Louis Althusser: El sujeto entre comillas

There is a tension inside Althusser’s theoretical production concerning the problem of the subject. On the one hand, his thesis on the scientific nature of Marxism, his theoretical anti-humanism, as well as the materialistic perspective of his work insist on removing theoretical pertinence to the category of subject. On the other hand, the category of subject commands Althusserian’s theory of ideology, linking individuals to practice, including political practice. Supporting this tension implies to recognise that Althusser’s intervention criticises the idea of “subject - man” as foundation and the metaphysical and anthropological tonalities, as well as the philosophies of history, which influenced the Marxisms of the 20th century. Also, it leads to rethink the importance of the ideology theory, the mechanisms of subjectivation that it compromises, and the possibility that enables holding a subject, between quotation marks, opened to other becomings.