G iven the upsurge of the Greek left and anarchic youth (beginning with the 2008 uprisings) in th... more G iven the upsurge of the Greek left and anarchic youth (beginning with the 2008 uprisings) in the last few years and the highly debatable results of the " victory " by the Left coalition party, SYRIZA, it is timely to reconsider one of the most signifi cant periods in modern Greek intellectual life. This involves the passage and rather remarkable exit from right-wing tyranny and entry into new conditions and rhythms of everyday life predicated on a newly found freedom of movement of thought for the generation of the 1940's. This essay, which is divided into two parts (the second in the next issue of Situations) has a threefold task: a description of the historical movement of this generation (which will focus primarily on the philosophers on the Mataroa). Secondly a descriptive analysis of the experience of a different exile and a redefi nition of nostalgia which facilitates the openness for transformative politics that was encouraged and motivated in the Parisian intellectual and artistic milieu of the post war period. Thirdly, an engagement with the thought of two of the most prominent philosophers on the boat, Axelos and Castoriadis, which will demonstrate the role their practico-theoretical activity could play in reorienting the Greek Left today as well as grounding their Left-Heideggerian and Left-Aristotelian principles respectively. This will take shape in the second part of this two part essay in the role of poesis and the concept of Heraclitean play as subversion of dominant orders of thinking and structure which for Axelos becomes the way out of a totalizing thinking that was predominant in the Western Marxist tradition. Castoriadis' conceptualization of praxis as engaged and enlightened thinking activity, brought a new force to the war of position. Both thinkers I will engage as our contemporaries from whom there is much to learn and may offer an otherwise thinking that may mark the overcoming of the stasis consistently facing the international left with its emphasis on homo economicus rather than thinking otherwise and embracing the poetic spirit deeply suppressed in most discussions.
G iven the upsurge of the Greek left and anarchic youth (beginning with the 2008 uprisings) in th... more G iven the upsurge of the Greek left and anarchic youth (beginning with the 2008 uprisings) in the last few years and the highly debatable results of the " victory " by the Left coalition party, SYRIZA, it is timely to reconsider one of the most signifi cant periods in modern Greek intellectual life. This involves the passage and rather remarkable exit from right-wing tyranny and entry into new conditions and rhythms of everyday life predicated on a newly found freedom of movement of thought for the generation of the 1940's. This essay, which is divided into two parts (the second in the next issue of Situations) has a threefold task: a description of the historical movement of this generation (which will focus primarily on the philosophers on the Mataroa). Secondly a descriptive analysis of the experience of a different exile and a redefi nition of nostalgia which facilitates the openness for transformative politics that was encouraged and motivated in the Parisian intellectual and artistic milieu of the post war period. Thirdly, an engagement with the thought of two of the most prominent philosophers on the boat, Axelos and Castoriadis, which will demonstrate the role their practico-theoretical activity could play in reorienting the Greek Left today as well as grounding their Left-Heideggerian and Left-Aristotelian principles respectively. This will take shape in the second part of this two part essay in the role of poesis and the concept of Heraclitean play as subversion of dominant orders of thinking and structure which for Axelos becomes the way out of a totalizing thinking that was predominant in the Western Marxist tradition. Castoriadis' conceptualization of praxis as engaged and enlightened thinking activity, brought a new force to the war of position. Both thinkers I will engage as our contemporaries from whom there is much to learn and may offer an otherwise thinking that may mark the overcoming of the stasis consistently facing the international left with its emphasis on homo economicus rather than thinking otherwise and embracing the poetic spirit deeply suppressed in most discussions.
Uploads
Papers by Michael Pelias