CORNELIUS CASTORIADIS: RETHINKING AUTONOMY
Maison Fran=E7aise, Columbia University
December, 1st - 3rd 2000

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of perhaps Cornelius Castoriadis' most
influential work, "The Imaginary Institution of Society", this
conference will assess the impact of Castoriadis' thinking and
interrogate the forms and results of his influence on democratic
politics, psychoanalytical studies, and philosophy.  The legacy of
Castoriadis has begun to affect our understanding of the origins, scope,
and fallibility of social institutions and to shape our views on change,
power, political autonomy, subjectivity, and the unconscious.  The aim
of the conference is to provide a forum around which diverse modes of
inquiry influenced by Castoriadis can engage in a fruitful dialogue that
will not only contribute to the progress of Castoriadis studies, but
also further develop topics, themes, and arguments that are central to
contemporary debates.

For further information, please go to
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/french/maison

PROGRAM
Day 1: Friday 1st

Welcome

Opening Remarks (10:15pm)
Zoe Castoriadis

Panel 1 (10:30am-12:30pm): Heterodox Marxism and Castoriadis
Alex Callinicos, Department of Politics, York University, "Castoriadis
and the Triumph of the Will"
Stephen Hastings-King, Department of History, University of
Pennsylvania, "Narrating the Collapse of the Marxist Imaginary"
Dick Howard, Department of Philosophy, State University of New York,
"Philosophy and Politics in Marx and Castoriadis"
Chair and Commentator: Nadia Urbinati, Department of Political Science,
Columbia University

Panel 2 (1:30pm-3:30pm): The World in Fragments
Johann Arnason, Department of Sociology, La Trobe University, "Roads
beyond Marx: Castoriadis and the Others"
Agnes Heller, Department of Philosophy, New School University, "Identity
Formation as an Imaginary Institution"
Hans Joas, Department of Sociology, Free University, Berlin, "On
Articulation"
Chair and Commentator: Linda Cardinal, Department of Political Science,
University of Ottawa

Film presentation (4:00pm-4:20pm)

Panel 3 (4:30pm-6:30pm): Rethinking Democracy
Jean Cohen, Department of Political Science, Columbia University, "The
Self-Institution of Society and Representative Government: Can we Square
the Circle?"
Jean-Pierre Dupuy, =C9cole Polytechnique, CREA, France, "Individualism and
Self-Transcendence
Robert Redeker, =C9ditor of Les Temps Modernes, "Reading Castoriadis:
Politicizing Existence"
Chair and Commentator: Alastair Davidson, Center for Historical
Analysis, Rutgers University

Reception

Day 2: Saturday 2nd

Panel 4 (10:00pm-12:00pm): The Legacy of the Greeks
John Ely, Writer, "Better than Kant's Novelties: Autonomy and
Participation in Castoriadis, Aristotle and Anaxagoras"
Peter Bratsis, Graduate School and University Center, City University of
New York, "Castoriadis, Kantorowicz, and the Historicity of Political
Forms"
Vassilis Lambropoulos, Department of Comparative Literature, University
of Michigan, "Tragedy and Autonomy"
Chair and Commentator: Steven Bourke, Society of Calabrian Fellows

Panel 5 (1:00pm-3:00pm): Instituting the Political
Andrew Arato, Department of Sociology, New School University,
"Constitution and Institution"
Andreas Kalyvas, Department of Political Science, Columbia University,
"Castoriadis' Critique of Liberalism"
Linda Zerilli, Department of Political Science, Northwestern University,
"Castoriadis and the Problem of the New"
Chair and Commentator: David Ames Curtis, Writer and translator, France

Panel 6 (3:30pm-5:30pm): The Elucidation of the Psyche and the Freudian
Legacy
Peter Dews, Department of Philosophy, University of Essex, "Symbol and
Imagination: Castoriadis and Lacan"
Joel Whitebook, The Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic
Training and Research, "Autonomy and The History of the Trance,"
Fernando Urribarri, Associaci=F3n Psicoanal=EDtica Argentina, "Beyond Freud=
:
The Radical Imagination and its Vicissitudes"
Chair and Commentator: Andr=E9 Green, Soci=E9t=E9 Psychanalytique de Paris,
France

Roundtable Discussion (6:00pm-8:00pm)
Paul Berman, Writer, United States
Dick Howard, Department of Philosophy, State University of New York
Edgar Morin, Department of Sociology, CETSHA, France
Chair: Seyla Benhabib, Department of Government, Harvard University

Day 3: Sunday 3rd

Panel 7 (10:00am-12:00pm): The Practice of Philosophy
Fabio Ciaramelli, ," Department of Philosophy, Federico II University of
Naples, "Creation and Desires"
Francisco Varela, Department of Biology, University of Paris X -
Jussieu, "Autonomy and Closure: The Resonance of Castoriadis' Thought in
the Life of the Sciences"
Ernesto Laclau, Department of Political Science, University of Essex,
"Castoriadis between Ontology and Politics"
Chair and Commentator: Agnes Heller, Department of Philosophy, New
School University

Panel 8 (1:00pm-3:00pm): Psychoanalysis and the Project of Autonomy
Stathis Gourgouris, Department of Comparative Literature, Rutgers
University, "The Problem of Heteronomous Sublimation"
Laurie Naranch, Department of Political Science, Providence College,
"Psyche, Autonomy and Feminist Criticism"
Yannis Stavrakakis, Department of Politics, Nottingham University,
"Encounters with the Political in Castoriadis and Lacanian Theory:
Between dislocation and Institution"
Chair and Commentator: Donald Moss, Psychoanalyst, NYC

Panel 9 (3:30pm-5:30pm): The Social Imaginary Institution of Society: 25
years after
Warren Breckman, Department of History, University of Pennsylvania,
"Hegemony or Autonomy: Castoriadis, Post-Marxism and the Social
Imaginary"
Christian Delacampagne, Department of French, Tufts University,
"Philosophy and Politics: The Right Distance"
Diane Pacom, Department of Sociology, University of Ottawa,
"Castoriadis' Influence on Contemporary Social and Political Theory:
Towards a New Critical Sociology of the Social-Historical"
Simon Tormey, Department of Politics, University of Nottingham, "What's
left of left Radicalism? Castoriadis and the Politics of Heterodox
Marxism"
Chair and Commentator: Peter Swan, Law School, Carleton College, Canada

Reception

A conference organized by Andreas Kalyvas, Steven Bourke, and Fernando
Urribarri with the generous support of the Onassis Public Benefit
Foundation, the Columbia University Sterling Currier Fund, the
Foundation for Hellenic Culture, the Program in Hellenic Studies,
Department of Classics, Columbia University, the Center for Comparative
Literature and Society and in association with the Society of Calabrian
Fellows.