Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays Monthly Review Press 1971

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I love this guy. Hard to recollect of any piece of writing thats influenced the way I recollect almost the world more "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses". When I read Althusser, I accept a real sense of interacting with someone I really understand. Given that he was a pathologically self-doubting psycho who died in a mental ward, I'k not sure thats a practiced sign. I love this guy. Hard to think of any slice of writing thats influenced the way I call up about the earth more than "Credo and Ideological State Apparatuses". When I read Althusser, I have a existent sense of interacting with someone I really empathize. Given that he was a pathologically cocky-doubting psycho who died in a mental ward, I'm not sure thats a skillful sign. ...more

Jul 31, 2012 Craig Smillie rated it information technology was amazing

I was in London in September 2011 when the rioting occurred. I was staying in Dalston only southward of Tottenham where the riots started. 3 nights of mayhem ensued, lives were tragically lost and innocent people suffered. Simply what shocked me nigh was the style and level of reporting. Information technology was perfectly understandable for those whose livelihood or lives were put at gamble to speak of "feral youth"; however the way the media gleefully latched on to this language suggested an disability, or an unwilli I was in London in September 2011 when the rioting occurred. I was staying in Dalston just south of Tottenham where the riots started. Three nights of commotion ensued, lives were tragically lost and innocent people suffered. But what shocked me most was the style and level of reporting. It was perfectly understandable for those whose livelihood or lives were put at risk to speak of "feral youth"; however the manner the media gleefully latched on to this language suggested an inability, or an unwillingness, to analyse the events more radically.

The liberal response seemed to be: if these excluded youth see bankers and speculators nugget-stripping club for all they tin acquit off, why should they not nail a plate-glass window and catch equally many trainers as they can carry? More needs to exist done for these immature people and then that they feel they have a pale in gild.

It was every bit if a hundred years of cultural theory had never existed. And yet such events - the riots - are indicative of the fractures within society which are the stuff of theorize which theorists and philosophers speculate over every bit they consider how society is held together. No-1 seemed to be mentioning Althusser's work on ideology, hegemony and ISAs; no reference was fabricated to Foucault's theory on the creation of the cocky-repressing subject. And yet these ideas seemed to me to exist glaring out of the riots. (Those who have heard me ranting on nigh these ideas should finish reading now. Zip new hither.)

Louis Althusser (1918-1990) takes a Marxist line and argues that commercialism (or whatever ability system for that matter) defends itself confronting rioting and other threats to its legitimacy by evolving a "hegemony" or "credo"- a way of understanding the world which anybody believes in - as "common sense" and "decency". In reality, the credo benefits and legitimises the powerful over the powerless. And and then, for example, the ideology within which nosotros live and have our being supports and benefits capitalism and profit. It is crucial that this hegemony works unseen; it's similar when y'all see the microphone actualization over the actors in an old film - it spoils the "realty" effect and reminds you that what you are watching is artifice. So it'south easier to encounter ideology at work in a civilisation that is not our own: consider the feudal model where subjects are indoctrinated into believing the hegemony of "The Divine Right of Kings"; convinced of this, the peasantry will not ascent against the master. It would be "unnatural" and sinful - even if unjust revenue enhancement is beggaring your family.

Credo, says Althusser, is buttressed by ISAs - Ideological Country Apparatuses - which establish the ideology and (when necessary) RSAs Repressive State Apparatuses which fight tooth and nail to protect it. ISA's are the church, family, education systems, the legal system, media, even trade unions - which (unconsciously?) create a society of obedience to the condition quo. (Basically, we are told in every day and in every way to Obey The Man.) If a rupture appears in this fabric - equally happened during the riots - then RSAs will kick in - police force and army. I judge Althusser would argue that the RSAs piece of work best if "we" believe they are on "our" side.

Althusser's critique of the riots would then go something like: if power develops a smokescreen of apparent order, justice and decency to prop upwardly its own exploitation and enjoyment of wealth and resources, it is likely that those below that level of power volition occasionally glimpse through the smokescreen of ideology, thus challenging the ideology. (This might seem a grandiose analysis of somebody grabbing a telly, just much of this works at an unanalysed / hidden level - both in the implementation of and the claiming to ideology. I can quite easily believe that Tory Grandees and Multinational Chairpersons believe the organization is "fair", as they run across information technology.) Anyway, the "unrest" is eventually met past the strength of the law, the rupture is stitched up and capitalism gets dorsum to business - unless you go a revolutionary situation as perhaps the Arab Spring presents and then... who knows what new historical, economic, cultural process might ensue. The media's credible shock and horror about how feral youth could behave in such a way, therefore came across to me as hypocritical, since the media are ane of the crucial ISAs which prop upwardly our ideological system. What happened is pretty much exactly how it is meant to piece of work. Pressure level cooker.

How about Foucault? Michel Foucault (1926-1984) saw himself as a historian of ideas rather than a philosopher. He was interested in how ideas and attitudes changed through different periods of history. His book "Discipline and Punish" traced how the Country controlled crime and dissent through the ages. It begins with a gut-wrenchingly awful four-page detailed description of the torturous execution in 1757 of an attempted regicide. This saw the end of the mediaeval idea of publicly and graphically showing the population merely what could happen to them if they challenged / attacked a king. We motility then to the Enlightenment and Foucault describes Jeremy Bentham's "Panopticon" prison - so designed that ane guard can run into into all the cells to check up that no prisoner is misbehaving, but too designed and then that the prisoner does not know when he is being observed. (Thus he is constrained Ever to be on his best behaviour.)

Bentham as an Enlightenment Utilitarian saw this as a huge progression from mediaeval theatrical torture; in contrast, Foucault sees it equally more than inhumane because this type of authorities violates the integrity of the whole person, not just the trunk. He calls it "disciplinary punishment" and traces how our institutions have been influenced by the idea of the Panopticon. Schools, factories, mental institutions are laid out then that the teacher, the overseer the care worker tin see exactly what the student / worker / inmate is doing at all times. There tin can be no slacking and no aberrant behaviour. The "clients" are constantly open to disciplinary observation. Information technology is easy to see how this develops into modern life: telephone hacking, computer surveillance, police force cameras and all the new technologies invade our private lives without our cognition. Nosotros tin be constantly scrutinised and not know information technology.

