Aesthetics and Freedom: Jacques Rancière's Schillerian Roots (original) (raw)

Introduction: Rancière's Sentiments

In Rancière’s Sentiments Davide Panagia explores Jacques Rancière’s aesthetics of politics as it informs his radical democratic theory of participation. Attending to diverse practices of everyday living and doing—of form, style, and scenography—in Rancière’s writings, Panagia characterizes Rancière as a sentimental thinker for whom the aesthetic is indistinguishable from the political. Rather than providing prescriptions for political judgment and action, Rancière focuses on how sensibilities and perceptions constitute dynamic relations between persons and the worlds they create. Panagia traces this approach by examining Rancière’s modernist sensibilities, his theory of radical mediation, the influence of Gustave Flaubert on Rancière’s literary voice, and how Rancière juxtaposes seemingly incompatible objects and phenomena to create moments of sensorial disorientation. The power of Rancière’s work, Panagia demonstrates, lies in its ability to leave readers with a disjunctive sensibility of the world and what political thinking is and can be.

Introduction: On the Edges of Jacques Ranciere

SubStance, 2004

After the generation of Michel Serres, Jean-François Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Pierre Bourdieu, a few French intellectuals, over the last ten or even twenty years, have developed original approaches to various objects of analysis (from aesthetics ...

Jacques Rancière. Key Concepts

Although relatively unknown a decade ago, the work of Jacques Rancière is fast becoming a central reference in the humanities and social sciences. His thinking brings a fresh, innovative approach to many fields, notably the study of work, education, politics, literature, film, art, as well as philosophy. This is the first, full-length introduction to Rancière’s work and covers the full range of his contribution to contemporary thought, presenting in clear, succinct chapters the key concepts Rancière has developed in his writings over the last forty years.

From freedom to equality: Rancière and the aesthetic experience of equality

Continental Philosophy Review, 2015

This article examines Rancière's political reading of aesthetics through a historical analysis into the two aesthetic theories of freedom at work in Rancière's philosophy; Kant's freedom as self-governance and Schiller's freedom as harmony. While aesthetic experience is considered morally conducive through its association with freedom, this article argues that Rancière translates such discussions of freedom into that of equality by extracting the political dimensions of aesthetic experience. Given that art has the unique ability to empower the spectator through its aesthetic experience of equality, the true political potential of art arises from its power to redistribute the sensible rather than through the overt expression of political themes. By juxtaposing Rancière's politics of art with Kant's beauty as the symbol of morality, this article argues that art becomes a symbol of political emancipation for Rancière in its capacity to generate the experience of equality. Inasmuch as Rancière attributes the aesthetic revolution to the eighteenth century, it becomes evident that the empowerment of the spectator has been central to art since the inauguration of the aesthetic regime.

Jacques Rancière: Philosophy, Politics, Aesthetics

Continuum Publishing , 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage viii CONTENTS 3.2 Three Regimes of Art 3.3 Equality in Art 3.4 In Place of Modernity 3.5 Against Postmodernity 3.6 Art as Dissensus Conclusion Chapter 4: Regimes of Cinema Introduction 4.1 A Historical Poetics of Cinema 4.2 Cinema, the Dream of the Aesthetic Age 4.3 The Logic of the Thwarted Fable 4.4 Allegories of Modernity: Deleuze and the Use of Hitchcock 4.5 Cinema and Its Century: Godard and the Abuse of Hitchcock Conclusion Chapter 5: Beyond Rancière ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Books rarely have simple origins. They emerge from multiple contexts, respond to various conversations, and bespeak numerous relationships only too fleetingly hinted at in their pages. This book is no exception. It was undertaken with the support of the Chalsty Initiative in Aesthetics and Philosophy, the Provost's Office, and the Division of Humanities and Sciences at California College of the Arts. While working on this study, I profited greatly from conversations with colleagues, students, and friends, many of whom were generous enough to read and discuss portions of what I wrote. In particular, I would like to thank

Jacques Ranciere and the Contemporary Scene: The Philosophy of Radical Equality

2012

This book forms the first critical study of Jacques Rancière's impact and contribution to contemporary theoretical and interdisciplinary studies. It showcases the work of leading scholars in fields such as political theory, history and aesthetic theory; each of whom are uniquely situated to engage with the novelty of Rancière's thinking within their respective fields. Each of the essays provides an investigation into the critical stance Rancière takes towards his contemporaries, concentrating on the versatile application of his thought to diverse fields of study (including, political and education theory, cinema studies, literary and aesthetic theory, and historical studies). The aim of this collection is to use the critical interventions Rancière's writing makes on current topics and themes as a way of offering new critical perspectives on his thought. Wielding their individual expertise, each contributor assesses his perspectives and positions on thinkers and topics of contemporary importance. The edition includes a new essay by Jacques Rancière, which charts the different problems and motivations that have shaped his work.

Jacques Rancière and the Emancipation of Bodies

This article contends that Jacques Rancière's aesthetic understanding of corporeality is central to his interpretation of intellectual emancipation. Concretely, I will argue that Rancière's aesthetic understanding can be viewed as a torsion of a body that affects its vital arrangements, which thereby open paths for political emancipation. I will support my claim with Rancière's reading of the plebeian philosopher Gauny, as well as works that have not been sufficiently considered in secondary literature, such as The Nights of Labor and The Ignorant Schoolmaster. My reading will, I maintain, help to question common interpretations of emancipation in Rancière that tend to read this notion either in dichotomous terms or as a merely ephemeral, evental practice with no concrete conditions of possibility and without long-lasting or verifiable effects in the world.