In this vibrant debate with intellectuals influenced by Marcel Mauss, including Alain Caill� and Chantal Mouffe, the incisive Greek-French activist and philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis addresses the challenge of critical thinking in an international context. The first half explores the tradition of radical self-critique and the prospect of affirming its value in a non-ethnocentric way. While defending ancient Greek contributions to the Western tradition of radical self-critique - including the practice of "relativizing" one's own culture, of engaging in philosophical interrogation, and of establishing democratic institutions - Castoriadis is challenged to explore the trans-contextual features of any self-critical, or "autonomous," social institution. In the second half Castoriadis offers a penetrating critique of representative democracy, and the discussion makes important strides toward a new conception of direct democracy, of political education, and of the institutional prerequisites for the continuation of radical self-critique in politics and philosophy.

About the Author

Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-1997) was a political activist and author of a large corpus on topics of political philosophy, ontology, psychoanalysis, and economics. He co-founded the French political group Socialisme ou Barbarie (1949-1965), later worked as an economist and psychoanalyst, and served from 1980-1995 as director of studies at the �cole des hautes �tudes en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris. John V. Garner is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of West Georgia. He is the primary translator of Postscript on Insignificance: Dialogues with Cornelius Castoriadis (2011) and the author of The Emerging Good in Plato’s Philebus (forthcoming).

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