Foucault's is an argument about the rights of the private. His worst nightmare is the situation nosotros find ourselves in today; the individual (or the "self" - or "subject" as theorists prefer) has been and then institutionalised and conditioned to comport and to be "skillful" AT ALL TIMES, that an overseer is no longer required. We accept been conditioned to harshly discipline ourselves. We are our own overseer. That is the triumph of capitalism; it's strongest allies are those who work for the system. (Reminiscent of the Highland troops who fought for the Empire and so returned to observe that their straths had been cleared to make way for more profitable sheep.)

It is a libertarian argument. Foucault is not nostalgic for hanging, drawing and quartering, but I think his proposition and critique of the cocky-disciplining subject is worth considering. It attacks the media's claim of the moral high ground with its innate knowledge of "correct and wrong", suggesting instead that we are merely socialised and conditioned into behaving in a sure style - in fact in a manner that will accord with Althusser'southward ideas of how social command is mastered. Foucault is arguing that well-nigh of us no longer require ISAs or RSAs - nosotros have become them ourselves.

And and then... the riots? If, as Foucault claims a violence is being perpetrated on the trunk politic, and in fact we have been indoctrinated to punish ourselves in a deeply psychotic manner, so is it non to be expected that the body politic will erupt in some manifestly psychotic manifestation? And if, as Althusser theorises, the system of power is thrusting an alienating credo over all our feel, ruling out whatsoever other way for our development equally the self, might nosotros not look some unruly Freudian eruption from the subconscious? I don't know if these thinkers are right, merely they have spent their lives developing ideas which seem very powerful and I would expect a responsible and adult media to at to the lowest degree consider these means of seeing.

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February 14, 2013 C rated information technology really liked information technology

Caveat, I'm only rating the essay on ideology in this volume, which is also the most famous essay in the text. I'll get to that in a moment.

Although I read the preface, past Fredric Jameson, and an interview of Althusser, and an essay on Lenin, I skipped all the other essays. As usual in the interview and the essay on Lenin, everything I read was insane and philosophically ridiculous. Althusser is virtually e'er a charlatan. Like in For Marx, Althusser begins all his essays the same way: "I'm merely get

Caveat, I'm only rating the essay on ideology in this volume, which is likewise the most famous essay in the text. I'll get to that in a moment.

Although I read the preface, by Fredric Jameson, and an interview of Althusser, and an essay on Lenin, I skipped all the other essays. As usual in the interview and the essay on Lenin, everything I read was insane and philosophically ridiculous. Althusser is almost always a charlatan. Like in For Marx, Althusser begins all his essays the same way: "I'm just going to a sketch some provisional theses; this is not to be taken as a definite position." From at that place he continues to lay out more than hypotheticals, each of which is in need of further exploration "later." Therefore, he acts as his own scapegoat by never sticking to a position, he'south always working provisionally, and thus e'er capable of rejecting what he said, equally soon as it's pointed out every bit untenable, or ridiculous. I think For Marx is a more often than not atrocious volume, and everything else I've read by him, except the credo essay is equally snake oil and/or untenable. Not to mention – every bit Kolakowski pointed out most Althusser and Nussbaum about Butler – numerous neologisims are employed, and an idiosyncratic writing mode is utilized, to say very commonplace things. Even when Althusser isn't being his ain scapegoat, his general writing style is nauseating. He fills his essays with bitty sentences and rhetorical questions directed at himself and the reader…Digressing…

That said, I at present meet why this ONE essay is so famous. Although it too is a "sketch," information technology definitely advances the theory of credo in a materialist direction, and Really provides working hypothesis and theses that ought to be farther developed (I believe Pierre Bourdieu did this, amid others).

Althusser wants to inquire the basic Marxian question: how does lodge reproduce itself everyday through product? The means of production and the forces of production are already well explained past Marx, but what nigh the social relations of production? For this question a long exposition of the ideological country apparatus (ISA) is explored. The ISA is distinct from the land appliance (SA), which is mostly based on force and compulsion. The ISA refers to institutions like the media, the schoolhouse, radio wide casting, etc. I might wonder why the ISA is even called a state then. Well, Atlhusser points out that private-public holding is a rather bogus stardom, 1 which the bourgeois employ to justify their private property, which of form impacts the public 'privately' and 'publicly'. If a media outlet is private or public, or a school individual or public, they still serve the office of reproducing the social relations effectually the ways of production via ideology.

In feudal societies the church was the primary institution for reproducing the social relations of production, but under 20th (and 21st) century commercialism, it is now the school. By the time ane graduates from high-schoolhouse, they are convinced that the social relations under capitalism are perfectly normal and okay.

Althusser moves on to develop a unique theory of ideology and the subject field. When one recognizes themselves as a field of study, or is "called into" awareness of their subjectivity, this is called hailing, or interpellation. If one is walking downwards the street and hears a cop shout "hey you!" they become aware of their function as a bailiwick. The general ideological structure of the ISA makes people aware of their roles as subject in such a fashion that they continue to reproduce social relations nether capitalism.

There'due south more to be said and the essay isn't besides long (40 pages). Despite the usual garbage Althusser espouses, this i is worth reading. As a result I MAY purchase Reading Upper-case letter...or Gregory Elliott'south book on Althusser. Just equally Liberals experience they MUST mention Rawls in any theories, articles, essays, etc., they write, Marxists feel inclined to mention Althusser. For this essay alone, he does warrant a place in philosophical discourse, albeit For Marx warrants him a place the dustbin of history.

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much of interest here, but most people read it for the very famous essay on ideological country apparatuses, which, of form, if ane has non read it, one must exist a philistine or a barbarian or a fascist or something.

Ane of the all-fourth dimension great re-urgings of marxism, up in that location with Gramsci, Adorno & Horkheimer, Voloshinov.

