Fantin is returning for 2013, commencing with some readings from Cornelius Castoriadis, social theorist, philosopher, economist, psychoanalyst, and animating figure behind the Socialisme ou Barbarie group. Combining a critique of Marxism with lessons drawn from studies in phenomenology, German Idealist and Romantic Philosophy and the emergence of democracy in Ancient Greece, Castoriadis developed a highly distinctive theory of human creativity and historical change, and was a life-long promoter of the possibility of re-creating society around the values of individual and collective autonomy and worker’s self-management of production.
“On the Content of Socialism” is a collection of excerpts from a series of papers of same title, which were published in the journal Socialisme ou Barbarie between 1955 and 1957, and which were collated and summarised for publication in The Castoradis Reader (ed. David Ames Curtis, 1997, Blackwell Publishing). Also planned for discussion is the introductory statement published in the first edition of SouB in 1949, expressing the aims of the journal. Photocopies of the relevant sections can be downloaded through the following links:
