On the Shores of Politics
It is frequently said that we are living through the end of politics, the end of social upheavals, the end of utopian folly. Consensual realism is the order of the day. But political realists, remarks Jacques Ranciere, are always several steps behind reality, and the only thing which may come to an end with their dominance is democracy. 'We could', he suggests, 'merely smile at the duplicity of the conclusion/suppression of politics which is simultaneously a suppression/conclusion of philosophy.' This is precisely the task which Ranciere undertakes in these subtle and perceptive essays. He argues persuasively that since Plato and Aristotle politics has always constructed itself as the art of ending politics, that realism is itself utopian, and that what has succeeded the polemical forms of class struggle is not the wisdom of a new millennium but the return of old fears, criminality and chaos. Whether he is discussing the confrontation between Mitterrand and Chirac, French working-class discourse after the 1830 revolution, or the ideology of recent student mobilizations, his aim is to restore philosophy to politics and give politics back its original and necessary meaning: the organization of dissent.
Paperback, 107 pages
ISBN: 9781844675777
January 2007
$12.95 / £6.99
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Part of the Radical Thinkers series
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Rancière’s writings offer one of the few consistent conceptualizations of how we are to continue to resist.
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Radical Thinkers: Judith Butler, Simon Critchley and Jacques Rancière
To celebrate publication of the fifth set of books in Verso's acclaimed Radical Thinkers series, you're invited to listen to some audio from an October 2009 event entitled "Radical Thinkers: Judith Butler, Simon Critchley and Jacques Rancière on the importance of critical theory to social movements today." The event took place at the New School in New York City where angry masses had to be turned away due to over-capacity.
Discussions
Begin a discussionOther books by Jacques Rancière
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The Intellectual and His People
Rethinking the role of the radical public intellectual. -
Proletarian Nights
A classic text by Rancière on the intellectual thought of French workers in the 19th century.
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The Emancipated Spectator
The foremost philosopher of art argues for a new politics of looking.
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Staging the People
Rancière's classic essays from the 1970s, as he was developing his distinctive method.
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Hatred of Democracy
A vehement defense of the principle of democracy against neoconservative repression. -
The Future of the Image
A leading philosopher presents a radical manifesto for the future of art and film.