Beyond the Education of Desire The Utopia of Councils in Abensour
While critical utopias sought to rescue the political import of utopia, recently scholars have questioned their overemphasis on literary forms and a disempowering pluralism. Challenging the applicability of these claims to one of the instigators of critical utopias, I provide a political reading of...
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| Published in: | Theoria (Pietermaritzburg) Vol. 70; no. 3; pp. 96 - 120 |
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| Abstract | While critical utopias sought to rescue the political import of utopia, recently scholars have questioned their overemphasis on literary forms and a disempowering pluralism. Challenging the applicability of these claims to one of the instigators of critical utopias, I provide a political reading of Miguel Abensour's understanding of utopia and connect this to councils as a concrete institutional infrastructure. This begins with a re-reading of his influential conception of the 'education of desire' in relation to the simulacrum as a utopian 'model' that, in rejecting identity-thinking, refuses to reduce utopias to a blueprint. I then turn to conceptualising the utopia of councils through the simulacrum on two fronts: first, as a form subject to innovation in the context of the dialectic of emancipation; second, as a content that aims to both 'democratise utopia' by embracing plurality and 'utopianize democracy' by expanding the realm of democratic space. |
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While critical utopias sought to rescue the political import of utopia, recently scholars have questioned their overemphasis on literary forms and a disempowering pluralism. Challenging the applicability of these claims to one of the instigators of critical utopias, I provide a political reading of Miguel Abensour's understanding of utopia and connect this to councils as a concrete institutional infrastructure. This begins with a re-reading of his influential conception of the ‘education of desire’ in relation to the simulacrum as a utopian ‘model’ that, in rejecting identity-thinking, refuses to reduce utopias to a blueprint. I then turn to conceptualising the utopia of councils through the simulacrum on two fronts: first, as a form subject to innovation in the context of the dialectic of emancipation; second, as a content that aims to both ‘democratise utopia’ by embracing plurality and ‘utopianize democracy’ by expanding the realm of democratic space. While critical utopias sought to rescue the political import of utopia, recently scholars have questioned their overemphasis on literary forms and a disempowering pluralism. Challenging the applicability of these claims to one of the instigators of critical utopias, I provide a political reading of Miguel Abensour's understanding of utopia and connect this to councils as a concrete institutional infrastructure. This begins with a re-reading of his influential conception of the 'education of desire' in relation to the simulacrum as a utopian 'model' that, in rejecting identity-thinking, refuses to reduce utopias to a blueprint. I then turn to conceptualising the utopia of councils through the simulacrum on two fronts: first, as a form subject to innovation in the context of the dialectic of emancipation; second, as a content that aims to both 'democratise utopia' by embracing plurality and 'utopianize democracy' by expanding the realm of democratic space. While critical utopias sought to rescue the political import of utopia, recently scholars have questioned their overemphasis on literary forms and a disempowering pluralism. Challenging the applicability of these claims to one of the instigators of critical utopias, I provide a political reading of Miguel Abensour's understanding of utopia and connect this to councils as a concrete institutional infrastructure. This begins with a re-reading of his influential conception of the 'education of desire' in relation to the simulacrum as a utopian 'model' that, in rejecting identity-thinking, refuses to reduce utopias to a blueprint. I then turn to conceptualising the utopia of councils through the simulacrum on two fronts: first, as a form subject to innovation in the context of the dialectic of emancipation; second, as a content that aims to both 'democratise utopia' by embracing plurality and 'utopianize democracy' by expanding the realm of democratic space. Keywords: Abensour, councils, critical utopias, education of desire, simulacrum, utopia |
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| Author | Mazzocchi, Paul |
