Politics and Aesthetics

by Jacques Rancière, Peter Engelmann, Wieland Hoban (Translator)

In this book the influential philosopher Jacques Rancière, in discussion with Peter Engelmann, explores the enduring connection between politics and aesthetics, arguing that aesthetics forms the fundamental basis for social and political upheaval. Beginning from his rejection of structuralist Marxism, Rancière outlines the development of his thought from his early studies on workers’ emancipation to his recent work on literature, film and visual art. Rather than discussing aesthetics within narrow terms of how we contemplate art or beauty, Rancière argues that aesthetics underpins our entire ‘regime of experience’. He shows how political relations develop from sensual experience, as individual feelings and perceptions become the concern of the community as a whole. Since politics emerges from the ‘division of the sensual’, aesthetic experience becomes a radically emancipatory and egalitarian means to disrupt this order and transform political reality. Investigating new forms of emancipatory politics arising from current art practices and social movements, this short book will appeal to anyone interested in contemporary art, aesthetics, philosophy and political theory.

Genres: Philosophy

120 pages, Hardcover

Published September 10, 2019

About the author

Jacques Rancière (born Algiers, 1940) is a French philosopher and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris (St. Denis) who came to prominence when he co-authored Reading Capital (1968), with the Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser.

Rancière contributed to the influential volume Reading "Capital" (though his contribution is not contained in the partial English translation) before publicly breaking with Althusser over his attitude toward the May 1968 student uprising in Paris.
Since then, Rancière has departed from the path set by his teacher and published a series of works probing the concepts that make up our understanding of political discourse. What is ideology? What is the proletariat? Is there a working class? And how do these masses of workers that thinkers like Althusser referred to continuously enter into a relationship with knowledge? We talk about them but what do we know? An example of this line of thinking is Rancière's book entitled Le philosophe et ses pauvres (The Philosopher and His Poor, 1983), a book about the role of the poor in the intellectual lives of philosophers.

Most recently Rancière has written on the topic of human rights and specifically the role of international human rights organizations in asserting the authority to determine which groups of people — again the problem of masses — justify human rights interventions, and even war.

In 2006, it was reported that Rancière's aesthetic theory had become a point of reference in the visual arts, and Rancière has lectured at such art world events as the Freize Art Fair. Former French presidential candidate Ségolène Royal has cited Rancière as her favourite philosopher.

Reviews

[Attasit Sittidumrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

แม้อาจไม่ได้นำเสนอประเด็นใหม่ๆในความคิดของร็องซิแยร์ แต่เล่มนี้เป็ฯบทสัมภาษณ์ที่ฉายให้เห็นพัฒนาการและความต่อเนื่องในโครงการทางปรัชญาของร็องซิแย์ได้เป็นอย่างดี หนังสือแบ่งการสัมภาษณ์ออกเป็นสองชิ้น ชิ้นแรกแนะนำมากสำหรับคนที่อยากทำความเข้าใจความคิดของร็องซิแยร์ เพราะเจ้าตัวจะอฺธิบายพัฒนาการทางความคิดของตนแบบคร่าวๆโดยใช้ภาษาที่อ่านง่าย ส่วนบทสัมภาษณ์ชิ้นที่สองจะเป็นการ clarify ประเด็นต่างๆและเชื่อมโยงแนวคิดของร็องซิแยร์เข้ากับสถานการณ์ทางการเมืองปัจจุบันซึ่งน่าสนใจดี

ถือว่าเป็นงานที่อ่านง่าย สนุกและค่อนข้างครบครันสำหรับคนที่สนใจความคิดของร็องซิแยร์

[Cyberpagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Precariat is me.