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Quote by Louis Althusser

“In truth, ideology has very little to do with 'consciousness', even supposing this term to have an unambiguous meaning. It is profoundly unconscious, even when it presents itself in a reflected form.”

Quote by Louis Althusser

Author

Louis Althusser
Louis Althusser

Louis Althusser was a French philosopher who was active in the 20th century. His thoughts were deeply influenced by Marxism, especially focusing on theories of ideology and structuralism. Althusser's theories had a profound impact on subsequent philosophy, sociology, and political science. more

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“Whatseems to take place outside ideology (to be precise, in the street), in reality takes place in ideology. What really takes place in ideology seems therefore to take place outside it. That is why those who are in ideology believe themselves by definition outside ideology: one of the effects of ideology is the practical denegation of the ideological character of ideology by ideology: ideology never says, 'I am ideological.'”

“The rejection of all abstract formalism. Materialism reminds every science of its real source: the world men transform. No science can, whether in its history or its object, grasp its own origins within itself or constitute itself as a closed world, exhaustively defined by internal rules. Materialism refers every science and every activity to the reality they depend on, even if this dependence is masked by a great many abstract mediations: mathematics as well as logic, aesthetics as well as ethics and politics.”