Philosophy, Politics, Autonomy Essays in Political Philosophy [Paperback]

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 ofThe Imaginary Institution ofSocietyandCrossroads in the Labyrinthposes a radical challenge to our inherited philosophy.

1. Intellectuals and History
2. The End of Philosophy ?
3. The Social-Historical: Mode of Being, Problems of Knowledge
4. Individual, Society, Rationality, History
5. The Greek Polis and the Creation of Democracy
6. The Nature and Value of Equality
7. Power, Politics, Autonomy
8. Reflections on Rationality and Development ; Presentation and Response to Critics
9. The Crisis of Culture and the State
10. Dead End?
Bibliography
Index