Jacques Rancière 
The Method of Equality 
Interviews with Laurent Jeanpierre and Dork Zabunyan

The development of Rancière’s philosophical work, from his formative years through the political and methodological break with Louis Althusser and the lessons of May 68, is documented here, as are the confrontations with other thinkers, the controversies and occasional misunderstandings. So too are the unity of his work and the distinctive style of his thinking, despite the frequent disconnect between politics and aesthetics and the subterranean movement between categories and works. Lastly one sees his view of our age, and of our age’s many different and competing realities. What we gain in the end is a rich and multi-layered portrait of a life and a body of thought dedicated to the exercise of philosophy and to the emergence of possible new worlds.

Table of Content

FOREWORD

PART ONE: GENESES

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH

EDUCATION

READING CAPITAL

ATTITUDE TO COMMUNIST ENGAGEMENT

MAY 68, VINCENNES AND THE GAUCHE PROLETARIENNE

TURNING POINTS

IN THE NIGHTS OF LABOUR

BIRTH OF A METHOD: WAYS OF READING AND WRITING

MICHEL FOUCAULT

LES REVOLTES LOGIQUES AND THE FALLOUT FROM MAY 68

CINEMA, LEFT-WING FICTION AND POPULAR MEMORY

PART TWO: LINES

HERITAGE AND SINGULARITY

ANTI-SYSTEMATIC SYSTEMATICITY

PRIVILEGING SPACE, RETHINKING TIME

EXCESS OR EVENT

THE DEFINITION OF A SCENE

SUBJECTIFICATION IN WORDS

FACULTIES OR POSSIBILITIES

AESTHETIC REVOLUTION, DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION?

PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING AND ORDINARY DISCOURSES

PHILOSOPHY IN EFFECTS

THE REST IS UP TO YOU

THE LAUGHTER IN A THOUGHT

PART THREE: THRESHHOLDS

DEMYSTIFICATION OR DECONSTRUCTION

CONSENSUS AND STUPIDITY

WARDING OFF MASTERY

LOCATING THE UNCONSCIOUS

PROLETARIANS THEN AND NOW

EQUALITY/INEQUALITIES

THE ORDERING OF THE COMMON

DISIDENTIFICATION AND SUBJECTIFICATION

POLITICS AND INSTITUTIONS

THE PLACE OF THE SOCIAL

NEWNESS AND HISTORICITY

THE DISPERSAL OF IMAGES; ANOTHER ART REGIME?

POPULAR CULTURES

PART FOUR: PRESENT TENSES

MAPPING POSSIBILITIES

FIGURES OF THE PRESENT, MODALITIES OF THE ‘POLICE’

RUPTURES, REVOLUTIONS, REVOLTS

A NEW INTERNATIONALISM?

MIGRANT BODIES, SUFFERING BODIES

HUMANS, NON-HUMANS: ON POLITICAL ECOLOGY

A WORLD THAT HAS LOST ALL SENSE OF REALITY: HOW DO WE INFORM OURSELVES?

THE HUMAN INTEREST STORY, ORDINARY LIVES, INVESTIGATION

PRECARIOUS AND POPULAR ARTS OF LIVING

THE DIVISON OF THE SENSIBLE AND CONTEMPORARY ART

THE FUTURE OF SOCIALISM

POLITICAL ECONOMICS

INTERVIEWS AND DIALOGUE

INDEX

About the author

Jacques Rancière is a leading French philosopher and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Paris-St. Denis. His many books include The Politics of Literature, Aesthetics and Its Discontents and The Future of the Image.