AUTONOMY, DEMOCRACY, REVOLUTION: FOR THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF CORNELIUS CASTORIADIS

Abstract

This article is an extended introduction to the thematic column of Topos dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Cornelius Castoriadis (1922–1997), a famous French philosopher of Greek origin. The text aims to critically actualise the intellectual legacy of Castoriadis and justify its significance in the context of the current situation. The author considers such topics as the irrelevance of Castoriadis’s ideas in the post-Soviet intellectual context; the multiplicity of his professional identities (philosopher, economist, psychoanalyst, political activist, etc.) and the milestones of his biography; the fragmentary and thematically diverse nature of his work; the unique and radical character of his philosophical project; the complexity of his narrow disciplinary, ideological and methodological identification, etc. Addressing Castoriadis’s intellectual legacy in this column is a call to continue philosophical enquiries based on the valuable insights that can be found in his texts, as well as in the whole perspective of the normative horizon of the autonomy project.