Transparency in Postwar France: A Critical History of the Present (Cultural Memory in the Present)

This book returns to a time and place when the concept of transparency was met with deep suspicion. It offers a panorama of postwar French thought where attempts to show the perils of transparency in politics, ethics, and knowledge led to major conceptual inventions, many of which we now take for granted. Between 1945 and 1985, academics, artists, revolutionaries, and state functionaries spoke of transparency in pejorative terms. Associating it with the prying eyes of totalitarian governments, they undertook a critical project against it—in education, policing, social psychology, economic policy, and the management of information. Focusing on Sartre, Lacan, Canguilhem, Lévi-Strauss, Leroi-Gourhan, Foucault, Derrida, and others, Transparency in Postwar France explores the work of ethicists, who proposed that individuals are transparent neither to each other nor to themselves, and philosophers, who clamored for new epistemological foundations. These decades saw the emergence of the colonial and phenomenological "other," the transformation of ideas of normality, and the effort to overcome Enlightenment-era humanisms and violence in the name of freedom. These thinkers' innovations remain centerpieces for any resistance to contemporary illusions that tolerate or enable power and social coercion. This Book Returns To A Time And Place When The Concept Of Transparency Was Met With Deep Suspicion. It Offers A Panorama Of Postwar French Thought Where Attempts To Show The Perils Of Transparency In Politics, Ethics, And Knowledge Led To Major Conceptual Inventions, Many Of Which We Now Take For Granted. Between 1945 And 1985, Academics, Artists, Revolutionaries, And State Functionaries Spoke Of Transparency In Pejorative Terms. Associating It With The Prying Eyes Of Totalitarian Governments, They Undertook A Critical Project Against It-in Education, Policing, Social Psychology, Economic Policy, And The Management Of Information. Focusing On Sartre, Lacan, Canguilhem, Levi-strauss, Leroi-gourhan, Foucault, Derrida, And Others, Transparency In Postwar France Explores The Work Of Ethicists, Who Proposed That Individuals Are Transparent Neither To Each Other Nor To Themselves, And Philosophers, Who Clamored For New Epistemological Foundations. These Decades Saw The Emergence Of The Colonial And Phenomenological Other, The Transformation Of Ideas Of Normality, And The Effort To Overcome Enlightenment-era Humanisms And Violence In The Name Of Freedom. These Thinkers' Innovations Remain Centerpieces For Any Resistance To Contemporary Illusions That Tolerate Or Enable Power And Social Coercion. Introduction : The Matter With Transparency -- Was Transparency An Optical Problem? : A Short History -- France, Year Zero : Perception And Reality After The Liberation -- The World's Opacity To Consciousness : Sartre And Merleau-ponty -- The Image Of Science And The Limits Of Knowledge -- Machines And The Cogito -- From The Total Man To The Other : Unesco, Anti-colonialism, And The New Humanism Of French Anthropology -- What Is Social Transparency? : A Second Short History -- Between State And Society, I : The Police, The Black Market, And 'the Gangster' After The Libération -- Between State And Society, Ii : Psychology, Public Health, And The Rebellion Of The Inadaptés -- Alienation, Utopia, And Marxism After 1956 -- Mask, Face, And Other As Avatars Of Selfhood : A Third Short History -- The Norm And The Same -- The Third Order, Or The Structural 'symbolic' As Epistemological Interface -- Lévi-strauss' World Out Of Sync -- The Ethnographer, Cinéma-vérité, And The Disruption Of The Natural Order : Chronicle Of A Summer -- Return To Rousseau : Lévi-strauss, Starobinski, Derrida -- Return To Descartes : 'the Last Tribunal Of The Cogito' -- Speak Not Of Darkness, But Of A Somewhat Blurred Light : Michel Foucault, Modernity, And The Distortion Of Knowledge -- Cybernetic Complexity : Prehistory, Biology, And Derrida's Program For Liberation -- The Present Time And The Agent Of History Before And After May 1968 -- The Myth Of The Self-transparency Of Society : Claude Lefort And His Circle -- Nineteen Eighty-four : Information, The Scrambled Signs Of The Ideal, And The Postmodern Condition. Stefanos Geroulanos. