Jacques Rancire

This book is a critical introduction to contemporary French philosopher Jacques Rancire. It is the first introduction in any language to cover all of his major work and offers an accessible presentation and searching evaluation of his significant contributions to the fields of politics, pedagogy, history, literature, film theory and aesthetics. This book traces the emergence of Rancires thought over the last forty-five years and situates it in the diverse intellectual contexts in which it intervenes. Beginning with his egalitarian critique of his former teacher Louis Althusser, the book tracks the subsequent elaboration of Rancires highly original conception of equality. This approach reveals that a grasp of his early archival and historiographical work is vital for a full understanding both of his later politics and his ongoing investigation of art and aesthetics. Along the way, this book explains and analyses key terms in Rancires very distinctive philosophical lexicon, including the police order, disagreement, political subjectivation, literarity, the part which has no part, the regimes of art and the distribution of the sensory. This book argues that Rancires work sets a new standard in contestatory critique and concludes by reflecting on the philosophical and policy implications of his singular project.