About
Louis Althusser (1918-1990) was a major French philosopher of the 20th century. A former student of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris, he taught there for over thirty years, shaping several generations of thinkers. A member of the French Communist Party, he renewed the reading of Marx with works such as 'For Marx' and 'Reading Capital', introducing the concepts of 'epistemological break' and 'ideological state apparatuses'. His life was marked by severe mental illness; in 1980, he killed his wife during a psychotic episode and was declared unfit to stand trial. His posthumous writings, including 'The Future Lasts Forever', extended his influence.
* 1918-10-16 — † 1990-10-22
Major works
- Pour Marx (1965)philosophical essay
- Lire le Capital (1965)collective work
- Idéologie et appareils idéologiques d'État (1970)article
- L'Avenir dure longtemps (1992)autobiography
- Sur la reproduction (1995)philosophical essay
Key milestones
- 1948Becomes agrégé-répétiteur (caïman) at the École Normale Supérieure and joins the French Communist Party.
- 1965Publishes 'For Marx' and 'Reading Capital', marking a turning point in Marxist theory.
- 1980Kills his wife Hélène Rytmann during a psychotic episode; he is declared unfit to stand trial and is not tried.
Themes
structuralist Marxismepistemological breakideology and ideological state appainterpellation of subjectstheoretical anti-humanism
Sources: plato.stanford.edu · britannica.com · oxfordreference.com