This article examines the link between oligarchy and the notion of representative democracy, which for Castoriadis also implies the bureaucratisation of society. However, in an argument with and against Castoriadis, one has to decipher modern oligarchies before launching into a radical critique of the principle of representation. There is a diversity of representative democracies, and the complexity of modernity comes from a mixture of oligarchy, representation and democracy. Even though the idea of democracy has evolved, we do not live under (...) representative democracies but under liberal oligarchies. Direct democratic procedures and representative elements can sometimes be gathered in order to create new forms of political commitment. The main problem is avoiding a concentration of powers, which cannot create the conditions for the emergence of democratic institutions. (shrink)

Motivated by a desire to narrate and contextualize the deluge of "French theory," After the Deluege showcases recent work by today's brightest scholars of French intellectual history that historicizes key debates, figures, and turning points in the postwar era of French thought.

Cet ouvrage revient sur les trajectoires intellectuelles de trois penseurs grecs ayant fui la Grece a bord du Mataroa a la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale: Kostas Axelos, Cornelius Castoriadis et Kostas Papaioannou. Transfert culturel a double titre, qui fut rendu possible grace au soutien de l'Institut francais d'Athenes qui souhaitait attirer ces intellectuels dissidents en France, et en raison du role de premier plan qu'ils ont ensuite joue au sein du paysage intellectuel francais, cette migration eclaire de maniere (...) decisive un pan de notre histoire intellectuelle europeenne. Ce livre decrit le contexte de leur exil ainsi que l'originalite de leur parcours respectif dans la France de l'apres-guerre, a travers leur critique du marxisme et leur reflexion sur le devenir des societes occidentales. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to analyze the issue of trauma and literature in the context of the Algerian war, as presented in two novels by Algerian writers who use French in a multicultural way: Un regard blessé [Shattered vision] by Rabah Belamri and La Malédiction by Rachid Mimouni [the Malediction]. It will answer the following question:is it possible to see in the francophone Literature a tendency to de-structure the text in order to make it possible for a new (...) plurality to emerge? Literature re-members culture as it points out the dark side of the Algerian history, it makes the readers understand the current situation and the heritage of the past. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to analyze the philosophy of values developed by Cornelius Castoriadis from his theory of the imaginary institution of societies. By understanding the emergence of imaginary significations, it is possible to identify their manifestations through the representations, the affects and the intentions of individuals. In this context, values correspond to a series of significations that motivate the conduct of individuals. In fact, in a specific society, individuals believe in symbols that make sense for them. The (...) presentation of the values does not reflect a moral project, but rather a socio-political construction that must be carefully described in order to identify the alteration of values over time. The article explores the way in which Castoriadis poses the problem of the persistence of past values with the risk of depending on established norms without being able to really transform them. In this perspective, Castoriadis refers to a fundamental value which is that of autonomy capable of questioning existing imaginaries. (shrink)