Contemporary French philosophy : modernity and the persistence of the subject / Caroline Williams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Williams, Caroline, 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy, French.

Subject (Philosophy)--History.

Philosophy, Modern.

Philosophy, French--20th century.

Subject (Philosophy)--History--20th century.

Philosophy, Modern--20th century.

Subject (Philosophy).

History.

Physical Description:

vi, 254 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Athlone Press, 2001.

Summary:

French philosophy and cultural theory continue to hold a prestigious and influential position in European thought. One of the central themes of contemporary French philosophy is its concern with the theoretical and political status of the subject, a question that has been broached by structuralists and post-structuralists through an analysis of the construction of the subject in and by language, discourse, power and ideology. Contemporary French Philosophy outlines the construction of the subject in modern philosophy, focusing in particular on the seminal work of Althusser, Lacan, Derrida and Foucault. The book interrogates some of the most influential perspectives on the question of the subject to contest those postmodern voices which announce its disappearance or death. It argues instead that the question of the subject persists, even in those perspectives which seek to abandon it altogether. Providing a broad introduction to the field and an original analysis of some of the most influential theorists of the 20th century, the book will be of great interest to political and literary theorists and cultural historians, as well as to philosophers.

Contents:

1. Inheriting Problems and Paradoxes: Subjectivity and Modern Philosophy 12

I. Descartes and the birth of the modern cogito 14

II. Spinoza's philosophy of substance: the decomposition and recomposition of the subject 18

III. Hegelian phenomenology: constructing the subject of history 27

2. Marxism and Subjectivity: from Lukacs to Althusser 38

I. Returning to Lukacs 40

II. The encounter between structuralism and subjectivity 54

III. Althusser and the repositioning of the subject 56

3. Psychoanalysis, Subjectivity and the Vita Lingua 78

I. Lacan's theory of the subject 82

II. The paradox of the subject: between philosophy and psychoanalysis 92

III. Psychoanalysis, subjectivity and the political 102

4. Derrida, Subjectivity and the Politics of Differance 109

I. Situating deconstruction: Derrida, Althusser and Lacan 112

II. Deconstruction and the subject: contesting the subject as self-presence 122

III. Deconstruction and political critique 140

5. The Discursive Construction of the Subject 152

I. Archaeologies of the subject 156

II. Foucauldian dilemmas: thinking the limits of discourse 170

III. Genealogies of the subject: power and subjection 175.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [234]-245) and index.

ISBN:

0485004321

0485006324

OCLC:

45583412