Is Anti-totalitarian Theory Still Relevant? The Example of Claude Lefort
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2353274 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dick Howard (Stony Brook University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 7-8 |
| Pages | 237-257 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theory Culture & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0263-2764 • E-ISSN: 1460-3616 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/02632764231204786 |
| OpenAlex | W4389143248 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 3 |
After asking whether the concept of totalitarianism still has a meaning in today's world, and whether its critique makes political sense, the author turns to the model provided by the two phases of Claude Lefort's attempts to understand totalitarianism over the past 60 years. He distinguishes two distinct phases; the first is framed by critical Marxism, the second influenced by the phenomenology of the late Merleau-Ponty. The author stresses Lefort's major works, including the role of his pathbreaking work on Machiavelli, ' La critique du totalitarisme et l'invention de la démocratie', ' Un homme en trop' (on Solzenhitsyn and the Goulag), and ' La complication' (which rejects the oversimplified interpretation of totalitarianism as simply an ideology
Epistemology · Ideology · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Phenomenology (philosophy · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · European Political History Analysis · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Sociology, Political Theory · Political Theory and Influence
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |