Cornelius Castoriadis and Radical Democracy

Description

The book analyses the philosophy of Greek-born French philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis. A leading member of the influential revolutionary group, Socialism or Barbarism in France, Castoriadis analysed contemporary political subjectivity and culture in terms of the collective and individual attempt to gain autonomy. His philosophy frames a multi-dimensional analysis of modern capitalist societies, based on a systematic critique of orthodox Marxism, Heideggerian ontology and Lacanian psychology. The volume consists of two parts. In the first part, his most significant essays written before his departure to France in 1945 are translated and present the young Castoriadis’ interpretation of Max Weber’s theory of bureaucratic societies. The second part consists of a series of essays by various scholars on aspects of Castoriadis’ mature philosophy in relation to other thinkers, and against the background of Europe’s political and social history. Part 1 Essays by Cornelius Castoriadis   Author’s Introduction to the Publication of the 1988 Edition Cornelius Castoriadis Translated by Vrasidas Karalis and Anthony Stephens Directions of the Journal Sociological and Ethical Archive Cornelius Castoriadis Translated by Vrasidas Karalis and Anthony Stephens On the Work of Max Weber Cornelius Castoriadis Translated by Vrasidas Karalis and Anthony Stephens Obituary for A[gis] Stinas  Cornelius Castoriadis Translated by Vrasidas Karalis and Anthony Stephens Part 2 Essays on Castoriadis   The Choral Ode from Antigone: “πολλὰ τὰ δεινὰ [. . .]” Refracted Through Cornelius Castoriadis and Martin Heidegger Anthony Stephens Aesthetics and Autonomy Andrew Cooper Philosophy and Theatre: Cornelius Castoriadis on the Imaginary Structure of Meanings in Theatre and Performance George P. Pefanis Bureaucratic Capitalism and the work of Cornelius Castoriadis Peter Murphy Contexts of Capitalism: From the ‘Unlimited Extension of “Rational Mastery”’to Civilizational Varieties of Accumulation and Economic Imagination Jeremy Smith Between Modernism and Postmodernism: Castoriadis and the Politics of Heterodox Marxism Simon Tormey Between Creative Democracy and Democratic Creativity Craig Browne Imagining Democracy Jeff Klooger Autonomy, Oligarchy, Statesman: Weber, Castoriadis and the Fragility of Politics John Rundell Radical Democratic Subjectivity: Possibilities and Limits  Toula Nicolacopoulos and George Vassilacopoulos