This book is a critical introduction to contemporary French
philosopher Jacques Rancière. It is the first introduction in
any language to cover all of his major work and offers an
accessible presentation and searching evaluation of his significant
contributions to the fields of politics, pedagogy, history,
literature, film theory and aesthetics.
This book traces the emergence of Rancière's thought
over the last forty-five years and situates it in the diverse
intellectual contexts in which it intervenes. Beginning with his
egalitarian critique of his former teacher Louis Althusser, the
book tracks the subsequent elaboration of Rancière's
highly original conception of equality. This approach reveals that
a grasp of his early archival and historiographical work is vital
for a full understanding both of his later politics and his ongoing
investigation of art and aesthetics.
Along the way, this book explains and analyses key terms in
Rancière's very distinctive philosophical lexicon,
including the 'police' order,
'disagreement', 'political subjectivation',
'literarity', the 'part which has no part',
the 'regimes of art' and 'the distribution of the
sensory'.
This book argues that Rancière's work sets a new
standard in contestatory critique and concludes by reflecting on
the philosophical and policy implications of his singular project.
