ABSTRACT
It is not by chance if the course of one of our discussions (that following Jacques Rancière’s talk of 15 February 1982) brought to light the necessity to outline better the ‘definition’ and the stakes of what we have termed the retreat of the political. This expression plays a major role in the determination of the Centre’s work. Which means that it needs more work. It became clear in our discussions that ‘retreat of the political’ could, at a first reckoning, take on (at least) three different meanings:
1 The Aufhebung of the political, if it is admitted that the Hegelian State aufhebt the political itself (an admission which remains to be clarified, and which remains to be submitted to the following counter-proof: is not the Aufhebung fundamentally political?).
