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Louis Althusser (1918–1990)

Closely associated with the period of high structuralism in 1960s France, Louis Althusser was one of the most significant Marxist philosophers of the twentieth century. Born in Birmendreis, Algeria in 1918, he moved to France with his family in 1930 and shortly thereafter pursued his lycée studies in Lyon. In 1939, he was admitted to the école Normale Supérieure, but his education was deferred when he was called up for military service. He spent the majority of the war in a German prisoner of war camp, a period that was formative for his own sense of political solidarity and his nascent Communist sympathies. In 1948, he passed the agrégation exam and also joined the French Communist Party, thus officially launching his dual career as a teacher of philosophy and an engaged Party intellectual. For more than thirty years, Althusser served as the agrégé-répétiteur, or caïman, at the ENS, the instructor charged with preparing students for the agrégation. This institutional base meant that scores of post-war French philosophers and intellectuals were exposed to and influenced by his teaching. For many years, Althusser suffered from periodic bouts of manic-depressive illness that interrupted his work and which tragically resulted in the strangling of his wife in 1980. Althusser spent the remaining decade of his life in and out of hospitals before his death in 1990.

Althusser’s decisive influence on the editors of the Cahiers was a result of his philosophical intervention in Marxism over the course of the 1960s. Beginning with his article ‘On the Young Marx’ (1961), Althusser produced a series of critical essays which responded to the ongoing work of de-Stalinization with a refusal to return to the Hegelian humanism of Marx’s youth and a radical insistence on the scientific quality of Marx’s work in Capital, as opposed to all forms of ideological mystification. Central to Althusser’s project was the claim that an epistemological break separated the young from the mature Marx, a break which correlated to the distinction between ideology and science. Moreover, Althusser’s critique of the Hegelian elements of Marxism specifically targeted the concept of expressive causality that lay at the centre of a teleological model of history driven by an effectively absolute subject (the proletariat). Against this framework, Althusser developed a theory of structural causality and argued for a conception of a history as a ‘process without a subject’. Inspired by Lacan’s return to Freud, Althusser conceived of his return to Marx in similar terms, attempting to supplant a substantive theory of (class) consciousness with a structural theory of determinant relations. After the publication in 1965 of For Marx, a collection of his articles, and Reading Capital, the results of his seminar on Marx’s masterpiece, Althusser began a more sustained inquiry into the nature of discourse and the conceptual relations among philosophy, science, and ideology. These investigations were undertaken in collaboration with his current and former students, among which figured Alain Badiou and Yves Duroux and other contributors to the Cahiers. He published in the Cahiers the text of one of his lessons on Rousseau,a lesson which displayed the fecundity of Althusser’s method of ‘symptomatic reading’. Althusser’s later work would be marked by a series of ‘auto-critiques’ and suggestive, if under-developed avenues for further research. In many ways, however, the Cahiers can be read as the critical development of Althusser’s own intellectual itinerary when it was at its most robust. As such, they are a lasting testament to the lines of inquiry opened by his work and his teaching.

In the Cahiers pour l’Analyse

Louis Althusser, ‘Sur le Contrat Social (Les décalages)’, CpA 8.1 [HTML] [PDF] [SYN]

