Chantal Jaquet az MFT idei díszelőadója az ELTE BTK Filozófia Intézetében
In highlighting the multiplicity of forms of domination and the intersecting nature of discrimination, emancipation movements today give rise to multiple struggles and sometimes even to a “struggle of struggles”, each asserting its primacy and competing with the others. The revolutionary project of a classless society that emerged at the end of the 19thcentury no longer appears to be such a unifying project and coexists with other forms of independent liberation struggles, such as those of women, Black people, as well as sexual, ethnic, or religious minorities, or even more nomadic and sporadic cross-cutting movements.
The existence of a plurality of struggles is not an evil in itself. It does become one, however, when it leads to such a dispersion of forces that it compromises the success of the struggles and strengthens the power of the dominant, who are always inclined to divide and rule. Generally speaking, without allies, no struggle by the subalterns is guaranteed to be successful. The more support it rallies, the more powerful it is and the less violent it needs to be to make itself heard. Unity is strength. The question therefore arises as to how to conceive of emancipation on the basis of a collective platform that takes into account individual aspirations and leaves no one behind.
To move beyond incantatory postures that call for the overcoming of abstract universalism and separatist differentialism, it is necessary to set about redefining the common. This is the sine qua non for a theory of real collective emancipation that breaks out of the narrow frameworks in which it is confined, out of the competition between struggles and their hypothetical convergence. The objective here will therefore be to formulate a new definition of the common based in particular on the philosophy of Spinoza.