies and of monographs and edited volumes including Politics Enchanted. Religion, Subjectivity and Nationalism in Max Weber (Brill 2012) and co-editor of La Straniera. Informazioni, sito-bibliografie e ragionamenti su razzismo e sessismo (Alegre 2009). She is a member of the Editorial Board of Critical Sociology. Gal Kirn is Research Fellow at the Institute of Cultural Inquiry, Berlin, Germany. He is a co-editor of Yugoslav Black Wave Cinema and Its Transgressive Moments (JVE 2012), editor of Postfordism and its discontents (JVE, B-Books and Mirovni Institut 2010) and co-editor of New public spaces. Dissensual Political and Artistic Practices in the Post-Yugoslav Context (JVE and Moderna Galerija 2009). He participates in the Workers'-Punks' University. Peter D. Thomas is Lecturer in the History of Political Thought at Brunel University, London. His publications include: The Gramscian Moment (Brill 2009); the translation of Antonio Negri's Goodbye Mr Socialism, (Seven Stories 2008), (with A. Toscano) Alain Badiou and Slavoj Zizek's, Philosophy in the Present (Polity 2009) and (with S. R. Farris) Mario Tronti's The Autonomy of the Political (2012). He serves on the editorial board of Historical Materialism.

Encountering Althusser spans the length of twenty-one essays, divided into four parts, each part attentive to a theme that occupied Althusser at different stages of his thought ... The Marxist philosopher pays homage to the aleatory that defines any encounter worthy of its name, and does so in the name of, or rather for, Marx. -- Nathaniel J P Barron, UK * Marx & Philosophy Review of Books *