A Cursory Note on the "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" Essay

Recently, I had reason to return to this of import essay. I found its revision of the old marxist materialism cum 'economism' surprisingly compelling. Only certainly not in the fashion our author intended. Althusser, with Lacan and Deleuze, accept all go the 'master-thinkers' of mail service-marxism. The impossibility of revolution in any economically advanced nation has brought us to this impasse. It is my contention that Marxism today

A Brief Note on the "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" Essay

Recently, I had reason to return to this important essay. I found its revision of the old marxist materialism cum 'economism' surprisingly compelling. But certainly non in the way our writer intended. Althusser, with Lacan and Deleuze, have all become the 'primary-thinkers' of post-marxism. The impossibility of revolution in whatsoever economically advanced nation has brought us to this impasse. It is my contention that Marxism today is simply another Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) that explains and (therefore) controls suffering. I know, our author, and his readers, all thought very differently...

"Credo has a cloth beingness", Althusser tells usa. And certainly this is an advance over cold war orthodox marxism. ideology is no longer merely in minds, information technology is out here in bodies and institutions and their activities. With Althusser, credo becomes a fabric strength. Why is this of import? Command the credo of individuals and institutions and you control their behavior. Instead of thinking of individuals as causes, nosotros now think of them as effects. They are all made (i.eastward., produced and reproduced) inside the various ISA's. This process of control/production our author calls interpellation. ISA's, btw, are never to be confused with the Repressive Country Appliance. It consists of the Government, Police, Military, etc. ISA's consist of the Church, Family unit, Education, and so on.

The hope, the dream, of readers of this essay, was that by going into the universities (the Gramscian 'long march' through the institutions), leftist intellectuals could snatch interpellation from the ruling course and employ it to revolutionize the ruled. It has been over xl years since this essay get-go appeared. The ineffectiveness of the project is piece of cake to see. Our scholars accept become but another clerisy; explaining suffering, simply powerless to change it. I requite four stars because of the advance that Althussers agreement of ideology represented in its time.

After reading this essay I came abroad feeling that what historically is (and has been) called "Liberty" is little more than the arguments that (elements of) the ruling strata has with itself. And that in the end, all these new (post-marxist) movements that the liberals and soi-disant 'leftists' then enthuse over, such equally vegetarianism and environmental and sex revolution, are so privileged because they in no way attack property. In this way they are not actually whatever different from the role religion traditionally has had. Whether you are busy getting your life 'right' with God, with Tantra, with Mother Nature, or with Cauliflower, it threatens belongings relations not at all. And this is why these diverse positions (and in that location are many others) are and then easily supported by factions inside the ruling strata. It is exactly equally Colonel Ireton indicated at the Putney Debates so long ago, everything is always said and done with an center towards (protecting) property. Everything. The ISA'southward of our author are but another fashion to theoretically come to terms with the varied ramifications of this inescapable fact in ever-changing circumstances.

And certainly the state of affairs has changed! Ireton was speaking at a fourth dimension (1647, during the English Civil War) when most forms of property were stock-still (land, housing) and 1 strove to pass information technology on intact to future generations. Aye, certainly Ireton was enlightened of nascent capital relations. In his replies to the Levellers he strives to win over the bustling market place towns and their guilds and manufacturers to his position. But in Ireton'southward formulation of property there is and then little move! It was the restlessness of Capital that would destroy ye olde landowners and their globe far better than the levellers had ever imagined. Information technology is this restlessness that produces not but new means of production and new relations of production, but likewise new forms of labor likewise. And the new worker, the ever-new workers demand always new forms of ideology in their ever changing circumstances. This explains the necessity of the proliferation of leftish 'new movements' while the old USSR was going through its decades long decease throes. And it likewise suggests that in the decades (perhaps centuries) long process of globalization the theory of ISA's will find much more to explain...

Postmodern nihilism, ultimately, is the consequence of the failure of the socialist revolutionary project to overcome capitalism. This failure is the root cause of the proliferation of theory in the academy. Given the inescapable fact of the dissatisfaction of people with/in commercialism, new ways, and ever new ways, had to exist found to deal with this dissatisfaction. The multiplication of theoretical positions in the academy was i way; the antics of mass civilization beyond the ivy tower was another. All of this was necessary; people ever demand explanations for their sacrifices and sufferings. - And they too demand to forget or ignore the fact that these explanations change aught at all.

The disability of socialism to overcome capitalism, not only through the USSR simply in the streets of the avant-garde capitalist states, means that the battle for socialism must exist fought on a dissimilar terrain than it was fought in the twentieth century. The question that now needs to be asked, the problem that now needs to be faced by marxists everywhere, is if all that is left of marxism is that it is nothing just another ideological position inside theory manufacturing academia, how is marxism itself non some other 'Ideological State Apparatus' that is enthused over by trend setting liberal cum leftists inside and beyond the ruling strata?

It was the ceaseless motility of capital, not theory, that destroyed Ireton's beloved landowners. And I have come up to believe that it is only the aforementioned relentless movement that will ane day destroy Capitalism.

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Iv stars but for the tremendous essay, 'Ideology and Ideological Country Apparatus' and 'Preface to the Capital'. Otherwise, Three stars. I would not pretend that I fully got it, maybe on my second reading. The Marxist vocabulary is incomprehensible and formidable for a neophyte like me. Information technology really bewildered me. I might read Capital — because without reading it, one can't understand the work of Marxist philosophers — it'due south a Bible for Marxists.

The essay Lenin and philosophy is garbage. The glor

Four stars but for the tremendous essay, 'Credo and Ideological State Appliance' and 'Preface to the Majuscule'. Otherwise, Iii stars. I would not pretend that I fully got it, maybe on my second reading. The Marxist vocabulary is incomprehensible and formidable for a neophyte like me. Information technology really bewildered me. I might read Majuscule — considering without reading information technology, 1 can't understand the work of Marxist philosophers — it'south a Bible for Marxists.

The essay Lenin and philosophy is garbage. The glorification of Comrade Lenin is as well much.

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Had to read his Ideology and Ideological Land Apparatus for a module, end upward reading the rest of the book anyways.

