PhilosophyandtheSpontaneousPhilosophyoftheScientists

Thepublicationin1965ofForMarxandReadingCapitalestablishedLouisAlthusserasoneofthemostoriginalandcontroversialfiguresintheWesternMarxisttradition;athinkerwhoserenewalofMarxismwastoenjoygreatinfluenceoverthenextdecade.CollectedhereareAlthusser’smostsignificantphilosophicalwritingsfrom1965to1978;themajoritypreviouslyuntranslated.Intendedtocontribute,inhisownwords,toa“left-wingcritiqueofStalinismthatwouldhelpputsomesubstancebackintotherevolutionaryprojecthereintheWest,”theyaretherecordofasharedhistory.AtthesametimetheychartAlthusser’scritiqueofthetheoreticalsystemunveiledinhisownmajorworks,andhisdevelopingpracticeofphilosophyasa“revolutionaryweapon.”Thecollectionopenswithtwolucidearlyarticles—“Theory,TheoreticalPracticeandTheoreticalFormation”and“OnTheoreticalWork.”Thetitlepiece—Althusser’scelebratedlecturesinthe“PhilosophyCourseforScientists”—isthefullestexplorationofhisnewdefinitionofphilosophyaspoliticsintherealmoftheory;aconceptionwhichisfurtherdevelopedin“LeninandPhilosophy.”“IsitSimpletobeaMarxistinPhilosophy?”providesaninvaluableaccountofAlthusser’sintellectualdevelopment.Thevolumeconcludeswithtwolittle-knownlatepieces—“TheTransformationofPhilosophy,”inwhichtheparadoxicalhistoryofMarxistphilosophyisinvestigated;and“MarxismToday,”asoberbalance-sheetoftheMarxisttradition.AttestingtotheuniqueplacewhichAlthusserhasoccupiedinmodernintellectualhistory—betweenatraditionofMarxismwhichhesoughttoreconstruct,anda“post-Marxism”whichhaseclipseditspredecessor—thesetextsareindispensablereading.