Post-Foundational Political Thought: Political Difference in Nancy, Lefort, Badiou and Laclau

by Oliver Marchart

A wide-ranging overview of the emergence of post-foundationalism and a survey of the work of its key contemporary exponents. This book presents the first systematic coverage of the conceptual difference between ‘politics’ (the practice of conventional 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 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.Other titles in the Taking on the Political Valentine and Arditi/ Polemicisation 0 7486 1064 2Shapiro/ Cinematic Political Thought 0 7486 1289 0Chambers/ Language and the Politics of Untimeliness 0 7486 1766 3Bowman/ Post-Marxism Versus Cultural Studies 978 0 7486 1762 3Simons/ Critical Political Theory in the Media Age 0 7486 1583 0

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

!!!

[Simon]

Excellent account. Highly recommended to anyone interested in the topic. Pity not more about Ranciere though.

[Gehad Hasanin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book on political theory that relies heavily on philosophical terminology, Post-Foundational Political Thought does a very good job introducing a relative beginner to social post-foundationalism and the different arguments regarding the concepts of 'the political' and the 'political difference.'

I personally read the book as an introduction to different theorizations of the political difference (for other research), and I found it did a good job at introducing the (or at least some) highlights of each thinker's work.

As to Marchart's own argument however, I think I can only grasp it after a second reading - and then only after I've gotten more acquainted with Heideggerian philosophy. I did grasp that he is putting forward an argument for political ontology as a first philosophy that takes 'the political' as the shifting ground of all ontological interrogation, and I understand why he's doing so. His explanation of what post-foundationalism is and how it grew out of the foundationalist-antifoundationalist debate is easy to grasp. His discussion of 'the political' and how it is the ground/abyss of 'everything' was also easy to grasp, and it's not difficult to put these arguments together and understand why a philosophy of the political can serve as a first philosophy. But without a good understanding of ontology and Continental philosophy, the furthest I can engage with this main argument is to take it at face value. Another cautionary note is that German philosophical terms are used often without an English translation, which means the author counts on the reader either to know German or to have studied those concepts.

Again, this is an excellent introduction to the 'political difference' (i.e. between the political and politics). And it provides a good background to the philosophical conditions that gave rise to the concept of the political as well as its theoretical implications, especially its implication for democracy and democratic theory. I think such background knowledge is indispensable for anyone willing to employ the concept for actual interrogation and research.

[Albert Martínez i Cuadras · Rating 4 out of 5]

A partir de la diferència ontològica heideggeriana, Marchart proposa la diferència política (entre el fet polític i la política). La seva idea és que el pensament postfonamental expressa no la falta de fonament (això seria un mer "antifonamentalisme" que acabaria derivant en un nihilisme), sinó el fet que el fonament és absent. En altres paraules: el que hi ha al fonament és l'absència mateixa de fonament i, per tant, el terreny de l'ésser esdevé un terreny de disputa. Amb aquest marc teòric Marchart fa un autèntic exercici d'història de la filosofia i emmarca quatre pensadors contemporanis en aquest moviment postfonamental.

Rancière i la seva noció d'esdeveniment, Lefort i el conflicte que existeix a la base del fet social, Baidou i la gràcia de la contingència, i Laclau i la impossibilitat de la societat són quatre exemples de filosofia política postfonamental. Després d'aquesta trajectòria per la història recent de la filosofia política francesa, Marchart proposa entendre la política com una ontologia, és a dir: com l'autèntic terreny de la disputa pel fonament d'allò que és real i allò que no ho és. Partint de la diferència heideggeriana, doncs, s'han invertit els termes: ja no és la diferència ontològica la que funda les diferències òntiques, sinó la diferència política la que funda la diferència ontològica.

Aquest llibre és un autèntic exercici d'exegesi de la filosofia contemporània i, com a tal, excel·leix. Cal llegir-lo amb nocions bàsiques sobre els pensadors amb els quals dialoga perquè dona per fet que el lector domina l'argot de la filosofia postfonamental.

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This provides a really good overview of the difference between politics and the political, particularly in contrast to the ontological difference. This would be useful for anyone who slips into the trap of thinking of postmodern thinks as just being relativists.

[Minäpäminä · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mostly lucid exposition on "post-foundational" or just postmodern, recent French political theory, also dubbed "Left Heideggerianism" by Marchart. It does assume some background in the subject and at times degenerates into oblique word salad.

[Marcus Leis Allion · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well paced, clear and concise, sophisticated and critical introduction of the interstices of political theory and post-foundational philosophy (particularly “Heideggarianism of the Left”).