May sixteen, 2018 Michael A. rated information technology really liked it

First-class set of essays: of course the Credo and Ideological State Appliance is a Marxist classic (as it should be, pretty tough going only intuitive once you lot understand I think). Only I really enjoyed his Lenin and Philosophy and Lenin and Hegel articles. The writing in every article except ISA one is written very conspicuously and concisely, possibly a footling college educational activity is required only not much - this is probably well-nigh as clear as Marxist(-Leninist) theory gets. The ISA commodity is much tougher First-class set of essays: of class the Credo and Ideological State Apparatus is a Marxist archetype (equally it should be, pretty tough going but intuitive once you understand I think). Merely I really enjoyed his Lenin and Philosophy and Lenin and Hegel articles. The writing in every article except ISA ane is written very clearly and concisely, maybe a piffling college education is required merely not much - this is probably about as clear as Marxist(-Leninist) theory gets. The ISA article is much tougher to grasp, I think understanding the topology of society (base/superstructure) and the determination-in-the-final-example is a key part of understanding it, merely i have struggle to sympathise either :D Interpellation is also now a textbook Marxist slice of jargon and I'm probably mistaken here (because I think I read it, but tin can't recall) but I'm unsure if he conspicuously articulates what he ways by interpellation beyond its the procedure of condign a subject of ideology (i think) and giving examples of existence "hailed". I don't quite get that.. Ideology is a complex subject field, and so the ideas must be complex. This is something I will need to re-read.

The Defense of Lacan article at the end I institute interesting - I do non know how much of an Althusserian spin was put on his explication of Lacan but I institute it readable and engaging - a rarity for anything dealing with Lacan, so I found it enjoyable. I did non know Althusser tried to get Lacan accepted by the Party.

The last two essays are essays on Marxist aesthetics. The first one was alright, but the second i I skipped considering it seemed similar I needed to be familiar with Cremonini's art which unfortunately I am not - and in that location seems to be a lack of it online.

Overall recommended to anyone interested in (specificially Marxist[-Leninist]) philosophy

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I reread this book today. Most important is the championship essay « Lenin and Philosophy ». Wittgenstein'due south logico-philosophical investigation on theme of testing of the politician qualification in communication practices , particularly for a newcomer, past iii steps.

1. Thesis

2. Exercise

3. Participation in political party organization

It is naturally not the testing simulation methodology only restricted to communist party partisanship.

I examined the film « The Long Cheerio », starring Elliott Gould, directed by

I reread this volume today. Most important is the championship essay « Lenin and Philosophy ». Wittgenstein's logico-philosophical investigation on theme of testing of the politician qualification in communication practices , peculiarly for a newcomer, by three steps.

i. Thesis

two. Exercise

3. Participation in party arrangement

It is naturally not the testing simulation methodology only restricted to communist party partisanship.

I examined the movie « The Long Bye », starring Elliott Gould, directed by Robert Altman, 1973. Situation is postal service-Vietnam Los Angels. Gould's Marlowe seemed to me a typical New Left survivor such every bit an intellectual in the sense of « safe ».

Is this a panorama of Within America from a point of view of office-times researcher or professor without tenures ?

Returning to Althusser, I thought his famous essay on Ideological State Apparatus could be interpreted as follows. For united states, bookish researchers, our daily concerns are simply State, Reproducibility, Creativity. On the other mitt, Religion, Ethical Family unit, Private Schools ownership simply belong to Inside America. We are thus perfect foreigners to Inside America. I recognized Althusser'due south position in the U.s.a..

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This book is fairly like shooting fish in a barrel to follow, but honestly most of the Lenin essays, along with the Introduction to Marx's Capital, is fairly redundant. The essay "Ideology and the Land," however is astounding, and came close to influencing me to giving this five stars. The commencement time I read "Ideology and the Country" was in the first year of my graduate schoolhouse career. At the time I hadn't the ability to capeesh how brilliant an essay this is. The mode that Althusser breaks the State down into the (Repre This volume is adequately easy to follow, but honestly almost of the Lenin essays, forth with the Introduction to Marx'south Capital, is fairly redundant. The essay "Ideology and the Country," nevertheless is phenomenal, and came close to influencing me to giving this five stars. The start fourth dimension I read "Ideology and the State" was in the start year of my graduate school career. At the fourth dimension I hadn't the ability to appreciate how brilliant an essay this is. The way that Althusser breaks the Country down into the (Repressive) State Apparatus, State Power, and the Ideological Country Appliance provides a means for scrutinizing how political influence is cultivated within the confines of a government/organization. While I do not agree with Althusser's claim that ideology has no history, this essay has relevance to anyone concerned with political theory, activism, and didactics. ...more

Nov 10, 2012 C. Varn rated it liked it

While not particularly an esay read, this collection of essays is crucial for understanding the transitions from a Marxian-structuralism to mail-Marxism and post-Structuralism. Foucault's development out of his teacher's thought can too be traced from this by careful reading, but it it is not without controversy even amidst both traditional Marxists and Maoist figures. The movement away from the economic and to the state equally a the locus on power can exist problematic. Furthermore, information technology is not entirely c While non peculiarly an esay read, this collection of essays is crucial for understanding the transitions from a Marxian-structuralism to postal service-Marxism and post-Structuralism. Foucault's development out of his teacher'south idea tin too be traced from this by careful reading, but it it is not without controversy fifty-fifty amongst both traditional Marxists and Maoist figures. The motion abroad from the economic and to the state as a the locus on power can exist problematic. Furthermore, it is non entirely articulate if Althusser things the credo and the Ideological State Apparatus is truly presenting itself as transhistorical or is somehow transhistorical. Ranceire's critiques of Althusser trend to a total answer are also pretty apparent in the volume. ...more

The question that any reviewer of a book ought to ask is: Why should I read this volume instead of all the other books? Fifty-fifty on obscure subjects, many books exist. So, why should I read Lenin and Philosophy instead of all the other books?

It pains me to say that you probably shouldn't. If yous are interested in what I understand equally Postal service-Marxism, you lot should read For Marx. It'south meliorate. There is more in the mode of philosophy, and there are improve essays.

Probable, I would rate this volume every bit 3 i/2 stars. Al

The question that any reviewer of a book ought to ask is: Why should I read this book instead of all the other books? Even on obscure subjects, many books exist. And so, why should I read Lenin and Philosophy instead of all the other books?

It pains me to say that you probably shouldn't. If yous are interested in what I understand equally Post-Marxism, you should read For Marx. Information technology's better. There is more in the style of philosophy, and at that place are better essays.

