Chronicles of Consensual Times

by Jacques Rancière, Steven Corcoran

In this fascinating collection, Jacques Ranciere, one of the world's most important and influential living philosophers, explores the nature of consensus in contemporary politics.

Consensus does not mean peace. Instead it refers to a map of operations of war, of a topography of the visible, of what is possible and what can be thought, in which war and peace live side-by-side. Lying at the heart of these consensual times are new forms of racism and ethnic cleansing, humanitarian wars and wars against terror. Consensus also implies using time in a way that sees in it a thousand devious turns. This is evident in the incessant diagnoses of the present and of amnesiac politics, in the farewells to the past, the commemorations, and the calls to remember.

But all these twists and turns tend toward the same goal: to show that there is only one reality to which we are obliged to consent. What stands in the way of this undertaking is politics. These chronicles aim to re-open that space wherein politics once more becomes thinkable.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Art

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Jacques Rancière (born Algiers, 1940) is a French philosopher and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris (St. Denis) who came to prominence when he co-authored Reading Capital (1968), with the Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser.

Rancière contributed to the influential volume Reading "Capital" (though his contribution is not contained in the partial English translation) before publicly breaking with Althusser over his attitude toward the May 1968 student uprising in Paris.
Since then, Rancière has departed from the path set by his teacher and published a series of works probing the concepts that make up our understanding of political discourse. What is ideology? What is the proletariat? Is there a working class? And how do these masses of workers that thinkers like Althusser referred to continuously enter into a relationship with knowledge? We talk about them but what do we know? An example of this line of thinking is Rancière's book entitled Le philosophe et ses pauvres (The Philosopher and His Poor, 1983), a book about the role of the poor in the intellectual lives of philosophers.

Most recently Rancière has written on the topic of human rights and specifically the role of international human rights organizations in asserting the authority to determine which groups of people — again the problem of masses — justify human rights interventions, and even war.

In 2006, it was reported that Rancière's aesthetic theory had become a point of reference in the visual arts, and Rancière has lectured at such art world events as the Freize Art Fair. Former French presidential candidate Ségolène Royal has cited Rancière as her favourite philosopher.

Reviews

[Wakinglife]

"Sınırsız adalet" kısa bir süre önce, o zamana kadar adaleti sınırlayan tüm bu ayrımların yok oluşunu kutsayan isim olmuştu: Şahsi intikam ve kamusal yaptırım, savaş ve polis operasyonu, politika, hukuk, ahlak ve din, iyiliğin kötülüğe karşı sonsuz savaşında aynı şekilde yutulup gitmişlerdi. Gücün belirsizliği, artık kendi saltanatını zamansal farklılıkların ortadan kaldırılmasıyla, öncenin ve sonranın neden ve sonuçtan ya da araç ve amaçtan artık ayırt edilemediği, kesintiye uğramayan şimdiki zamanın saltanatına genişletmektedir. Evvelce gücün kendini meşrulaştırmak için gereken gerçekleri ve argümanları her zaman bulduğu söylenirdi. Bugün aşırı gücün yayılmasına eşlik eden, daha ziyade gerçeklerin unutulması ve muhakemenin sonuna varmanın imkansızlığıdır. Bunun nedeni sadece, bunların gücün isteklerine daha iyi hizmet etmesi değildir. Belki de daha radikal anlamda ne istediğini artık hatırlamamak ve hatırlayabileceği zamanı da yok etmek sınırsız güce mahsustur.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

These writings are Ranciere at the best I've come across by him.