Read more
The publication of Reading Capital-by Louis Althusser, Étienne Balibar, Roger Establet, Pierre Macherey, and Jacques Rancière-in 1965 marked a key intervention in Marxist philosophy and critical theory, bringing forth a stunning array of concepts that continue to inspire philosophical reflection of the highest magnitude. The Concept in Crisis reconsiders the volume's reading of Marx and renews its call for a critique of capitalism and culture for the twenty-first century. The contributors-who include Alain Badiou, Étienne Balibar, and Fernanda Navarro-interrogate Althusser's contributions in particular within the context of what is surely the most famous collective reading of Marx ever undertaken. Among other topics, they offer a symptomatic critique of Althusser; consider his writing as a materialist production of knowledge; analyze the volume's conceptualization of value and crisis; examine how leftist Latin American leaders like Che Guevara and Subcomandante Marcos engaged with Althusser and Reading Capital; and draw out the volume's implications and use for feminist theory and praxis. Retrieving the inspiration that drove Althusser's reinterpretation of Marx, The Concept in Crisis explains why Reading Capital's revolutionary inflection retains its critical appeal, prompting readers to reconsider Marx's relevance in an era of neoliberal capitalism.
Contributors. Emily Apter, Alain Badiou, Étienne Balibar, Bruno Bosteels, Adrian Johnston, Warren Montag, Fernanda Navarro, Nick Nesbitt, Knox Peden, Nina Power, Robert J. C. Young
List of contents
Acknowledgments vii
Editor's Introduction. Rereading Reading Capital 1
Part I. Reading Reading Capital
1. The Althusserian Definition of "Theory" / Alain Badiou 21
2. Rereading the Symptomatic Reading / Robert J. C. Young 35
3. Translation and Event: Rereading Reading Capital / Emily Apter 49
4. To Have Done with Alienation: or, How to Orient Oneself in Ideology / Knox Peden 70
Part II. Reading Capital in Context
5. A Point of Heresy n Western Marxism: Althusser's and Tronti's Antithetic Readings of Captial in the Early 1960s / Étienne Balibar 93
6. Reading Capital from the Margins: Notes on the Logic of Uneven Development / Bruno Bosteels 113
7. "To Shatter All the Classical Theories of Causality": Immanent and Absent Causes in Althusser and Lacan (1963–1965) / Warren Montag 166
8. Marx's Bones: Breaking with Althusser / Adrian Johnston 189
Part III. Reading Capital Today
9. Reading Social Reproduction into Reading Capital / Nina Power 219
10. Value as Symptom / Nick Nesbitt 229
11. Vive la Crise! / Fernanda Navarro 280
Bibliography 293
Contributors 307
Index 311
About the author
Nick Nesbitt, editor
Summary
The contributors to The Concept in Crisis—who include Alain Badiou, Étienne Balibar, Emily Apter, Warren Montag, and Bruno Bosteels—reconsider the landmark 1965 work Reading Capital and renew its call for a symptomatic critique of capitalism and culture for the twenty-first century.
