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.

Philosophy, Politics, Autonomy: Essays in Political Philosophy (Odéon)

Politics & Social Sciences

Castoriadis, Cornelius

Philosophy

Oxford University Press

The book presents Cornelius Castoriadis' concerns with the development of analytical theories of psychology, language, and politics, all commonly rooted in the social and historical aspects of human creativity.

Crossroads in the labyrinth

MIT Press]

This is one of the most original and important works of contemporaryEuropean thought. First published in France in 1975, it is the majortheoretical work of one of the foremost thinkers in Europe today.

The Imaginary Institution of Society

History

Blamey, Kathleen

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Mit Pr

Cornelius Castoriadis is a fascinating figure, not only because of his personal and intellectual background, but because of the extraordinary breadth of his interests and his ability to play the brilliant intellectual jester - all characteristics in abundant evidence in this collection of essays. In them, Castoriadis goes to the heart of deep philosophical issues raised but not answered by modern thought. The book presents his concerns with the development of analytical theories of psychology, language, and politics, all commonly rooted in the social and historical aspects of human creativity. It examines figures as diverse as Aristotle, Heidegger, Lacan, Marx, and Merleau-Ponty. Cornelius Castoriadis was for a long time a professional economist and is now a practicing psychoanalyst in Paris. He founded and became the main theoretician for the independent journal of the left, Socialisme ou Barbarie.

Crossroads in the Labyrinth (MIT Press)

This is one of the most original and important works of contemporaryEuropean thought. First published in France in 1975, it is the major theoretical work of one of the foremost thinkers in Europe today.
This is one of the most original and important works of contemporary European thought. First published in France in 1975, it is the major theoretical work of one of the foremost thinkers in Europe today.
Castoriadis offers a brilliant and far-reaching analysis of the unique character of the social-historical world and its relations to the individual, to language, and to nature. He argues that most traditional conceptions of society and history overlook the essential feature of the social-historical world, namely that this world is not articulated once and for all but is in each case the creation of the society concerned. In emphasizing the element of creativity, Castoriadis opens the way for rethinking political theory and practice in terms of the autonomous and explicit self-institution of society.

The imaginary institution of society

Social Sciences

Polity Press

This collection presents a broad and compelling overview of the most recent work by a world-renowned figure in contemporary thought. Starting from an inquiry that grows out of the specific context of a society that is experiencing uncertainty as to its ways of living and being, its goals, its values, and its knowledge, one that has been incapable, so far, of adequately understanding the crisis it is undergoing, Castoriadis sets as his task the elucidation of this crisis and its conditions. The book is in four parts: Koinonia, Polis, Psyche, Logos. The opening section begins with a general introduction to the author’s views on being, time, creation, and the imaginary institution of society and continues with reflections on the role of the individual psyche in racist thinking and acting and on the retreat from autonomy to generalized conformity in postmodernism. The second part is a critique of those who now belittle and distort the meaning of May 68 and other movements of the sixties as well as the French Revolution. The fate of the project of autonomy” is considered here in the light of the Greek and the modern political imaginary,” the pulverization of Marxism-Leninism,” and a recent alleged return of ethics” (Habermas, Rawls, McIntyre, Solzhenitsyn, Havel). In part three, Castoriadis shows how psychoanalysis, like politics, can contribute to the project of individual and collective autonomy and challenges Lacan, Foucault, Derrida, and others in his report on The State of the Subject Today.” This section also presents his most current lines of psychoanalytic research and thought on the human nonconscious” in the body and on the problem of the psychoanalysis of psychotic subjects, where an alternative coherence on the level of meaning offers a constant challenge to the task of psychoanalytic interpretation. Castoriadis’s highly original investigations of the unruly place of the imagination in Western philosophy round out the book. He examines how Aristotle’s original aporetic discovery and cover-up of the imagination were repeated by Kant, Freud, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty.

