Castoriadis, Cornelius (1922–1997)

Cornelius Castoriadis was a Greco‐French philosopher, economist, psychoanalyst, social theorist, and post‐Marxist revolutionary. Born in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1922, Castoriadis grew up in Greece amid dictatorship, invasions, and civil war. Educated in philosophy, law, and politics at the University of Athens, Castoriadis fought the Nazis as part of the communist, and later Trotskyist, resistance. In 1945 Castoriadis went to study in Paris, where in 1948 he co‐founded the libertarian socialist group and journalSocialisme ou Barbarie(1949–67), many of whose ideas influenced the 1968 worker–student uprising. He was unable to obtain French citizenship until 1970 and led a revolutionary's double life by working professionally as a senior OECD economist. As the journal's preeminent theoretician, Castoriadis initiated a series of thoroughgoing internal critiques of the Marxist tradition. Against statist definitions of socialism as nationalization, Castoriadis advocated worker's self‐management, which he expanded into a project of human autonomy. After 1970, Castoriadis retrained as a psychoanalyst and became director of studies at the Écoles des Hautes Études.