Likely, I would rate this book as 3 1/2 stars. Althusser is a very, very expert essayist. Despite accusations of metaphysical wandering in his writings, I find him to be clear and even heady. When information technology comes to writing essays, the two people who have influenced my ability to inquire and frame questions, and to actually ask into a text, are two writers who are oft accused of obscurity: Althusser and Lacan. No ane should be reading either of these authors and attempting to imitate their writing. However, as a writer, the question, "What is at stake?" will pop up so many times in their essays that information technology's almost impossible to ignore. This unproblematic question, forth with a few other rhetorical constructions, can allow someone writing an essay to ask such questions in the beginning of an essay, engage the reader, and allow the essay largely to write itself. Regardless of the mathematical mumbo-jumbo that Lacan sometimes lapses into, there are very, very good writing techniques a person can learn from reading the Ecrits. They essays in that book only demand to be read critcially.

Lacan bated, nosotros're here to view Althusser. Lenin and Philosophy is largely a piece of Lenin hagiography, and although I accept tremendous sympathy for Karl Marx and would honestly probably join the Communist party if it had any real political shot in the U.s.a., (it doesn't at all despite what the bullshit mongers will have you lot believe almost socialism and muddied left and Bernie Sanders), I take absolutely no desire to begin looking at Saint Lenin instead of Vladimir Lenin. To me, the human being is not a supreme evil, but to create around him an actress-borough (extra pregnant outside and globe-spanning civic) religion is dumb. I do not await at Lenin as a philosopher.

Althusser is right to separate Lenin and Philosophy instead of Lenin's Philosophy, equally he points out in his essay. Althusser finds valid philosophical insights to be gleaned from Lenin, but he does not take the figure critically plenty for my liking. Apologists for Althusser'due south essay would probable point out that Althusser shows how Lenin had a piss-poor philosophical instruction and was not at all a philosopher in whatsoever conventional sense. Proficient, I say. At present, if only Althusser had been clearer about not worshiping people. Often, on the internet, I say that all my saints are expressionless. Lenin was dead by the time Althusser was writing, but he still ascribed sainthood.

For me, this is somewhat difficult to understand. No political motion has ever enraptured me. For many in the communist party the world over, withal, Lenin was a figure closer to MLK Jr. With hindsight, I can put distance betwixt the two somewhat easily. Still, I exercise think that what I know of Lenin, if viewed from outside a lens of, "eww communism = horrible 100% no affair what gross and genocide I guess considering I said and so [these statements ignore that communist Russia is likely the only reason the Nazis did not win globe state of war two and that when the actions of the United States are viewed outside a lens of US hegemony, we really are non better]," then Lenin is not a terrible figure.

Across this, though, the essay that grabs so much attention, the ideology and state appliance essay, tin be found articulated elsewhere. I am not sure to what degree Althusser'due south essay influenced others. Have I learned the crux of Althusser'south argument equally a result of Althusser's essay spilling into other books I take read, or take I read Althusser's essay, prior to reading his essay, because it is a coagulation of work by Gramsci, Lukacs, and others? I cannot respond this question.

It is harsh to approximate the essay equally, "Basically just The Wall past Pink Floyd" as another user did. The political connections are completely absent from The Wall, and exterior of vague and general rebellion, the song offers little. Althusser'due south description has little real rebellion. There is some mentioned, just the point is primarily an analysis of the way ideology spreads. This account is far and to a higher place anything by pop musicians. For this account, the essay deserves recognition even if such an account can be found in numerous Marxists. This account, as a piece of report and sociology, is valuable regardless of a person'southward political orientation. The Lenin hagiography has some but very little "philosophical" value to the non-Marxist. Credo and Ideological Country Apparatus is good, though. That has real value as a piece of sociology fifty-fifty if y'all don't like the politics of the person who wrote it. Lumping Althusser with Heidegger, if I sympathise how Heidegger is viewed at large, may exist too costless to Althusser. Merely my betoken in doing so would exist to say, "Heidegger'due south philosophy books are mostly considered valuable even if his politics were abhorrent."

Of course, few people not inclined to Marxist analysis and structural takes on Marxism are likely to read Althusser, and even fewer people volition likely read a book called "Lenin and Philosophy." For a class on theory, though, an essay like Ideology and Ideological state appliance has value.

Regardless, For Marx is but a better book.

This: 3 i/two stars.

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The overarching concept of "ideology every bit having no history" strikes me as idealist and metaphysical. The overarching concept of "ideology as having no history" strikes me as idealist and metaphysical. ...more

Philosophy is full of successful creative mis-interpretations: if Aristotle hadn't taken the least plausible interpretation of Plato, he wouldn't have been Aristotle; ditto for Hegel and Kant; for Habermas and Adorno; for Althusser and literally the entire history of Marxist thought. It is astonishing that Althusser could come up with even vaguely interesting things to say given his most total ignorance of the tradition that he claims to exist explaining and exemplifying. He swallowed unabridged the So Philosophy is full of successful creative mis-interpretations: if Aristotle hadn't taken the to the lowest degree plausible interpretation of Plato, he wouldn't accept been Aristotle; ditto for Hegel and Kant; for Habermas and Adorno; for Althusser and literally the entire history of Marxist idea. It is astonishing that Althusser could come upward with even vaguely interesting things to say given his about total ignorance of the tradition that he claims to be explaining and exemplifying. He swallowed unabridged the Soviet-institutionalized understand of Lenin'southward understanding of Marx, and so nosotros become a lot of nonsense about deviations and materialism vs idealism and the idea that the very concept of 'alienation' is 'anti-Marxist: built to fight revolutionaries,' which would be news to, e.g., Marx, who built the entirety of his reasoning for opposing capitalism on alienation and reification. Or Althusser's admittedly cool notion of a process without a subject, which is what he says majuscule is, even though Marx literally describes the capitalist accumulation of value a subject area that is besides a substance. Yous can go through and pile up this kind of fact-checking. For instance, 'the whole Marxist tradition has refused to say that it is 'man' who makes history.' I'll wait while y'all google 'marx men make their own history.'

