Chantal Mouffe: Agonistic Spaces
part I
part II
Chantal Mouffe presents a lecture on the basic tenets of her theory of politics and how artistic practices can intervene in political processes. She first lays the philosophical ground for her lecture: the critique of Essentialism and an introduction to a discursive approach, touching on the work of Freud, Lacan, Wittgenstein, and Gadamer. Secondly, she introduces and discusses her theory of an agonistic model of democracy. In this framework, she explores the role of artistic practice within the political process and its ability to intervene and help change established hegemonies through antagonistic positioning.
Synthesis
Where can artistic practice intervene? · Some philosophical concepts that are important to have as a basis · Sigmund Freud · The subject is a given, an idea questioned by critical essentialism · The concept of the divided subject between the conscious and the unconscious · Psychoanalysis can help to reach the unconscious but can never master it · Ludwig Wittgenstein – the subject cannot be the source of linguistic meaning · Expand…
Where can artistic practice intervene? · Some philosophical concepts that are important to have as a basis · Sigmund Freud · The subject is a given, an idea questioned by critical essentialism · The concept of the divided subject between the conscious and the unconscious · Psychoanalysis can help to reach the unconscious but can never master it · Ludwig Wittgenstein – the subject cannot be the source of linguistic meaning · It is by participating in a variety of practices that the world is revealed to us · Hans-Georg Gadamer · It is by participating in languages that the world is disclosed to us · Pragmatism · There is no identity already there · Identity is constructed · Jacques Lacan · The subject is like an onion, constructed by layers of identification · The discursive approach – reality is always constructed through various discourses or signifying practices · Reality is only a product of discourse · Discourse is an articulation between linguistic things and material things · The object is always given to us by discursive articulation · The meaning of things is always constructed through a system of relations · Kicking a ball only becomes playing football when it is within a particular system of relations · Antonio Gramsci · The category of hegemony · A system of relations is always a system of power · There is no society without power · The structures can be changed but not eliminated · Every type of order is an hegemonic structure · Counter-hegemonic practices offer alternatives · There is always an alternative to the existing order · That is where artistic practices can act · Two main concepts – hegemony and antagonism · The aim of democracy is to establish a rational consensus · This is impossible, because if every order is hegemonic then there can be no reconciliation, only alternatives through antagonism · What are the consequences of this approach to democracy? · The task for political institutions is to aggregate interests and establish consensus · The pursuit of self-interest · Rational choice · John Rawls · Jürgen Habermas · To act as a citizen is to act towards the common good · Must differentiate between instrumental and communicative rationality · The role of passion in creating a collective form of identification · Affect is not irrational · We can accept a democratic model that encompasses antagonism · Democratic institutions within this model do not seek a rational consensus · Antagonism is a very specific form of conflict, one which can never reach a consensus · Antagonism in this democratic model can exist as a conflict between adversaries instead of enemies · They accept the legitimacy of their opponents · Not with the aim of destroying the other · The democratic process is accepted within the agonistic model · The opponent is treated as an equal · A process of persuasion to win over the opponent · There are competing views of the common good · Different agonistic spaces allow for different types of individualities to exist · The hegemonic model is particularly good to understand the relation between art and politics · Gramsci posited that hegemonies are created through civil society · Through a multiplicity of practices · The importance of culture in the creation and reproduction of the common sense · Our subjectivity is dependent on the types of practices in which we participate · Art and politics not separate from each other · They either contribute to the existent hegemony or they critique it · How can artistic practices have a critical position within traditional institutions today?
Short biography
Chantal Mouffe, political theorist educated at the universities of Louvain, Paris, and Essex, is professor of political theory at the University of Westminster. Expand…
Chantal Mouffe, political theorist educated at the universities of Louvain, Paris, and Essex, is professor of political theory at the University of Westminster. She has taught at many universities in Europe, North America, and Latin America and has held research positions at Harvard, Cornell, the University of California, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. Between 1989 and 1995, she was Directrice de Programme at the College International de Philosophie in Paris. Professor Mouffe is module leader of the CSD MA modules The State, Politics and Violence and Current Issues in Democratic Theory at the University of Westminster.