Select bibliography

  • Journal de captivité (Stalag XA 1940-45). Paris: Stock/IMEC, 1992.
  • ‘L’internationale des bons sentiments’ (1946). In Ecrits Philosophiques et Politiques I. Paris: Stock/IMEC 1994. ‘The International of Decent Feelings’, trans. G.M. Goshgarian, The Spectre of Hegel: Early Writings. London: Verso, 1997.
  • ‘Du contenu dans la pensée de G.W.F. Hegel’ (1947). In Ecrits Philosophiques et Politiques I. Paris: Stock/IMEC 1994. ‘On Content in the Thought of G.W.F. Hegel’ trans. G.M. Goshgarian, The Spectre of Hegel: Early Writings.London: Verso, 1997.
  • ‘Le retour à Hegel. Dernier mot du révisionisme universitaire’ (1950). La Nouvelle Critique 20 (1950). ‘The Return of Hegel: The Latest Word in Academic Revisionism’, trans. G.M. Goshgarian, The Spectre of Hegel: Early Writings. London: Verso, 1997.
  • ‘à propos du marxisme’ (1953). Revue de l’enseignement philosophique. 3:4 (1953): 15-19. ‘On Marxism’, trans. G.M. Goshgarian, The Spectre of Hegel: Early Writings. London: Verso, 1997.
  • ‘Note sur le matérialisme dialectique’ (1953). Revue de l’enseignement philosophique, 3:5 (1953): 11-17. ‘On Marxism’, trans. G.M. Goshgarian, The Spectre of Hegel: Early Writings. London: Verso, 1997.
  • Montesquieu, la politique et l’histoire. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1959. ‘Montesquieu: Politics and History’, trans. Ben Brewster, Politics and History: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Marx. London: Verso, 2007.
  • ‘Les “Manifestes philosophiqes” de Feuerbach’, La Nouvelle Critique 121 (1960): 32-38. ‘Feuerbach’s Philosophical Manifestoes’, trans. Ben Brewster, For Marx. London: New Left Books, 1969.
  • ‘Sur le jeune Marx (Questions de théorie)’, La Pensée 96 (1961): 3-26. ‘On the Young Marx: Theoretical Questions’, trans. Ben Brewster, For Marx. London: New Left Books, 1969.
  • ‘Contradiction et surdetermination (Notes pour un recherche)’, La Pensée 106 (1962): 5-46. ‘Contradiction and Overdetermination: Notes for an Investigation’, trans. Ben Brewster, For Marx. London: New Left Books, 1969.
  • ‘Marxisme et humanisme’. Cahiers de l’Institut des Sciences économique Appliquées 20 (1964): 109-133. ‘Marxism and Humanism’, trans. Ben Brewster in For Marx. London New Left Books, 1969.
  • ‘Sur la dialectique matérialiste (De l’inégalité des origines)’. La Pensée 110 (1963): 5-46. ‘On the Materialist Dialectic: On the Unevenness of Origins’, trans. Ben Brewster, For Marx. London: Verso 2005.
  • ‘Freud et Lacan’. La Nouvelle Critique 161-162 (1964–1965): 88-108. ‘Freud and Lacan’, trans. Ben Brewster, Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. New York: Monthly Review, 2002.
  • Lire le Capital, Tome 1 and 2, with étienne Balibar, Roger Establet, Pierre Macherey, and Jacques Rancière. Paris: Maspero, 1965. Reading Capital, trans. Ben Brewster (contributions of Establet, Macherey, and Rancière omitted). London: New Left Books, 1970 .
  • ‘Theory, Theoretical Practice and Theoretical Formation’ (1965), trans. James Kavanaugh, Philosophy and the Spontaneous Philosophy of the Scientists, ed. Gregory Elliott. London: Verso, 1990.
  • ‘Sur Lévi-Strauss’ (1966). In écrits philosophiques et politiques, Tome 2. Paris: Stock/IMEC, 1997. ‘On Lévi-Strauss’, trans. G.M. Goshgarian, The Humanist Controversy and Other Writings. London: Verso 2003.
  • ‘Conjuncture philosophique et recherche théorique marxiste’(1966). In écrits philosophiques et politiques, Tome 2. Paris: Stock/IMEC, 1997. ‘The Philosophical Conjuncture and Marxist Theoretical Research’, trans. G.M. Goshgarian, The Humanist Controversy and Other Writings. London: Verso 2003.
