Louis Althusser: Difference between revisions
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'''Louis Pierre Althusser | {{subpages}} | ||
'''Louis Pierre Althusser''' (1918 - 1990), born in Algiers, became a [[ Marxism| Marxist]] philosopher who taught at the'' École Normale Supérieure''. He was most influential during the late 1960s and the 1970s when his ideas were enthusiastically taken up by political scientists and sociologists in France and abroad. | |||
Althusser was a [[Structuralism| structuralist]], taking an extreme position on Marx's theory of economic determinism. He thought that economic relations were the underlying structure which determined everything in society. Individuals have no free will but are in some way the superficial embodiments of economic relationships. Similarly, ideas, history and political structures have no actual significant content. Althusser's views have sunk somewhat into obscurity in recent decades, partly as a result of the personal tragedy of his own life, which ended in pervasive mental illness. | |||
Althusser was a [[Structuralism| structuralist]] | |||
===Works=== | ===Works=== | ||
''For Marx ''(1965) | ''For Marx ''(1965) | ||
Revision as of 16:25, 10 January 2009
Louis Pierre Althusser (1918 - 1990), born in Algiers, became a Marxist philosopher who taught at the École Normale Supérieure. He was most influential during the late 1960s and the 1970s when his ideas were enthusiastically taken up by political scientists and sociologists in France and abroad.
Althusser was a structuralist, taking an extreme position on Marx's theory of economic determinism. He thought that economic relations were the underlying structure which determined everything in society. Individuals have no free will but are in some way the superficial embodiments of economic relationships. Similarly, ideas, history and political structures have no actual significant content. Althusser's views have sunk somewhat into obscurity in recent decades, partly as a result of the personal tragedy of his own life, which ended in pervasive mental illness.
Works
For Marx (1965)