Voting Station

Louis Althusser

Please vote to return to collections.

Philosopher

The Resume

    (October 16, 1918-October 22, 1990)
    Born in Bir Mourad Raïs, Algeria
    Criticized the humanist influences in Marxism
    Claimed that history is largely shaped by 'objective' factors like the environment while 'subjective' factors like the conscience plays a secondary role
    Devised the term 'ideological interpellation', which he explains the nature of the state and the importance of the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' in bringing about Communism
    Wrote 'For Marx' (1965), 'Reading Capital' (1965), 'Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses' (1970), and 'The Future Lasts Forever' (1992)
    Died of a heart attack in Paris

Why he might be annoying:

    His wife was eight years his senior.
    He often suffered from bouts of insanity.
    He strangled his wife to death during one bout of insanity. (November 16, 1980)
    His attempt at aligning Marxism with structuralism made him unpopular among members of the French Communist Party.
    He opposed the trend of Marxists having dialogue with non-Marxists during the de-Stalinization period.
    His students nicknamed him 'Althusser good for nothing' because of his poor teaching career.
    His work has been criticized for containing vagueness and ambiguities.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His mother treated him as a substitute for his uncle, who was meant to marry her at first until he got killed during World War I.
    He was interred in a German prisoner of war camp during World War II.
    He mostly refrained from pushing his Marxist agenda in his academic career.
    He wants to remind people of Marx's contributions to philosophy rather than just economics and sociology.
    People often make a great deal of his insanity and label his philosophical contributions as merely the works of a madman.

Credit: Big Lenny


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 71 Votes: 52.11% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 37 Votes: 16.22% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 22 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 244 Votes: 65.16% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 85 Votes: 55.29% Annoying