Freedom and subjectivity in Marx, liberalism and the work of Cornelius Castoriadis

Thesis

This D.Phil, dissertation looks into different conceptions of freedom in contemporary and earlier modern philosophy. It concentrates on the accounts of K. Marx, I. Kant, J. S. Mill, I. Berlin and C. Castoriadis, and focuses on their portrait of the agent of freedom. From this standpoint, the thesis singles out three strands of thought: an essentialist paradigm of freedom, traditional liberal alternatives, and a contemporary anti-essentialist school. The main objective is to elaborate and vindicate the antiessentialist approach as exemplified by the work of C. Castoriadis. The central argument is that contemporary anti-essentialist thought has outlined a compelling idea of freedom, which overcomes the defects of earlier conceptions.

The essentialist paradigm, as represented by K. Marx and I. Kant, imputes specific universal features to the subject of freedom, which fix permanently the chief object, the basic norms or the fundamental conditions of freedom. Individuals are bound thus to definite forms of life, to the effect that choice and autonomy are significantly restricted. Negative liberty and J. S. Mill's notion are less attached to generic models of life, but they fail to provide an adequate corrective to essentialist freedom. Negative liberty does not grapple with the manifold constraints on freedom that operate from within the self, while J. S. Mill's ideal ties the self to the realisation of specific talents and inclinations. The anti-essentialist view challenges the commitment to an abiding essence of the self and brings out the power of individuals to create themselves and their world in new ways. Freedom is recast as a critical, creative and open-ended process of self-formation through choices which draw on an indefinite range of different possibilities. The thesis examines this construal of freedom in the work of C. Castoriadis, and goes on to explore the anti-essentialist paradigm more widely.

With respect to its method, the dissertation has two key features: it proceeds through a closed reading of specific authors and it delves into epistemological and ontological questions (theories of society and the self) that bear profoundly on the conceptualisation of freedom.

Authors: Kioupkiolis, A

• Publication date: 2005
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-yr6jdz5g6
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Subjects: Liberalism; Liberty