Althusser and his contemporaries : philosophy's perpetual war

257 Pages·2013·0.806 MB·English

by  Warren Montag

Althusser
and His Contemporaries
POST- CONTEMPORARY INTERVENTIONS
Series Editors: Fredric Jameson, Michael Hardt, and Roberto Dainotto

Althusser
and His Contemporaries
PhIlOSOPhY’S PERPETuAl WAR
Warren Montag
Duke University Press Durham and London 2013
© 2013 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ♾
Designed by Courtney Leigh Baker
Typeset in Galliard by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Montag, Warren.
Althusser and his contemporaries : philosophy’s perpetual war /
Warren Montag.
pages cm—(Post-contemporary interventions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISbN 978-0-8223-5386-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISbN 978-0-8223-5400-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Althusser, Louis, 1918–1990. 2. Structuralism.
3. Poststructuralism. I. Title. II. Series:
Post-contemporary interventions.
b2430.A474M66 2013
194—dc23
2012048670
Para Dolores, Elisa y Jacobo
גאטנאמ ףסאי לאומש ןופ קנעדנא ןיא
Contents
ACkNOWlEdgMENTS ix
INTROduCTION Why Read Althusser Today? 1
PART I
Structure
Chapter 1
The Theoretical Conjuncture
Structure, Structurality, Structuralism
15
Chapter 2
Toward a Prehistory of Structuralism
From Montesquieu to Dilthey
23
Chapter 3
Settling Accounts with Phenomenology
Husserl and His Critics
36
Chapter 4
Lévi- Strauss
Ancestors and Descendants, Causes and Effects
53
Chapter 5
Between Spinozists
The Function of Structure in
Althusser, Macherey, and Deleuze
73
PART II
Subject
Chapter 6
Marxism and Humanism
103
Chapter 7
Althusser and Lacan
Toward a Genealogy of
the Concept of Interpellation
118
Chapter 8
Althusser and Foucault
Apparatuses of Subjection
141
PART III
Origin/End
Chapter 9
The Late Althusser
Materialism of the Encounter or
Philosophy of Nothingness?
173
Chapter 10
The End of Destiny
Althusser before Althusser
190
AfTERWORd 209
NOTES 213
bIblIOgRAPhY 231
INdEx 243

Acknowledgments
Étienne Balibar and Pierre Macherey have encouraged and challenged me
in innumerable ways, opening up paths that I am still exploring. I couldn’t
have written a book like this without their help and generosity. I also want
to acknowledge one of this work’s absent causes. In the summer of 1983, a
few months before his unexpected death, I spent a week with Michel Pê-
cheux translating “Discourse: Structure or Event” page by page as he wrote
it. I remember every word of the extraordinary conversations we had, and
they helped shape my view of Althusser and of his philosophical moment.
I discovered Althusser with G. M. Goshgarian many years ago, and, for-
tunately, we continue to argue about his texts even today. I have benefited
in many ways from his help and expertise. Gregory Elliot, whose work
transformed the study of Althusser in English, has been a great friend and
inspiration.
My comrades and friends who make up the editorial collective of Dé-
calages have provided the kind of community in which thought flourishes:
Aurelio Sainz Pezonaga, Juan Pedro Garcia, Filippo Del Lucchese, Vittorio
Morfino, Giorgos Fourtounis, Jason E. Smith, and Matt Bonal. I want to
express my gratitude to the founders of Rethinking Marxism, especially Jack
Amariglio, David Ruccio, Antonio Callari, and Rick Wolff, who have been
supportive of my work from the beginning.
I also want to acknowledge the following people without whom the
book would not have been what it is: Nancy Armstrong, Yann Moulier
Boutang, Sebastian Budgen, Alex Callinicos, Michel de Certeau (1925–
1986), Won Choi, Dan Fineman, Alain Gigandet, Michael Hardt, Spencer
Jackson, Mateusz Janik, James Kavanagh, William Lewis, Jacques Lezra,
François Matheron, David McInerney, Pierre- François Moreau, Antonio
Negri, Jason Read, Elisabeth Roudinesco, Juan Domingo Sanchez, Hasana
Sharp, Michael Sprinker (1950–1999), Ted Stolze, Peter Thomas, André
Tosel, and Maria Turchetto.