Post-foundational political thought : political difference in Nancy, Lefort, Badiou and Laclau / Oliver Marchart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Marchart, Oliver.

Series:

Taking on the political (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Taking on the political

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science--Philosophy.

Political science.

Continental philosophy.

Physical Description:

viii, 198 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2007]

Summary:

This is a wide-ranging overview of the emergence of post-foundationalism and a survey of the work of its key contemporary exponents. The author presents the first systematic coverage of the conceptual difference between 'politics' (the practice of conventional politics: the political system or political forms of action) and 'the political' (a much more radical aspect which cannot be restricted to the realms of institutional politics). It is also the first introductory overview of post-foundationalism and the tradition of 'left Heideggerianism': the political thought of contemporary theorists who make frequent use of the idea of political difference: Jean-Luc Nancy, Claude Lefort, Alain Badiou and Ernesto Laclau.

After an overview of current trends in social post-foundationalism and a genealogical chapter on the historical emergence of the difference between the concepts of 'politics' and 'the political', the work of individual theorists is presented and discussed at length. Individual chapters are presented on the political thought of Jean-Luc Nancy (including Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe), Claude Lefort, Alain Badiou and Ernesto Laclau (including Chantal Mouffe). Overall, the book offers an elaboration of the idea of a post-foundational conception of politics.

Contents:

Expanded Contents List vii

Introduction: On the Absent Ground of the Social 1

1 The Contours of 'Left Heideggerianism': Post-Foundationalism and Necessary Contingency 11

2 Politics and the Political: Genealogy of a Conceptual Difference 35

3 Retracing the Political Difference: Jean-Luc Nancy 61

4 The Machiavellian Moment Re-Theorized: Claude Lefort 85

5 The State and the Politics of Truth: Alain Badiou 109

6 The Political and the Impossibility of Society: Ernesto Laclau 134

7 Founding Post-Foundationalism: A Political Ontology 154.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [179]-191) and index.

ISBN:

074862497X

0748624988

9780748624973

9780748624980

OCLC:

86167670