The development of Rancière’s philosophical work, from his formative years through the political and methodological break with Louis Althusser and the lessons of May 68, is documented here, as are the confrontations with other thinkers, the controversies and occasional misunderstandings. So too are the unity of his work and the distinctive style of his thinking, despite the frequent disconnect between politics and aesthetics and the subterranean movement between categories and works. Lastly one sees his view of our age, and of our age’s many different and competing realities. What we gain in the end is a rich and multi-layered portrait of a life and a body of thought dedicated to the exercise of philosophy and to the emergence of possible new worlds.
Table of Contents:
FOREWORD
PART ONE: GENESES
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
EDUCATION
READING CAPITAL
ATTITUDE TO COMMUNIST ENGAGEMENT
MAY 68, VINCENNES AND THE GAUCHE PROLETARIENNE
TURNING POINTS
IN THE NIGHTS OF LABOUR
BIRTH OF A METHOD: WAYS OF READING AND WRITING
MICHEL FOUCAULT
LES REVOLTES LOGIQUES AND THE FALLOUT FROM MAY 68
CINEMA, LEFT-WING FICTION AND POPULAR MEMORY
PART TWO: LINES
HERITAGE AND SINGULARITY
ANTI-SYSTEMATIC SYSTEMATICITY
PRIVILEGING SPACE, RETHINKING TIME
EXCESS OR EVENT
THE DEFINITION OF A SCENE
SUBJECTIFICATION IN WORDS
FACULTIES OR POSSIBILITIES
AESTHETIC REVOLUTION, DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION?
PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING AND ORDINARY DISCOURSES
PHILOSOPHY IN EFFECTS
THE REST IS UP TO YOU
THE LAUGHTER IN A THOUGHT
PART THREE: THRESHHOLDS
DEMYSTIFICATION OR DECONSTRUCTION
CONSENSUS AND STUPIDITY
WARDING OFF MASTERY
LOCATING THE UNCONSCIOUS
PROLETARIANS THEN AND NOW
EQUALITY/INEQUALITIES
THE ORDERING OF THE COMMON
DISIDENTIFICATION AND SUBJECTIFICATION
POLITICS AND INSTITUTIONS
THE PLACE OF THE SOCIAL
NEWNESS AND HISTORICITY
THE DISPERSAL OF IMAGES; ANOTHER ART REGIME?
POPULAR CULTURES
PART FOUR: PRESENT TENSES
MAPPING POSSIBILITIES
FIGURES OF THE PRESENT, MODALITIES OF THE ‘POLICE’
RUPTURES, REVOLUTIONS, REVOLTS
A NEW INTERNATIONALISM?
MIGRANT BODIES, SUFFERING BODIES
HUMANS, NON-HUMANS: ON POLITICAL ECOLOGY
A WORLD THAT HAS LOST ALL SENSE OF REALITY: HOW DO WE INFORM OURSELVES?
THE HUMAN INTEREST STORY, ORDINARY LIVES, INVESTIGATION
PRECARIOUS AND POPULAR ARTS OF LIVING
THE DIVISON OF THE SENSIBLE AND CONTEMPORARY ART
THE FUTURE OF SOCIALISM
POLITICAL ECONOMICS
INTERVIEWS AND DIALOGUE
INDEX
About the Author :
Jacques Rancière is a leading French philosopher and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Paris-St. Denis. His many books include The Politics of Literature, Aesthetics and Its Discontents and The Future of the Image.
Review :
Words matter to Rancière. In these interviews, against the background of informed and beautifully crafted questions, Rancière works through and articulates, forms and re-forms, the words that contour his thought and provide it with its depth and power: equality, speech, subjectivization, stupidity, contradiction, possibility, event, scene, police, aesthetic regime, and on and on. The Method of Equality is, in reality, a Rancière lexicon in which each of his key words is returned to the political debates and living reality from which it arose. Essential reading for aficionados and newcomers to Rancière’s political philosophy.’
J.M. Bernstein, New School for Social Research
"Rancière’s thought, as explored in this book, provides the field of community development not only with insightful, fundamental challenges, but also with really useful ideas for moving forward; and, crucially, with hope."
Anne Harley, Adult Education
"Rancière’s thought, as explored in this book, provides the field of community development not only with insightful, fundamental challenges, but also with really useful ideas for moving forward; and, crucially, with hope."
Community Development Journal
