Crossroads in the Labyrinth

Introduction

“Crossroads in the Labyrinth” appeared in 1978 and gave its title to a series of six volumes, the last of which came out in 1999, after Castoriadis’s death. The first volume collects essays from the late 1960s and the 1970s in several fields: psychoanalysis, where Castoriadis criticises Lacan and defends the creative imagination of the psyche; language and logic; and science, technology and society, including reflections on the limits of scientific rationality. The preface explains the title: to think is not to leave Plato’s cave for the clear outlines of things, but to enter a labyrinth and open paths in it. The volume shows how Castoriadis connected his practice as a psychoanalyst with his social theory and with his critique of modern rationality.

More works by Cornelius Castoriadis

• 1975The Imaginary Institution of Society