E-grāmata: Philosophy of the Encounter: Later Writings, 1978-1987

Althusser was a light of the continental philosophy of the twentieth century, the teacher of Derrida and Foucault, an astute commentator on culture and social theory, a leading intellectual in the French Communist Party and a deeply influential literary critic. Such a varied and full earlier life should have led to even more distinguished later life, but Althusser suffered a period of mental instability culminating in his murder of his wife and institutionalization. This fourth volume in the series collecting his political and philosophical writings could therefore be too poignant to be of much effect, but instead Althusser's work in determinism, contingency, and other theoretical problems, including his extended studies of Marx and his correspondence was amongst his best. This collection also includes the disturbing and evocative "The Underground Current of the Materialism of the Encounter," a complex and major work, and "Marx in his Limits." Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

From Althusser's most prolific period, this book is destined to become a classic.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, Louis Althusser endured a period of intense mental instability during which he murdered his wife and was committed to a psychiatric hospital. Spanning this deeply troubling period, this fourth and final volume of political and philosophical writings reveals Althusser wrestling in a creative and unorthodox fashion with a whole series of theoretical problems to produce some of his very finest work. In his profound exploration of questions of determinism and contingency, Althusser developed a "philosophy of the encounter," which he links to a hidden and subterranean tradition in the history of Western thought.

From Althusser's most prolific period, this book is destined to become a classic.