Caminhos da autonomia: a autoinstituição da sociedade e a sociologia política de Cornelius Castoriadis

Abstract

The aim of this research is to discuss the political sociology of Cornelius Castoriadis, with an emphasis on the so-called “question of autonomy”. To this end, we used a bibliographical analysis of the author, and some related authors, in order to understand his theoretical foundations and some possible developments. From his own perspective, Castoriadis was able to develop an unequivocally authentic way of thinking, coherently articulating various contributions ranging from the classical Greeks to Marxism, philosophy and psychoanalysis, which unfolded into notions such as “imaginary”; “instituting”; “instituted”; “autonomy”; “heteronomy”; “infrapower”; “explicit power”; “radical imagination”, among many others. With this, the author was able to formulate both a powerful questioning of domination in modernity and to rehearse some predicates of a radical emancipatory project: the project of autonomy. In addition to the introduction and concluding remarks, the text is divided into two chapters. The first seeks to introduce and develop the basic concepts of Castori's sociology and philosophy in a framework of three serial topics. The second chapter, based on four serial topics, seeks to develop other presuppositions, now of a psychoanalytical and ontological nature, in order to do justice to the complexity and seriousness with which the author treats these issues. From there, we explore Castoriadis' own sociological and, more specifically, political approach, which unfolds through the question of autonomy.