The Politics of Rupture

In political theory and philosophy, especially leftist theory and philosophy, one not infrequently encounters the notion of ‘rupture.’ But what does a ‘rupture’ refer to, and why does it matter?

Althusser vs. Althusser

Louis Althusser (1918-1990), the French philosopher born in Algeria, is one of the main intellectual figures of European Marxism in the post-World War II era. A member of the French Communist Party, and a supporter, in his own way, of Maoism, he is known as the main proponent of what was called the “structural Marxist” school of thought. Some of his concepts were incorporated into the social sciences. Two examples that are fairly well-known are the terms overdetermination and ideological state apparatuses.