No, I won't look. In any case, Althusser also intentionally misreads Lenin. "Lenin wrote: 'without revolutionary theory at that place tin exist no revolutionary move.' He could equally have written: without scientific theory there can be no product of scientific knowledge". I hateful, sure. He could as have written "Fourteen ducks swallow craven feed in French republic," just he didn't write anything about ducks and chicken feed or about the production of scientific noesis. Since, later in his life, Lenin became an ardent Hegel scholar and came to see that Marx'southward work is dialectical in a fully Hegelian sense, Althusser is forced to claim that Lenin is somehow saying exactly the opposite of what he obviously says (i.e., "I, Lenin, did not understand Marx properly until afterwards I had read Hegel'south Logic"), on the ground that... I don't know, people aren't allowed to change their mind unless they're changing their heed to agree with Althusser's terrible no good utterly failed understanding of Marx and Hegel.

The famous Credo and Ideological Country Apparatuses essay is much better, although information technology would have been much easier to write if he'd read Gramsci instead of pissing from the immense height the French university onto Gramsci'due south corpse (which, as a reminder, was turned into a corpse by fascists considering Gramsci was a Marxist). This essay, too, is securely flawed, though in an interesting way, since Althusser claims that everyone is subjectivated by ISAs, but then drags in the class struggle, and then that some (working grade) subjects are more subjectivated than other (bourgeois) subjects, which kind of makes no sense.

On the upside, this is a fabulous scratching postal service, and kudos to Althusser for writing with force and conviction fifty-fifty while everyone around him was descending into the worst kind of theoretical jargon mongering. Of course, he did that as well, merely non here.

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May 21, 2020 Christopher rated it actually liked it

If more than Marxists were similar Althusser, I would probably be at least adjacent to them ideologically. Sadly, his subject is utterly overrun with moralists, humanists, and LARPers. In a way it always was, but not to the degree of today. The individualist label, ironically, finds some of its greatest back up for the left-of-liberal segment of guild, always set up to parachute into a word with a common circlejerk of 'you are valids' to each other. Because every bit we all know, adopting the rhetori If more Marxists were like Althusser, I would probably be at least side by side to them ideologically. Sadly, his bailiwick is utterly overrun with moralists, humanists, and LARPers. In a style it e'er was, but non to the degree of today. The individualist label, ironically, finds some of its greatest support for the left-of-liberal segment of society, e'er ready to parachute into a discussion with a mutual circlejerk of 'you are valids' to each other. Because every bit we all know, adopting the rhetoric of a neoliberal Hour department merged with a Kpop obsessed legbeard and secularized church ladies grasping their pearls is is now the revolutionary vanguard. Yikes sweaty problematic xhe/xhir pronouns just delight.

Althusser gets that Marx was, originally, a process philosopher and a materialist before anything else. He also gets that Lenin was his greatest successor and interpreter and that Lenin's force came from his ruthlessness and his rejection of humanist idealism. This relationship comes directly from wanting to do power rather than merely 'problematize' or conjecture information technology. Indeed, all successful political philosophers worth paying attending to-no matter where they fall ideologically-are interested in seizing power as much if not more than disembodied theory. This is how you parse the kids from the adults. If there isnt at least a bit of Machiavelli or Kautilya in at that place then I don't bother.

Personally, and perhaps about strangely, I found the final essay-about the anti-humanism of the painter Cremonini-the near enjoyable. Not an artist I knew much about simply upon looking him up it became obvious as to why Althusser was and so interested in him as emblematic of showing procedure over individualized form.

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Althusser is a strange animal. His deflationary characterization of philosophy as merely an arena where the effects of class struggle going on "elsewhere" are played out and dissipated is bound to offend the sensibilities of virtually philosophers, even those sympathetic to the Marxist cause. It takes a certain kind of dogmatism to believe that 2 yard years of philosophical labor since the time of Plato can be condensed into the form of a disharmonize between materialism and idealism. Indeed, accordance Althusser is a foreign fauna. His deflationary characterization of philosophy as merely an arena where the furnishings of class struggle going on "elsewhere" are played out and dissipated is bound to offend the sensibilities of most philosophers, even those sympathetic to the Marxist cause. It takes a certain kind of dogmatism to believe that two thou years of philosophical labor since the time of Plato tin be condensed into the class of a conflict between materialism and idealism. Indeed, co-ordinate to the late Marxist Leninist, this is the real import of the eleventh thesis; the sublimation of philosophy into science. Since historical materialism (history) and dialectical materialism (science) accept both absorbed the lessons of idealism, philosophy must ultimately be left without a possession to call its ain. But this does not spell the end of philosophy just withal. For in the wake of Marx's opening up of the continent of history proletarian thinkers are now called upon to practice philosophy in a different way; as a sure 'continuation of form politics'. Althusser finds the function model of this new anti-philosophy in Lenin. Whereas the generation of Marxists- Leninists before him were content with regurgitating platitudes about the end of philosophy, Althusser at least sincerely attempted to gain some conceptual and scientific clarity on the theme of class-conscious philosophy, even though in my opinion he was misguided from the very start. ...more

First two essays are quite good at giving an informative theory of Lenin's opposition to empiricism, and also a good way to understand the complex relation that exists betwixt Lenin, Marx and Hegel--fifty-fifty though information technology is somewhat apparent in the volume that Althusser is working off quite rudimentary understandings of both Hegel and Lacan...

The appendix is generally him discussing the importance of psychoanalysis (which, again, if you already know psychoanalysis, would register only at a bones level) and

First two essays are quite skilful at giving an informative theory of Lenin's opposition to empiricism, and also a good way to understand the circuitous relation that exists between Lenin, Marx and Hegel--even though it is somewhat apparent in the book that Althusser is working off quite rudimentary understandings of both Hegel and Lacan...

The appendix is mostly him discussing the importance of psychoanalysis (which, over again, if you lot already know psychoanalysis, would register only at a basic level) and some comments regarding art that don't seem clumsily insightful. The entire essay regarding ISAs, nonetheless, too-known, is, brevity aside, a very intriguing clarification of the ideological mechanisms at work in capitalism.

