Epistemology and Society in Louis Althusser

The book interrogates two axes of Louis Althusser's work: epistemology and his conception of society. Rather than sectioning off his writings and choosing a point of greatest significance for critical examination I try to reconstruct a possible path along each of the axes by leading his reasoning to a bifurcation point. In the case of epistemology I direct the reflection to the final point where the previously criticised epistemological guarantees threaten to be reintroduced into the argument and suggest a possible way out by connecting his idea of a cut to the presupposition of the congenital unfinished nature of scientific reflection on the one hand and on the other I tension his construction by referring it to the political sphere. With regard to his conception of society I unfold his reflection by emphasising Althusser's attack on structuralism and a certain conception of totality. As I did with the first axis I direct his argument to a point where two options become apparent: the circularity of reiterating what was once criticised or the immanent collapse of the idea of structure at which point the possibility of another formulation opens up.