Vangelis Papadimitropoulos

This paper explores the distinction of politics and the political in Castoriadis’ work. Whereas the political refers to the instituted as the management of society in accordance with established laws, politics refers to the instituting as the capacity of the imaginary to constantly challenge established laws on the basis of individual and collective autonomy. The politics of autonomy identify with the regime of direct democracy, established first and foremost at the level of economy and expanding accordingly in all spheres of society. Democracy contains both a psychoanalytical and educational perspective inasmuch as it aims at the conscious self-reflective harmonisation of individual and collective autonomy by means of collective deliberation.

This article explores the notions of indeterminacy and creation in Castoriadis’ work. The notions of indeterminacy and creation are initially associated with Castoriadis’ conception of Being as Chaos contradicted with what Castoriadis calls “ensemblistic-identitary logic”. The conception of Being as Chaos is then linked with the notion of otherness analyzed as creation ex nihilo. In particular, creation ex nihilo is analyzed in the context of Castoriadis division of Being’s multiplicity into difference and otherness. I will argue that Being’s multiplicity as difference refers to the “ensemblistic-identitary logic” while otherness comes up with a novel form of Being identified as ex nihilo creation. Finally, otherness is approached through Castoriadis’ conception of time whereby otherness and, consequently, time is further associated with Castoriadis’ notion of imaginary as the latter deploys in the social-historical field of mankind through the imaginary significations of society