Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

PHOTOGRAPHISM IN ALTHUSSER’S THEORY OF IDEOLOGY

PHOTOGRAPHISM IN ALTHUSSER’S THEORY OF IDEOLOGY Abstract The aim of this essay is to establish some provisionary points of articulation for a “non-philosophical” critique of Althusser’s theory of ideology. It builds on Ernesto Laclau’s argument that Althusser’s ISA essay is symptomatic of the ideology of ideological critique. Althusser argues that Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), such as the school, political parties, and cultural institutions, and Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs), such as the police and army, produce the “subject,” which willingly submits to power. Althusser thus reduces the plurality of ideological instances to a single equivalent: the constitution and category of the subject. My argument explores the metaphoricity that underwrites this equivalential (and ideological) dimension. Drawing principally on the work of François Laruelle, I argue that the chain of technical metaphors that Althusser employs signifies a metaphorical condition that Laruelle terms photographism. By imaging ideology, particularly via the scene of “interpellation,” Althusser’s theory appears to capture ideology as such as an image as if the entire theoretical apparatus was a kind of philosophico-photographic apparatus. Following Laruelle, I argue that his photographism is symptomatic of the ideology of standard philosophy as such. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities Taylor & Francis

PHOTOGRAPHISM IN ALTHUSSER’S THEORY OF IDEOLOGY

Fardy, Jonathan
Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities , Volume 26 (5): 10 – Sep 3, 2021
Download PDF

PHOTOGRAPHISM IN ALTHUSSER’S THEORY OF IDEOLOGY

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this essay is to establish some provisionary points of articulation for a “non-philosophical” critique of Althusser’s theory of ideology. It builds on Ernesto Laclau’s argument that Althusser’s ISA essay is symptomatic of the ideology of ideological critique. Althusser argues that Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), such as the school, political parties, and cultural institutions, and Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs), such as the police...
Loading next page...
 
/lp/taylor-francis/photographism-in-althusser-s-theory-of-ideology-eML5sPmIrD
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
ISSN
1469-2899
eISSN
0969-725X
DOI
10.1080/0969725X.2021.1963086
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this essay is to establish some provisionary points of articulation for a “non-philosophical” critique of Althusser’s theory of ideology. It builds on Ernesto Laclau’s argument that Althusser’s ISA essay is symptomatic of the ideology of ideological critique. Althusser argues that Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), such as the school, political parties, and cultural institutions, and Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs), such as the police and army, produce the “subject,” which willingly submits to power. Althusser thus reduces the plurality of ideological instances to a single equivalent: the constitution and category of the subject. My argument explores the metaphoricity that underwrites this equivalential (and ideological) dimension. Drawing principally on the work of François Laruelle, I argue that the chain of technical metaphors that Althusser employs signifies a metaphorical condition that Laruelle terms photographism. By imaging ideology, particularly via the scene of “interpellation,” Althusser’s theory appears to capture ideology as such as an image as if the entire theoretical apparatus was a kind of philosophico-photographic apparatus. Following Laruelle, I argue that his photographism is symptomatic of the ideology of standard philosophy as such.

Journal

Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities – Taylor & Francis

Published: Sep 3, 2021

Keywords: photographism; Althusser; Laruelle; non-philosophy; Laclau

References

  • Preface
  • Of Civil and Social Contracts: Azoulay After Hobbes