The Althusserian moment and the concept of historical time

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2159446
AutoresBarry Hinde, Barry Hindess (autor de correspondencia)
Año2007
Volumen36
Número1
Páginas1-18
Fecha de publicación2007-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEconomy and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03085140601089812
OpenAlexW2054485993
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas12

The period running from the late 1960s through to the 1980s is often seen as one in which theory assumed a particular importance in many areas of the humanities and social sciences. This paper focuses on the Althusserian component of this moment of theory in Britain, but it also reflects on the emergence of the form of historical understanding, and of the understanding of historical time in particular, in which such objects as 'the moment of theory', 'the spirit of the age' or 'England in 1819' can appear as objects of historical enquiry. The first section sketches some of the links between the Althusserian component of the British moment of theory and this broader issue, and I return to the latter in my final section. The intervening sections examine the Althusserian component more directly. After presenting Althusser's account of the concept of historical time I consider the ramifications of two features of his intervention in the realm of theory. One is that his distinction between Marxist science and the theoretical ideologies which threaten its existence cannot be sustained, and the other that, in spite of its manifest iconoclasm in certain respects, this intervention has a distinctly defensive character

Classical mechanics · Econometrics · Epistemology · Moment (physics · Physics · Statistical physics · Marxism and Critical Theory · Mathematics · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Political theory and Gramsci