Louis Althusser
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| - | "In his loyalty to the truth ''and to'' the Communist Party, [[Louis Althusser|Althusser]] could no longer remain Althusser. Thus, the world-famous Marxist philosopher, in a "psychotic" attack of mental confusion, as they say, murdered [[Hélène Rytmann|his wife]] on 16 November 1980, perhaps in one of those desperate states in which one no longer knows where the other begins and the ego ends, where the boundaries betwen self-assertion and blind destruction dissolve."--''[[Critique of Cynical Reason]]'' (1983) by Peter Sloterdijk | + | "In his loyalty to the truth ''and to'' the Communist Party, [[Louis Althusser|Althusser]] could no longer remain Althusser. Thus, the world-famous Marxist philosopher, in a "psychotic" attack of mental confusion, as they say, [[Louis Althusser and Hélène Rytmann|murdered]] [[Hélène Rytmann|his wife]] on 16 November 1980, perhaps in one of those desperate states in which one no longer knows where the other begins and the ego ends, where the boundaries betwen self-assertion and blind destruction dissolve."--''[[Critique of Cynical Reason]]'' (1983) by Peter Sloterdijk |
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| - | '''Louis Pierre Althusser''' ([[October 16]], [[1918]] – [[October 22]], [[1990]]) was a [[French philosophy|French]] [[Marxist philosophy|Marxist philosopher]], best-known for developing [[structural Marxism]] and for [[Louis Althusser and Hélène Rytmann|strangling his wife]]. | + | '''Louis Pierre Althusser''' (16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French [[Marxist philosophy|Marxist philosopher]]. He was born in [[Algeria]] and studied at the [[École normale supérieure (Paris)|École normale supérieure]] in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy. |
| - | He was born in [[Algeria]] and studied at the prestigious [[École Normale Supérieure]] in [[Paris]], where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy. He was a lifelong member and sometimes strong critic of the [[French Communist Party]]. His arguments and theses were set against the threats that he saw attacking the theoretical foundations of Marxism. These included both the influence of [[empiricism]] on [[Marxist theory]], and humanist and democratic socialist orientations which manifested as divisions in the European Communist Parties, as well as the problem of the '[[cult of personality]]' and of ideology itself. Althusser is commonly referred to as a [[Structural Marxism|Structural Marxist]], although his relationship to other schools of [[French structuralism]] is not a simple affiliation and he is critical of many aspects of structuralism. | + | Althusser was a long-time member and sometimes a strong critic of the [[French Communist Party]] (''Parti communiste français'', PCF). His arguments and theses were set against the threats that he saw attacking the theoretical foundations of [[Marxism]]. These included both the influence of [[empiricism]] on Marxist theory, and [[humanist]] and [[reformist]] [[socialist]] orientations which manifested as divisions in the European communist parties, as well as the problem of the [[cult of personality]] and of ideology. Althusser is commonly referred to as a [[structural Marxist]], although his relationship to other schools of French [[structuralism]] is not a simple affiliation and he was critical of many aspects of structuralism. |
| - | ==Influence== | + | |
| - | Although Althusser's theories were born of an attempt to defend what some saw as [[Communist]] orthodoxy, the eclecticism of his influences - drawing equally from contemporary structuralism, philosophy of science and psychoanalysis as from thinkers in the Marxist tradition - reflected a move away from the intellectual isolation of the [[Stalinist]] era. Furthermore his thought was symptomatic both of Marxism's growing academic respectability and of a push towards emphasising Marx's legacy as a [[philosopher]] rather than only as an [[economist]]. Judt saw this as a criticism of Althusser's work, saying he removed Marxism ''altogether from the realm of history, politics and experience, and thereby to render it invulnerable to any criticism of the empirical sort.'' | + | Althusser's life was marked by periods of intense mental illness. In 1980, he killed his wife, the sociologist [[Hélène Rytmann]], by strangling her. He was declared unfit to stand trial due to insanity and committed to a psychiatric hospital for three years. He did little further academic work, dying in 1990. |
| - | Althusser has had broad influence in the areas of [[Marxist philosophy]] and [[post-structuralism]]: [[Interpellation]] has been popularised and adapted by the [[feminist]] philosopher and critic [[Judith Butler]]; the concept of Ideological State Apparatuses has been of interest to [[Slovenia]]n philosopher [[Slavoj Žižek]]; the attempt to view history as a process without a [[subject (philosophy)|subject]] garnered sympathy from [[Jacques Derrida]]; [[historical materialism]] was defended as a coherent doctrine from the standpoint of [[analytic philosophy]] by [[G. A. Cohen]]; the interest in [[structure and agency]] sparked by Althusser was to play a role in [[Anthony Giddens]]'s [[theory of structuration]]; Althusser was vehemently attacked by British [[historian]] [[E. P. Thompson]] in his book ''[[The Poverty of Theory]]''. As well as this, several of Althusser's students became eminent intellectuals in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s: [[Alain Badiou]], [[Étienne Balibar]] and [[Jacques Ranciere]] in [[philosophy]], [[Pierre Macherey]] in [[literary criticism]] and [[Nicos Poulantzas]] in [[sociology]]. The prominent [[Guevarist]] [[Régis Debray]] also studied under Althusser, as did the aforementioned [[Derrida]], noted philosopher [[Michel Foucault]], and the pre-eminent Lacanian psychoanalyst [[Jacques-Alain Miller]]. | ||
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"In his loyalty to the truth and to the Communist Party, Althusser could no longer remain Althusser. Thus, the world-famous Marxist philosopher, in a "psychotic" attack of mental confusion, as they say, murdered his wife on 16 November 1980, perhaps in one of those desperate states in which one no longer knows where the other begins and the ego ends, where the boundaries betwen self-assertion and blind destruction dissolve."--Critique of Cynical Reason (1983) by Peter Sloterdijk |
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Louis Pierre Althusser (16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École normale supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy.
Althusser was a long-time member and sometimes a strong critic of the French Communist Party (Parti communiste français, PCF). His arguments and theses were set against the threats that he saw attacking the theoretical foundations of Marxism. These included both the influence of empiricism on Marxist theory, and humanist and reformist socialist orientations which manifested as divisions in the European communist parties, as well as the problem of the cult of personality and of ideology. Althusser is commonly referred to as a structural Marxist, although his relationship to other schools of French structuralism is not a simple affiliation and he was critical of many aspects of structuralism.
Althusser's life was marked by periods of intense mental illness. In 1980, he killed his wife, the sociologist Hélène Rytmann, by strangling her. He was declared unfit to stand trial due to insanity and committed to a psychiatric hospital for three years. He did little further academic work, dying in 1990.