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| References | Abensour, M. (bib16) 1976 Mazzocchi, P. (bib51) 2018; 29 Virno, P. (bib63) 1996 Anweiler, O (bib18) 1975 Ingram, J. D. (bib41) 2006; 87 Abensour, M. (bib7) 2006 Arendt, H. (bib19) 2005 Cervera-Marzal, M. (bib26) 2012; 40 Abensour, M. (bib3) 1999 Dubigeon, Y. (bib31) 2019 Sitton, J. (bib61) 1987; 20 Medearis, J. (bib52) 2004; 36 Plaetzer, N. (bib59) 2022; 30 Holman, C. (bib37) 2014; 26 Kalyvas, A. (bib43) 2008 (bib40) 2012 Esposito, R. (bib32) 2022; 115 Ingram. J. D. (bib42) 2016 Holman, C (bib38) 2018 Gauchet, M. (bib34) 2003 (bib44) 2019 Abensour, M. (bib4) 2000 Holman, C. (bib36) 2013 Marchart, O. (bib49) 2018 Abensour, M. (bib14) 2017 Habermas, J (bib35) 1988 Abensour, M. (bib11) 2012 Muldoon, J. (bib55) 2018 Abensour, M. (bib17) 2017 Merleau-Ponty, M. (bib53) 2010 Abensour, M. (bib5) 2002; 17–18 Abensour, M (bib10) 2011 Thompson, E. P. (bib62) 1976 Abensour, M. (bib1) 1988 Mazzocchi, P. (bib50) 2015; 22 Klossowski, P. (bib45) 2017 Abensour. M. (bib2) 1991; 128 Negt, O (bib58) 2007 Abensour, M. (bib8) 2008; 15 Celikates, R. (bib25) 2010; 18 Moylan, T. (bib54) 1986 Arendt, H. (bib20) 2006 Nadir, C. (bib57) 2010; 32 Barthes, R. (bib21) 1989 Chari, A. (bib27) 2015 Dubigeon, Y. (bib30) 2017 Levitas, R. (bib48) 2013 Holman, C. (bib39) 2022 Abensour, M. (bib13) 2016 Benjamin, W. (bib22) 2003 Breaugh, M. (bib23) 2007 Deleuze, G. (bib29) 1983; 27 Abensour, M. (bib6) 2004 Levitas, R. (bib46) 1990 Levitas, R. (bib47) 2007; 3 Creagh, R. (bib28) 1983 Abensour, M. (bib15) 2020 Williams, R. (bib64) 1978; 5 Gardiner, M. (bib33) 2013 Abensour, M. (bib9) 2009 Abensour, M. (bib12) 2013 Popp-Madsen, B. A. (bib60) 2021 Breaugh, M. (bib24) 2022 Muldoon, J. (bib56) 2020 |
| References_xml | – year: 2019 ident: bib44 – year: 2013 ident: bib48 contributor: fullname: Levitas, R. – year: 2017 ident: bib14 contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – volume: 32 start-page: 24 issue: 1 year: 2010 ident: bib57 article-title: Utopian Studies, Environmental Literature, and the Legacy of an Idea: Educating Desire in Miguel Abensour and Ursula K. Leguin contributor: fullname: Nadir, C. – year: 1975 ident: bib18 contributor: fullname: Anweiler, O – volume: 22 start-page: 290 issue: 2 year: 2015 ident: bib50 article-title: Excavating Abensour: The Dialectics of Democracy and Utopia at a Standstill contributor: fullname: Mazzocchi, P. – year: 1976 ident: bib62 contributor: fullname: Thompson, E. P. – volume: 128 start-page: 132 year: 1991 ident: bib2 article-title: Le nouvel esprit utopique contributor: fullname: Abensour. M. – start-page: 23 year: 2012 ident: bib11 article-title: Utopia: Future and/or Alterity? contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – start-page: vii year: 2017 ident: bib17 article-title: Préface contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – volume: 18 start-page: 605 issue: 4 year: 2010 ident: bib25 article-title: Review: Pour Une Philosophie Politique Critique, by Miguel Abensour contributor: fullname: Celikates, R. – year: 2021 ident: bib60 contributor: fullname: Popp-Madsen, B. A. – volume: 5 start-page: 203 issue: 3 year: 1978 ident: bib64 article-title: Utopia and Science Fiction contributor: fullname: Williams, R. – volume: 87 start-page: 33 year: 2006 ident: bib41 article-title: The Politics of Claude Lefort's Political: Between Liberalism and Radical Democracy contributor: fullname: Ingram, J. D. – year: 2005 ident: bib19 contributor: fullname: Arendt, H. – start-page: 12 year: 2004 ident: bib6 article-title: Lettre d'un “révoltiste” à Marcel Gauchet converti à la “politique normale” contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – year: 2006 ident: bib20 contributor: fullname: Arendt, H. – start-page: 257 year: 2019 ident: bib31 article-title: A Theory of Council Democracy contributor: fullname: Dubigeon, Y. – volume: 17–18 start-page: 207 year: 2002 ident: bib5 article-title: Pour une philosophie politique critique? contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – volume: 15 start-page: 406 issue: 3 year: 2008 ident: bib8 article-title: Persistent Utopia contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – year: 1989 ident: bib21 contributor: fullname: Barthes, R. – start-page: 13 year: 2013 ident: bib12 article-title: La conversion utopique: l'utopie et l’éveil contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – year: 2013 ident: bib33 contributor: fullname: Gardiner, M. – year: 2013 ident: bib36 contributor: fullname: Holman, C. – volume: 26 start-page: 434 issue: 3 year: 2014 ident: bib37 article-title: Review: Democracy against the State: Marx and the Machiavellian Moment contributor: fullname: Holman, C. – volume: 29 start-page: 248 issue: 2 year: 2018 ident: bib51 article-title: Desire, Friendship, and the Politics of Refusal: The Utopian Afterlives of La Boétie's Discourse on Voluntary Servitude contributor: fullname: Mazzocchi, P. – year: 2017 ident: bib30 contributor: fullname: Dubigeon, Y. – year: 1976 ident: bib16 article-title: Presentation: Les Lecons de la Servitude et Leur Destin contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – year: 1990 ident: bib46 contributor: fullname: Levitas, R. – year: 