  • ‘Trois notes sur la théorie du discours’(1966). In Ecrits sur la psychanalyse. Paris: Stock/IMEC, 1993. ‘Three Notes on the Theory of Discourse’, trans. G.M. Goshgarian, The Humanist Controversy and Other Writings. London: Verso 2003.
  • Philosophie et philosophie spontanée des savants (1967), Paris: Maspero, 1974. ‘Philosophy and the Spontaneous Philosophy of the Scientists’ trans. Warren Montag, Philosophy and the Spontaneous Philosophy of the Scientists, ed. Gregory Elliott. London: Verso, 1990.
  • ‘Du côté de la philosophie (Cinquième cours de philosophie pour scientifiques)’ (1967). In écrits philosophiques et politiques, Tome 2. Paris: Stock/IMEC, 1997.
  • ‘La tâche historique de la philosophie marxiste’ (1967). ‘The Historical Task of Marxist Philosophy’, trans. G.M. Goshgarian, The Humanist Controversy and Other Writings. London: Verso 2003.
  • ‘Lenine et la Philosophie’, Bulletin de la Société de Philosophie 4 (1968): 127-181; ‘Lenin and Philosophy’, trans. Ben Brewster, Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. New York: Monthly Review 2002.
  • ‘Sur le rapport de Marx à Hegel’. In Hegel et la pensée moderne, ed. Jacques l’Hondt. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1970. ‘Marx’s Relation to Hegel’, trans. Ben Brewster, Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. New York: Monthly Review 2002.
  • ‘Ideologie et appareils idéologiques d’état (notes pour une recherche)’ La Pensée 151 (1970): 3-38. ‘Ideology and Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: Notes Towards an Investigation’ trans. Ben Brewster, Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. New York: Monthly Review 2002.
  • Élements d’autocritique. Paris: Hachette 1974. ‘Elements of Self-Criticism’, trans. Grahame Lock, Essays in Self-Criticism. London: New Left Books, 1976.
  • ‘Est-il simple d’être marxiste en philosophie?’ (Soutenance d’Amiens) La Pensée 183 (1975): 3-31. ‘Is it Simple to be a Marxist in Philosophy?’ trans. Grahame Lock, Essays in Self-Criticism.London: New Left Books, London, 1976.
  • 2éme Congrés. Paris: Maspero, 1977. ‘On the Twenty-Second Congress of the French Communist Party’, trans. Ben Brewster, New Left Review 104 (1977): 3-22.
  • ‘La transformation de la philosophie’ (1976), Sur la philosophie. Paris: Gallimard, 1994. ‘The Transformation of Philosophy’ trans., Thomas E. Lewis, Philosophy and the Spontaneous Philosophy of the Scientists, ed. Gregory Elliott. London: Verso, 1990.
  • ‘Enfin la crise du marxisme!’In Pouvoir et opposition dans les sociétés post-révolutionnaires. Paris: Seuil, 1978.
  • ‘Solitude de Machiavel’(1977). In Solitude de Machiavel et autres texts. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1998. ‘Machiavelli’s Solitude’, trans. Gregory Elliott. Machiavelli and Us. London: Verso, 1999.
  • ‘Marx dans ses limites’(1978). In écrits philosophiques et politiques, Tome 1. Paris: Stock/IMEC, 1994.
  • ‘Le Marxisme aujourd’hui’ 1978). In Solitude de Machiavel et autres texts. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1998. ‘Marxism Today’, trans. James H. Kavanaugh, Philosophy and the Spontaneous Philosophy of the Scientists, ed. Gregory Elliott. London: Verso, 1990.
  • ‘Le courant souterrain du matérialisme de la rencontre’(1982). In écrits philosophiques et politiques, Tome 1. Paris: Stock/IMEC, 1994. ‘The Underground Current of the Materialism of the Encounter’ trans. G.M. Goshgarian, Philosophy of the Encounter: Later Writings 1978-1987. London: Verso, 2006..
  • ‘L’avenir dure longtemps’(1985). In L’avenir dure longtemps, suivi de Les Faits. Paris: Stock/IMEC, 1992. The Future Lasts Forever, trans. Richard Veasey. New York: New Press, 1993.