Analysis of the relationship between consciousness and the subject of thought Louis Althusser

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Young Researchers and Elite club, Robatkarim Branch, Islamic Azad University, Robatkarim, Iran/

Abstract

Althusser is considered as a pioneer of Hegelian interpretation of Marx's theory. His theoretical framework presents the most complicated conception of social structure. He criticizes the concept of the subject, as the foundation of modern epistemology, as well as an ideological picture of human. By this means, he manifested the weakness of this concept. Through review of Marx’s later works, he showed that contrary to what humanist Marxists claims, the importance of his work is producing a new problem; i.e. history as a material fact, independent to human conciseness and willing. In the modern theoretical field, he presents a new materialistic formation of the history of human social life. For Althusser, the most important result of this was exiting the concept of subject of the modern thought. His attempt to separat consciousness and subject leads to an essential evolution in Marxist structuralism. Althusser attempt to show that human isn’t the actor of history and signifier of its direction. In principle, history is more the outcome of partial independence of economic, political and ideological structures, than the product of willing and consciousness and interaction of subject.

Keywords

References

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