Political philosophy of history

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Chiara Collamati

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Theories of Ideology and Ideologies of Theory. Lukács, Sartre, Althusser

In the introduction (sessions 1-2), we will show how the concept of ideology is a layered concept with fluid contours, one that inherently vacillates between different meanings, different interpretations, and different uses, including within the Marxist tradition, where it plays a central role but is far from unambiguous.
We will explore ideology as a complex issue, whose specific function is to create mediations between the individual and the social, the private and the public, subjectivity and objectivity. It is a "mediating notion" that connects reason and the unconscious, scientific knowledge and common sense, or even the real and the imaginary.
We will also recall, by way of introduction, how Marx and Engels analyze the ideological phenomenon in The German Ideology, based on the famous assertion that it is not consciousness that determines material life, but rather material life that determines consciousness, and therefore the categories and mental representations of individuals.

The first part of the course (sessions 3-5) will focus on G. Lukács's book History and Class Consciousness (1923). Considered the "father of Western Marxism," Lukács will allow us to deepen our understanding of ideology as "false consciousness" and mystification of the material reality of social relations, as well as its effects of political domination as the domination of one class over another.

The second part of the course (sessions 6-8) will focus on Sartre's conception of ideology, taking into account its practical, normative, and relational dimensions. By reading excerpts from Questions of Method and The Family Idiot (the work devoted to Flaubert and the bourgeoisie of the Second Empire), we will examine the material foundations of ways of thinking, values, and behaviors, as well as the specific relationship between ideology and history-understood, on the one hand, as historiography/narrative of the past and, on the other hand, as praxis and collective action within a specific historical context.

The third part of the course (sessions 9-11) will be devoted to how L. Althusser (often in polemic against the Marxism of Sartre and Lukács) treats ideology on two closely related levels: an epistemological level, which focuses on ideology as discourse, allowing us to construct a certain relationship to science and truth; and a more directly political level, which analyzes the subjectivizing dimension of ideology, particularly the way it operates within "State ideological apparatuses" (institutions such as schools, families, the media, but also courts, the army, the police, etc.).

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The course aims to provide students with methodological and conceptual tools enabling them to engage directly and critically with Marxist thought and with essential works of 20th-century political philosophy.

By offering a multidimensional analysis of the ideological phenomenon (deployed at the epistemological, socio-political, and existential levels of subjective experience), the course invites students to question the operativity of these approaches in order to understand the role of ideologies in the contemporary era.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

None

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

In the first phase, the course provides historical-conceptual tools for understanding the general framework of the issues and the authors analysed. The second phase of the course provides a commented reading of philosophical texts. Through the class discussion, students would be asked to discuss on specific topics emerging from the texts. During the course the teacher aims to build an active relationship with the students, with the goal of establishing with them a practice of philosophical dialogue.
 

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- MyULiège


Further information:

A detailed bibliography (including both mandatory and advanced readings) will be provided to students a few weeks before the course begins.

• Althusser, L., Pour Marx, La Découverte, 2005.
• Althusser, L., « Idéologie et appareils idéologiques d'État », in Positions, Éditions Sociales, 1976.
• Balibar, E., « La vacillation de l'idéologie dans le marxisme », dans La crainte des masses, Galilée, 1997, p. 167-280.
• Barot, E., « Aux racines de l'idéologie », Les Temps modernes, n° 632-633-634, 2005, 449-476.
• Bouffard, A., Découvrir Lukács, Éditions Sociales, 2025.
• Bruschi, F., « Appareils et sujets. Le rôle de la croyance dans l'interpellation idéologique », in Cahiers du GRM, n°4, 2013.
• Douet, Y., « L'humanisme de l'inhumain : l'idéologie dans L'idiot de la famille», Études Sartriennes, n° 28, 2024, p. 141-164.
• Jameson, F., The Ideologies of Theory, Verso, 2008.
• Kouvelakis E., Charbonnier, V. (dir.), Sartre, Lukács, Althusser : des marxistes en philosophie, PUF, 2004.
• Lukács, G., Histoire et conscience de classe, Éditions de Minuit, 1960
• Marx K., Engels, F., L'idéologie allemande, Éditions Sociales, 2012
• Sartre, J.-P., Questions de méthode, Paris, Gallimard, 1986.
• Sartre, J.-P, L'idiot de la famille. Gustave Flaubert de 1821 à 1857, tome III, Paris, Gallimard, 1972.

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

oral exam


Further information:

The evaluation will take into account: degree of learning of the proposed contents; adequacy of the used vocabulary; argumentative capacity; ability to autonomous critical re-elaboration of topics.



 

 

 

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

The course will be provided:

Every Thursday, starting from 12.02.2026, 3-5 pm.

Room: PHILOSOPHIE I


12/02 : Introduction. Réflexions sur l'opérativité d'un « non-concept » (F. Jameson)

19/02 : Complexifier l'analyse marxienne du phénomène idéologique (E. Balibar)

26/02 : Idéologie et « réification » (G. Lukács, Histoire et conscience de classe I)

5/03 : Idéologie et « point de vue »  (G. Lukács, Histoire et conscience de classe II)

12/03 : Les effets politiques de l'idéologie (G. Lukács, Histoire et conscience de classe III)

19/03 : L'ancrage « pratico-inerte » des idéologies (Sartre I, Questions de méthode)

26/03 : L'effacement de l'histoire (Sartre II, L'idiot de la famille)

2/04 : La bêtise et les idées reçues : l'idéologie comme hexis (Sartre III, L'idiot de la famille)

9/04 : Un rapport imaginaire aux conditions réelles d'existence (Althusser I : Pour Marx)

16/04 : L' « interpellation des individus en sujets » (Althusser II : Idéologie et Appareils idéologiques d'État)

7/05 : L'idéologie de la fin des idéologies  (Althusser III)

Contacts

chiara.collamati@uliege.be

Association of one or more MOOCs

Items online