World in Fragments: Writings on Politics, Society, Psychoanalysis, and the Imagination (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Stanford University Press

This collection presents a broad and compelling overview of the most recent work by a world-renowned figure in contemporary thought. Starting from an inquiry that grows out of the specific context of a society that is experiencing uncertainty as to its ways of living and being, its goals, its values, and its knowledge, one that has been incapable, so far, of adequately understanding the crisis it is undergoing, Castoriadis sets as his task the elucidation of this crisis and its conditions. The book is in four parts: Koinonia, Polis, Psyche, Logos. The opening section begins with a general introduction to the author’s views on being, time, creation, and the imaginary institution of society and continues with reflections on the role of the individual psyche in racist thinking and acting and on the retreat from autonomy to generalized conformity in postmodernism. The second part is a critique of those who now belittle and distort the meaning of May ‘68 and other movements of the sixties as well as the French Revolution. The fate of the “project of autonomy” is considered here in the light of the Greek and the modern “political imaginary,” the “pulverization of Marxism-Leninism,” and a recent alleged “return of ethics” (Habermas, Rawls, McIntyre, Solzhenitsyn, Havel). In part three, Castoriadis shows how psychoanalysis, like politics, can contribute to the project of individual and collective autonomy and challenges Lacan, Foucault, Derrida, and others in his report on “The State of the Subject Today.” This section also presents his most current lines of psychoanalytic research and thought on the “human nonconscious” in the body and on the problem of the psychoanalysis of psychotic subjects, where an alternative coherence on the level of meaning offers a constant challenge to the task of psychoanalytic interpretation. Castoriadis’s highly original investigations of the unruly place of the imagination in Western philosophy round out the book. He examines how Aristotle’s original aporetic discovery and cover-up of the imagination were repeated by Kant, Freud, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty.

World in Fragments: Writings on Politics, Society, Psychoanalysis, and the Imagination (Meridian - Crossing Aesthetics)

This posthumous book represents the first publication of one of the seminars of Cornelius Castoriadis, a renowned and influential figure in twentieth-century thought. A close reading of Plato's Statesman, it is an exemplary instance of Castoriadis's pragmatic, pertinent, and discriminating approach to thinking and reading a great work: "I mean really reading it, by respecting it without respecting it, by going into the recesses and details without having decided in advance that everything it contains is coherent, homogeneous, makes sense, and is true."  Castoriadis brings out what he calls The Statesman's "quirky structure," with its three digressions, its eight incidental points, and its two definitions, neither of which is deemed good. He does not hesitate to differ with the text, to show that what is, in appearance, secondary is really essential, and that the denunciation of the Sophists accommodates itself quite well to the use of sophistical procedures. Castoriadis shows how The Statesman takes us into the heart of what is distinctive in the late Plato: blending, acceptance of the mixed, of the intermediate.  These transcriptions of Cornelius's afford the reader an opportunity to discover his trenchant, convincing, energetic, provocative, and often droll voice. Here is a hitherto unknown Castoriadis, who reflects as he speaks, collects himself, corrects himself, and doesn't hesitate to revisit key points. In short, this is Castoriadis's thinking in action.

On Plato's "Statesman" (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)

This posthumous book represents the first publication of one of the seminars of Cornelius Castoriadis, a renowned and influential figure in twentieth-century thought. A close reading of Platos Statesman, it is an exemplary instance of Castoriadiss pragmatic, pertinent, and discriminating approach to thinking and reading a great work: I mean really reading it, by respecting it without respecting it, by going into the recesses and details without having decided in advance that everything it contains is coherent, homogeneous, makes sense, and is true. Castoriadis brings out what he calls The Statesmans quirky structure, with its three digressions, its eight incidental points, and its two definitions, neither of which is deemed good. He does not hesitate to differ with the text, to show that what is, in appearance, secondary is really essential, and that the denunciation of the Sophists accommodates itself quite well to t

On Plato's Statesman (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)

Europe

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Castoriadis, Cornelius. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Castoriadis, Cornelius

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Castoriadis, Cornelius. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Philosophy, Politics, Autonomy: Essays in Political Philosophy (Odéon)

Crossroads in the labyrinth

The Imaginary Institution of Society

Crossroads in the Labyrinth (MIT Press)

The Imaginary Institution of Society

The imaginary institution of society

World in Fragments: Writings on Politics, Society, Psychoanalysis, and the Imagination (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)

World in Fragments: Writings on Politics, Society, Psychoanalysis, and the Imagination (Meridian - Crossing Aesthetics)

On Plato's "Statesman" (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)

On Plato's Statesman (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)