These remarkable essays include Cornelius Castoriadis's latest contributions to philosophy, political and social theory, classical studies, development theory, cultural criticism, science, and ecology. Examining the "co-birth" in ancient Greece of philosophy and politics, Castoriadis shows how the Greeks' radical questioning of established ideas and institutions gave rise to the "project of autonomy." The "end of philosophy" proclaimed by Postmodernism would mean the end of this project. That end is now hastened by the lethal expansion of technoscience, the waning of political and social conflict, and the resignation of intellectuals who blindly defend Western culture as it is or who merely denounce or "deconstruct" it as it has been. Discussing and criticizing Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Weber, Heidegger, and Habermas, the author of The Imaginary Institution of Society and Crossroads in the Labyrinth poses a radical challenge to our inherited philosophy.
These remarkable essays include Cornelius Castoriadis's latest contributions to philosophy, political and social theory, classical studies, development theory, cultural criticism, science, and ecology. Examining the "co-birth" in ancient Greece of philosophy and politics, Castoriadis shows how the Greeks' radical questioning of established ideas and institutions gave rise to the "project of autonomy." The "end of philosophy" proclaimed by Postmodernism would mean the end of this project. That end is now hastened by the lethal expansion of technoscience, the waning of political and social conflict, and the resignation of intellectuals who blindly defend Western culture as it is or who merely denounce or "deconstruct" it as it has been. Discussing and criticizing Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Weber, Heidegger, and Habermas, the author of The Imaginary Institution of Society and Crossroads in the Labyrinth poses a radical challenge to our inherited philosophy.
1: Intellectuals and History
2: The "End of Philosophy"?
3: The Social-Historical: Mode of Being, Problems of Knowledge
4: Individual, Society, Rationality, History
5: The Greek Polis and the Creation of Democracy
6: The Nature and Value of Equality
7: Power, Politics, Autonomy
8: Reflections on "Rationality" and "Development"; Presentation and
Response to Critics
9: The Crisis of Culture and the State
10: Dead End?
Bibliography
Index
"Excellent introduction to Castoriadis."--Manual M. Davenport,
Texas A & M
"The author writes with a broad scope of vision and, at the same
time, a depth needed to compare the important ideas considered. The
work is bound to generate discussion among students in at least two
fields; philosophy and political thought."--Keith R. David, William
Jewell College
"The essays, most of them written during the past five years or so,
show Castoriadis to be an extraordinarily wide-ranging social
critic, prepared to grapple with some of the most complex and
disturbing aspects of the late modern age....[T]hese essays are
edifying reading."--Times Higher
"I only wish I had read Cornelius Castoriadis before, and I
recommend him strongly....Marvellously compelling."--Political
Studies
"Reading Castoriadis, is an urgent task. I cannot hope adequately
to convey the exhilaration that following his conceptual trails
induces. Here is a young and alert political philosopher."--J.J.
Lecercle, Radical Philosophy
"The strength of these essays - has been a passionate promotion of
the modernist vision of a self-reflective and self-realizing
society."--Philosophical Reviews
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