Chapter 13 Classicising the Radical Imaginary: the Legacy of Athens in the Thought of Cornelius Castoriadis and Jacques Rancière

In: Brill's Companion to the Legacy of Greek Political Thought
Author:
Carol Atack
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Type:
Chapter
Pages:
364–395
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004679344_015

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Abstract

During the post-war period in France a fruitful cross-pollination took place between new approaches to ancient history and radical political theorisation. Cornelius Castoriadis and Jacques Rancière used the political culture and thought of classical Athens to explore the failings of modern societies and their democracies, while ancient historians such as Jean-Pierre Vernant, Pierre Vidal-Naquet and Nicole Loraux used the formers’ political analyses, along with other new approaches such as structuralist anthropology and psychoanalysis, to understand antiquity. Turning away from established Marxist approaches, they founded their critical analysis in ancient Greek texts, especially Plato, and the practices of Athenian direct democracy.

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Series:  Brill's Companions to Philosophy: Ancient Philosophy, Volume: 8 and  Brill's Companions to Philosophy, Volume: 8
Cover Brill's Companion to the Legacy of Greek Political Thought
E-Book ISBN:
9789004679344
Publisher:
Brill
Print Publication Date:
16 Sep 2024
Front Matter
Introduction
Part 1 The Reproduction of Greek Political Thought
Part 2 Greek Thought in New Environments
Part 3 Variation and Adaptation
Part 4 Greek Thought and the Potential for Dissent
Back Matter

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