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lol all the reviews are basically only for the credo essay, which is apparently a classic must-read, but honestly the verso 'on ideology' edition has all of that plus the freud/lacan ones as well. i think the only thing added here that is of substantial employ is althusser'southward preface to capital, which is also worth reading -- my edition didn't even have jameson's introduction, natch. the actual stuff on lenin and philosophy is amiable but would demand more development for underqualified me to truly lol all the reviews are basically merely for the ideology essay, which is obviously a classic must-read, but honestly the verso 'on ideology' edition has all of that plus the freud/lacan ones likewise. i think the only thing added hither that is of substantial use is althusser's preface to capital, which is also worth reading -- my edition didn't fifty-fifty have jameson's introduction, natch. the actual stuff on lenin and philosophy is amiable but would need more development for underqualified me to truly get at what arguments it wants to build. ...more

A good collection of essays that provide an overview of Althussers idea. Definitely recommend On the Reproduction of Capitalism for the total treatment of Ideological State Apparatuses, but the rest of the essays are quite interesting.

A surprisingly fast and enjoyable read. The classic newspaper on ISAs is basically Freudian, which I bet would explain much of its entreatment.

Apr 08, 2020 Wessel rated information technology it was amazing

Was quite skeptical in the beginning when I started reading, but a actually peachy work that I think is still very valuable fifty-fifty today, or especially today.

Apr 17, 2020 Zoe rated it it was amazing

Review based on Credo and Ideological State Appratus. Read that essay, introducing Kapital, and his interview, non the whole text.

Louis Althusser strikes me equally a contradiction: at once a strikingly innovative and critical thinker and virtually an archetypal Communist truthful believer. The interview at the commencement gives the impression of a human being who had subjected himself to rigorous self-criticism in order to adopt the "standpoint of the proletariat", I.east. the Leninist Party. As such, much of this text is devoted to the political, theoretical, and (I would fifty-fifty dare say) ethical questions of being a Communist militant in the 1960 Louis Althusser strikes me as a contradiction: at once a strikingly innovative and critical thinker and almost an archetypal Communist true believer. The interview at the beginning gives the impression of a man who had subjected himself to rigorous cocky-criticism in society to adopt the "standpoint of the proletariat", I.eastward. the Leninist Party. As such, much of this text is devoted to the political, theoretical, and (I would even dare say) ethical questions of being a Communist militant in the 1960s.

So what does this text accept to offer leftist activists today? On the 1 hand, much of information technology is given over to a fashion of speaking and thinking that is no longer tenable, especially in its "scientific" posture. But on the other paw, there IS treasure here to be salvaged, for those willing to dig. Most obviously, there is the essay on "Credo and the Land", the political relevance is which is clear once nosotros put information technology in its historical context.

In days of yore, Marxists conceived their struggle as basically on two fronts: in the factories (base), and in the contest for land power (superstructure). In the 1960s though, this theory was revealing it's inadequacy. In both the capitalist and socialist countries, teaching was becoming critical as a site of political conflict. In the West, anti-war students were occupying the universities; while in China, the Cultural Revolution made the schools the site of an often physically tearing class struggle. Not to mention prisons, etc., all of this made the task of theorizing these other "fields" of struggle politically urgent.

Forth these lines, Althusser lays out the role of "ideological apparatuses" in terms of reproducing the class structure of society. By ideological apparatuses Althusser means those institutions of the state (broadly defined) that function predominantly past ideology (schools and the Church building, etc.) as opposed to by force (the "state apparatus" proper, the ground forces, prisons, etc.). Of course, anyone who has read Foucault knows that prisons and the like function by ideology as well; but that'due south another story.

Of course we all know schoolhouse is in that location to teach skills so that we tin be competent workers. Just Althusser points out that, more subtly, the school also teaches each class how to perform their form function: how to have orders or give them, or "wield" ideology. Not only the content, but too the "class" of education is ideological: the teacher every bit main, rigid scheduling, etc. prepare students to play their role in backer society. This classic analysis is however incisive and immediately relevant to the work of radical educators, also equally, with adaptation, prison activists, social workers, and all of u.s.a. who want to empathise and challenge class power in the institutions in which we work.

My question is this: it is all well and skillful to critique, but what is Althusser's positive program? Information technology is a well-known thesis of Leninism that the proletariat taking power does non change the essential nature of the state every bit a repressive apparatus, but only changes the direction of the force relation. Is information technology the same fashion with education? Does the revolution but alter the "grade content" of education, replacing one pinnacle-down model with another, or does it too transform the nature of education as such? For answers to this, one will have to look elsewhere; perhaps to John Dewey or Paulo Freire.

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Apr xi, 2010 Spoust1 rated it it was amazing

This book - a brusk volume of Althusser's essays - is essential mainly because it contains Althusser'due south essay on credo, hands worth the price of the book. In that essay Althusser redefines ideology - there was always something simple about information technology, equally if the truth of our lifeworld were right behind some silly bourgeois veil; he emphasizes the materiality of ideology, how the Real of credo is zippo but the fact that information technology is dependent on commercialism and its needs. Credo is a matter of form, he sa This book - a brusk book of Althusser's essays - is essential mainly considering it contains Althusser's essay on ideology, easily worth the cost of the volume. In that essay Althusser redefines ideology - there was ever something simple about information technology, as if the truth of our lifeworld were correct behind some silly bourgeois veil; he emphasizes the materiality of ideology, how the Existent of ideology is zilch only the fact that it is dependent on capitalism and its needs. Credo is a matter of grade, he says, not content. We see it in public schools, for instance, not so much in what is taught but in the very course of the classroom - authoritarian teacher at the front, students in desks alone, students are taught to obey, to take truth from above, etc. In that brusk essay Althusser is independent all of Foucault's "Subject field and Punish," as well - it is a major accomplishment. With this essay Althusser makes possible that classic experience: reading something, looking around, and seeing it as, well, bad.

The other essays are also good. The i on Freud and Lacan suggests that the latter had the same relationship to the former as does Althusser to Marx. The title essay, "Lenin and Philosophy," I must revisit; I call back information technology beingness unchanged by it. The letter on art - 5 pages - is a statement on Marxist aesthetics.

