A theory of tragedy in Cornelius Castoriadis

Towards the end of his philosophical and political theorizing, the Greekborn French philosopher and thinker Cornelius Castoriadis (1922- 1997) turned his attention to the artistic representation, in particular to the Greek one, or to use the term he preferred: to the Athenian tragedy. The aim of thi...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Padilla, Maria Cecilia
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versão publicada
Data de publicação:2020
País:Argentina
Recursos:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositório:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglês
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/156818
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/156818
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:TRAGEDY
DEMOCRACY
TRAGIC REGIME
CASTORIADIS
HYBRIS
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.6
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
Descrição
Resumo:Towards the end of his philosophical and political theorizing, the Greekborn French philosopher and thinker Cornelius Castoriadis (1922- 1997) turned his attention to the artistic representation, in particular to the Greek one, or to use the term he preferred: to the Athenian tragedy. The aim of this article is to analyze the role that plays his interpretation of tragedy in his understanding of democracy as a tragic regime. In order to address this interrogation, the article is divided in three parts. The first one is devoted to what Castoriadis calls the Greek creation. The second part offers an interpretation of Castoriadis’ formulation of tragedy both as a public institution and a window to chaos, with an especial emphasis on its connection to democracy, autonomy and judgment. In the final remarks, I critically assess his original conception of tragedy and the political implications for Castoriadis’ idea of democracy. I conclude with the suggestion of, contrary to his critics' accusation, Castoriadis does not idealize Athenian democracy, but rather, his notion of democracy as a tragic regime contains the idea that democratic action is always on the verge of the abyss, which is always intrinsically radical and tragic.