2010 ident: bib53 contributor: fullname: Merleau-Ponty, M. – volume: 30 start-page: 108 issue: 4 year: 2022 ident: bib59 article-title: How to Make the Moment Last? On Rupture and Institutions in Massimiliano Tomba's Insurgent Universality contributor: fullname: Plaetzer, N. – year: 2011 ident: bib10 contributor: fullname: Abensour, M – year: 2017 ident: bib45 article-title: Sade and Fourier contributor: fullname: Klossowski, P. – year: 2003 ident: bib34 contributor: fullname: Gauchet, M. – start-page: 131 year: 2018 ident: bib38 article-title: The Councils as Ontological Form: Cornelius Castoriadis and the Autonmous Potential of Council Democracy contributor: fullname: Holman, C – start-page: 189 year: 1996 ident: bib63 article-title: Virtuosity and Revolution: The Political Theory of Exodus contributor: fullname: Virno, P. – start-page: 5 year: 2012 ident: bib40 article-title: The Wilhemshaven Revolt: A Chapter of the Revolutionary Movement of the German Navy, 1918–1919 – year: 1983 ident: bib28 contributor: fullname: Creagh, R. – year: 2020 ident: bib56 contributor: fullname: Muldoon, J. – year: 2022 ident: bib39 article-title: History of Political Thought at a Standstill: Abensour, Constellations and Textual Alterity contributor: fullname: Holman, C. – volume: 3 start-page: 25 issue: 2–3 year: 2007 ident: bib47 article-title: For Utopia: The (Limits of the) Utopian Function in Late Capitalist Society contributor: fullname: Levitas, R. – year: 2006 ident: bib7 contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – year: 1986 ident: bib54 contributor: fullname: Moylan, T. – start-page: ix year: 2016 ident: bib42 article-title: Introduction contributor: fullname: Ingram. J. D. – volume: 20 start-page: 80 issue: 1 year: 1987 ident: bib61 article-title: Hannah Arendt's Argument for Council Democracy contributor: fullname: Sitton, J. – start-page: 61 issue: 5 year: 2000 ident: bib4 article-title: Utopie et emancipation contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – year: 2022 ident: bib24 article-title: A Living Critique of Domination: Exemplars of Radical Democracy from Black Lives Matter to #MeToo contributor: fullname: Breaugh, M. – year: 2018 ident: bib55 contributor: fullname: Muldoon, J. – year: 1988 ident: bib35 contributor: fullname: Habermas, J – start-page: 125 year: 1999 ident: bib3 article-title: William Morris: The Politics of Romance contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – year: 2007 ident: bib58 contributor: fullname: Negt, O – year: 2003 ident: bib22 contributor: fullname: Benjamin, W. – start-page: 3 year: 2016 ident: bib13 article-title: The History of Utopia and the Destiny of its Critique contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – year: 2007 ident: bib23 contributor: fullname: Breaugh, M. – volume: 115 start-page: 143 issue: 1 year: 2022 ident: bib32 article-title: The Creative Force of Institutions: A Reply to Benoît Dillet's, Vanessa Lemm's, and Robert Nichols's Responses to “Three Paradigms of Political Ontology” contributor: fullname: Esposito, R. – volume: 27 start-page: 45 year: 1983 ident: bib29 article-title: Plato and the Simulacrum contributor: fullname: Deleuze, G. – year: 2015 ident: bib27 contributor: fullname: Chari, A. – volume: 36 start-page: 447 issue: 3 year: 2004 ident: bib52 article-title: Lost or Obscured? How V.I. Lenin, Joseph Schumpeter and Hannah Arendt Misunderstood the Council Movement contributor: fullname: Medearis, J. – start-page: xxvii year: 1988 ident: bib1 article-title: Présentation: La passion d'Edward P. Thompson contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – year: 2008 ident: bib43 contributor: fullname: Kalyvas, A. – year: 2018 ident: bib49 contributor: fullname: Marchart, O. – start-page: 11 year: 2009 ident: bib9 article-title: Avant-propos contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – start-page: 27 year: 2020 ident: bib15 article-title: Utopia and Democracy contributor: fullname: Abensour, M. – volume: 40 start-page: 300 issue: 2 year: 2012 ident: bib26 article-title: Miguel Abensour, Cornelius Castoriadis. Un conseillisme français? contributor: fullname: Cervera-Marzal, M. |
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While critical utopias sought to rescue the political import of utopia, recently scholars have questioned their overemphasis on literary forms and a... While critical utopias sought to rescue the political import of utopia, recently scholars have questioned their overemphasis on literary forms and a... |
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| SubjectTerms | Analysis Councils Democracy Desire Dialectics Education Emancipation France Heuristic Infrastructure Innovations Mediation New York Oppression Reading Totalitarianism United Kingdom Utopias |
| Subtitle | The Utopia of Councils in Abensour |
| Title | Beyond the Education of Desire |
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