Stop Thief!

Many contemporary philosophers – including Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Giorgio Agamben – ascribe an ethical or political value to anarchy, but none ever called themselves an “anarchist.” It is as if anarchism were unmentionable and had to be concealed, even though its critique of domination and of government is poached by the philosophers. Stop Thief! calls out the plundering of anarchism by philosophy. It’s a call that is all the more resonant today as the planetary demand for an alternative political realm raises a deafening cry. It also alerts us to a new philosophical awakening. Catherine Malabou proposes to answer the cry by re-elaborating a concept of anarchy articulated around a notion of the “non-governable” far beyond an inciting of disobedience or common critiques of capitalism. Anarchism is the only way out, the only pathway that allows us to question the legitimacy of political domination and thereby wfree up the confidence that we need if we are to survive.

Translator’s Note 1    Surveying the Horizon 2    Dissociating Anarchism from Anarchy 3    On the Virtue of Chorus Leaders: Archy and Anarchy in Aristotle’s Politics 4    Ontological Anarchy. From Greece to the Andes: Traveling with Reiner Schürmann 5    Ethical Anarchy: The Heteronomies of Emmanuel Levinas 6    “Responsible Anarchism”: Jacques Derrida’s Drive for Power 7    Anarcheology: Michel Foucault’s Last Government 8    Profanatory Anarchy: Giorgio Agamben’s Zone 9    Staging Anarchy: Jacques Rancière Without Witnesses Conclusion: Being an Anarchist Notes Index