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Jan 27, 2016 Roger Green rated information technology really liked information technology

This book brings together classic writings by a nifty thinker. For me, Althusser's structural take on ideology, bringing what he calls an ideological state apparatus together with a description something like Freud'southward unconscious, is a truly competing insight. Ideology, for him, is not a matter of conclusion and so much every bit an immanence. To me this creates an emphasis on temporality or hyper-temporality that tweaks earlier materialist philosophers sense of history. It weirdly foreshadows what Charles Ta This book brings together classic writings by a great thinker. For me, Althusser's structural take on credo, bringing what he calls an ideological country appliance together with a description something like Freud's unconscious, is a truly competing insight. Credo, for him, is non a affair of decision so much as an immanence. To me this creates an emphasis on temporality or hyper-temporality that tweaks earlier materialist philosophers sense of history. It weirdly foreshadows what Charles Taylor has more recently called the Immanent Frame, but perhaps more compellingly pushes back toward Spinoza. In any instance, and analyses will certainly differ, these are thoughts worth contending and I thank Althusser for thinking and articulating them so well. ...more

Nov 28, 2016 Daniel rated it it was amazing

Bated from that minor incident where he strangled his married woman to expiry, I'm a really large fan of Althusser. As the founder of anti-humanist and structuralist Marxism and the intellectual who defined "ideology" as nosotros know it today, Althusser was mayhap the near important Marxist theorist in the 2nd half of the 20th century and discourses everywhere from feminist theory, postcolonial theory, and eco-criticism are heavily indebted to him. Since everyone and their Jocastas here seem to (understandab Aside from that modest incident where he strangled his wife to death, I'm a really big fan of Althusser. As the founder of anti-humanist and structuralist Marxism and the intellectual who defined "ideology" as nosotros know it today, Althusser was peradventure the most important Marxist theorist in the second half of the 20th century and discourses everywhere from feminist theory, postcolonial theory, and eco-criticism are heavily indebted to him. Since anybody and their Jocastas here seem to (understandably) only want to comment on his most famous work, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses," I'g going to explore the notion of anti-humanism Althusser develops throughout the other texts in this collection and explain their significance for epistemology and Marxism. Review pending. ...more

Peeps seem merely to read that one essay in here. You know the 1 I'm talking almost. The residuum of the book is worth reading too, imagine that! And that 1 essay everyone seems exclusively to read makes far more sense, emerges as far more than trenchant, in low-cal of the author'south startlingly lucid engagement with Lenin's polemic against Mach and Gorky. Seeing how Lenin proves, under rigorous structural assay, to know, for necessary reasons, simultaneously far less and far more than even he himself re Peeps seem only to read that 1 essay in here. You lot know the i I'm talking nearly. The residuum of the book is worth reading besides, imagine that! And that one essay anybody seems exclusively to read makes far more sense, emerges as far more trenchant, in light of the writer'southward startlingly lucid engagement with Lenin's polemic confronting Mach and Gorky. Seeing how Lenin proves, under rigorous structural analysis, to know, for necessary reasons, simultaneously far less and far more than fifty-fifty he himself realized, makes it far more hard forcasual readers to imagine that everyone is an interpelated subject of credo merely themselves. ...more

Necessary read for everyone in the social sciences/humanities; some essays were unnecessary though ("Lenin on Philosophy" itself is insightful, though it leaves many questions in the air). However, "State and Credo" is perhaps the best of all, and at that place certainly is a sense on where Foucault derived his theory of "soapbox" from. It is also a spit in the face to orthodox Marxists who withal use Euro-centric, conservative modes of analysis on society. Necessary read for anybody in the social sciences/humanities; some essays were unnecessary though ("Lenin on Philosophy" itself is insightful, though it leaves many questions in the air). However, "Land and Credo" is perhaps the best of all, and there certainly is a sense on where Foucault derived his theory of "discourse" from. It is likewise a spit in the face to orthodox Marxists who notwithstanding use Euro-centric, bourgeois modes of analysis on society. ...more

I disagree with the structural, "scientific" Marxism that Althusser pursues, but some of his observations-- particularly those on the formation, dissemination, and cementation of ideologies-- ring true, and assistance to explain some of the fulsome phenomena that accompany capitalist society. While I strongly disagree with orthodox Marxism, it'south nevertheless interesting, radical, and thought-provoking. I disagree with the structural, "scientific" Marxism that Althusser pursues, but some of his observations-- peculiarly those on the formation, broadcasting, and cementation of ideologies-- ring true, and assistance to explain some of the fulsome phenomena that accompany backer society. While I strongly disagree with orthodox Marxism, it's yet interesting, radical, and thought-provoking. ...more than

Louis Pierre Althusser (1918–1990) was 1 of the nigh influential Marxist philosophers of the 20th Century. As they seemed to offer a renewal of Marxist thought besides as to return Marxism philosophically respectable, the claims he avant-garde in the 1960s about Marxist philosophy were discussed and debated worldwide. Due to credible reversals in his theoretical positions, to the sick-blighted facts of Louis Pierre Althusser (1918–1990) was one of the most influential Marxist philosophers of the 20th Century. Every bit they seemed to offer a renewal of Marxist idea besides as to return Marxism philosophically respectable, the claims he advanced in the 1960s nearly Marxist philosophy were discussed and debated worldwide. Due to apparent reversals in his theoretical positions, to the sick-blighted facts of his life, and to the historical fortunes of Marxism in the late twentieth century, this intense involvement in Althusser's reading of Marx did non survive the 1970s. Despite the comparative indifference shown to his piece of work as a whole after these events, the theory of ideology Althusser developed within information technology has been broadly deployed in the social sciences and humanities and has provided a foundation for much "post-Marxist" philosophy. In addition, aspects of Althusser'south project take served as inspiration for Analytic Marxism as well as for Critical Realism. Though this influence is not always explicit, Althusser's piece of work and that of his students continues to inform the inquiry programs of literary studies, political philosophy, history, economic science, and sociology. In addition, his autobiography has been subject to much critical attention over the final decade. At nowadays, Althusser's philosophy every bit a whole is undergoing a critical reevaluation past scholars who accept benefited from the anthologization of hard-to-find and previously unpublished texts and who have begun to engage with the great mass of writings that remain in his athenaeum. ...more

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"However much an ideologue tries to bury [Lenin] beneath a proof by historical analysis, there is always this 1 man standing their on the plain of History and of our lives, in the eternal 'current state of affairs.' He goes on talking, calmly or passionately. He goes on talking about something simple: his revolutionary practice, the practice of class struggle, about what makes it possible to human activity on history...not to demonstrate that revolutions are inevitable, only to make them in our unique present." — vii likes

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