Poststructuralist Agency: The Subject in Twentieth-Century Theory

Gavin Rae

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2020

Poststructuralist Agency

The Subject in Twentieth-Century Theory

Gavin Rae

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474459389

Overview
Contents

About this book

Does the poststructuralist decentring of the foundational subject permit a coherent account of agency?

Analyses poststructuralist thinking on 'the subject' in detail, tying it to the often-ignored question of agency
Expands the scope of ‘poststructuralism’ beyond Deleuze, Derrida, and Foucault by also engaging with psychoanalytically orientated poststructuralists including Butler, Castoriadis, Kristeva and Lacan
Draws out the complicated link between poststructuralism and Lacanian psychoanalysis

Gavin Rae shows that the problematic status of agency caused by the poststructuralist decentring of the subject is a prime concern for poststructuralist thinkers. First, Rae shows how this plays out in the thinking of Deleuze, Derrida and Foucault. He then demonstrates that it is with those poststructuralists associated with and influenced by Lacanian psychoanalysis that this issue most clearly comes to the fore. He goes on to reveal that the conceptual schema of Cornelius Castoriadis best explains how the founded subject is capable of agency.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
PREFACE Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I Decentring the Subject
CHAPTER 1 Deleuze, Differential Ontology and Subjectivity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
CHAPTER 2 Derrida’s Différance: Deconstruction and the Sexuality of Subjectivity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
CHAPTER 3 Foucault I: Power and the Subject Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	88
CHAPTER 4 Foucault II: Normativity, Ethics and the Self Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
Part II Turning to the Psyche
CHAPTER 5 Butler on the Subjection of Gendered Agency Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
CHAPTER 6 Lacan on the Unconscious Subject: From the Social to the Symbolic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
CHAPTER 7 Kristeva on the Subject of Revolt: The Symbolic and the Semiotic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
CHAPTER 8 Castoriadis, Agency and the Socialised Individual Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	252
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 288
Keywords: Philosophy

eBook

Published: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 9781474459389