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Introduction: The Matter with Transparency......Page 16 PART I: LIFE IN THE FOLDS: PERCEPTION, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND KNOWLEDGE DISPLACED......Page 44 1. Was Transparency an Optical Problem? A Short History......Page 46 2. France, Year Zero: Perception and Reality after the Liberation......Page 54 3. The World’s Opacity to Consciousness: Sartre and Merleau-Ponty......Page 63 4. The Image of Science and the Limits of Knowledge......Page 79 5. Machines and the Cogito......Page 94 6. From the Total Man to the Other: UNESCO, Anti-Colonialism, and the New Humanism of French Anthropology......Page 106 PART II: TRANSPARENCY IN POLITICS: STATE, UTOPIA, GREY ZONES, 1944–1959......Page 126 7. What Is Social Transparency? A Second Short History......Page 128 8. Between State and Society, I: The Police, the Black Market, and “the Gangster” after the Liberation......Page 145 9. Between State and Society, II: Psychology, Public Health, and the Rebellion of the Inadaptés......Page 162 10. Alienation, Utopia, and Marxism after 1956: A Clarity Worse Than the Penumbra......Page 170 PART III: NORMS, OTHERS, ETHNOGRAPHY, THE SYMBOLIC: NEW LANGUAGES OF PHILOSOPHY, 1950–1963......Page 184 11. Face, Mask, and Other as Avatars of Selfhood: A Third Short History......Page 186 12. The Norm and the Same......Page 214 13. The Third Order, or, The Structural “Symbolic” as Epistemological Interface......Page 241 14. Lévi-Strauss’s World Out of Sync......Page 258 15. The Ethnographer, Cinéma-vérité, and the Disruption of the Natural Order: Chronicle of a Summer......Page 269 PART IV: THE ROAD TO 1967 AND THE RETHINKING OF MODERNITY......Page 280 16. Return to Rousseau: Lévi-Strauss, Starobinski, Derrida......Page 282 17. Return to Descartes: “The Last Tribunal of the Cogito”......Page 297 18. “Speak Not of Darkness, but of a Somewhat Blurred Light”: Michel Foucault, Modernity, and the Distortion of Knowledge......Page 315 19. Cybernetic Complexity: Prehistory, Biology, and Derrida’s Program for Liberation......Page 330 PART V: AFTER 1968......Page 348 20. The Present Time and the Agent of History before and after May 1968......Page 350 21. The Myth of the Self-Transparency of Society: Claude Lefort and His Circle......Page 368 22. Nineteen Eighty-Four: Information, the Scrambled Signs of the Ideal, and The Postmodern Condition......Page 383 Abbreviations......Page 398 Notes......Page 400 Bibliography......Page 464 B......Page 502 D......Page 503 F......Page 504 I......Page 505 M......Page 506 P......Page 507 R......Page 508 S......Page 509 W......Page 510 Résumé éditeur : "This book returns to a time and place when the concept of transparency was met with deep suspicion. It offers a panorama of postwar French thought where attempts to show the perils of transparency in politics, ethics, and knowledge led to major conceptual inventions, many of which we now take for granted. Between 1945 and 1985, academics, artists, revolutionaries, and state functionaries spoke of transparency in pejorative terms. Associating it with the prying eyes of totalitarian governments, they undertook a critical project against it-in education, policing, social psychology, economic policy, and the management of information. Focusing on Sartre, Lacan, Canguilhem, Levi-Strauss, Leroi-Gourhan, Foucault, Derrida, and others, Transparency in Postwar France explores the work of ethicists, who proposed that individuals are transparent neither to each other nor to themselves, and philosophers, who clamored for new epistemological foundations. These decades saw the emergence of the colonial and phenomenological "other," the transformation of ideas of normality, and the effort to overcome Enlightenment-era humanisms and violence in the name of freedom. These thinkers' innovations remain centerpieces for any resistance to contemporary illusions that tolerate or enable power and social coercion." 20. The Present Time and the Agent of History before and after May 1968 -- 21. The Myth of the Self-Transparency of Society: Claude Lefort and His Circle -- 22. Nineteen Eighty-Four: Information, the Scrambled Signs of the Ideal, and The Postmodern Condition -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W This book argues against the widely celebrated utopia of ""transparency"" by showing, across a panorama of postwar French thought, how attempts to show the perils of transparency in politics, ethics, and knowledge led to major conceptual inventions, many of which we now take for granted