A Ranciérian (Contrary) Reading

Marx’s Platonian Umbilical Cord

Abstract

As a thinker who stands out with  his productivity in the contemporary  French philosophical scene, Jacques  Rancière has become an interesting  thinker with the connections he established  between  politics  and  art  and his contrary readings, although  he  has  traces  of  the  Contemporary  French  tradition  in  his  philosophy.  One of these contrary readings is his  reading  on  Plato  and  Marx.  Considering the idea of equality, which is  the centre of the philosophical world  of thought, it is reasonable for Rancière to enter a showdown with Plato. However, Rancière’s claim that a  similar inequality / hierarchy existed  in Plato is also found in Marx’s ideas is not regarded as an equally reasonable claim because, like his own world of ideas, equality also constitutes  the  basis  of  Marx’s  philosophy.  Rancière  is  of  the  opinion  that  inequalities, hierarchies, or distinctions accepted from the outset cannot  be  compensated  by  setting  them  as  an end to reach. For this reason, this  mistake of Marx and his successors  is not a mistake to be corrected with  a theory or practice. The mistake is  in the  Marxist  theory itself. At this  point, Rancière claims that there are  similarities  between  Plato,  who  is  clearly  the  founder  of  hierarchical  order, and Marx, who acts with the  idea of equality, in terms of the route  followed [...]