Jacques Rancière and The Ethics of Equality

Jacques Rancire and the Ethics of Equality
Author(s): Todd May

Source: SubStance, Vol. 36, No. 2, Issue 113: The Future of Anarchism (2007), pp. 20-36
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
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Jacques Ranciere
and the Ethics of Equality

ToddMay
shall we
is proper
to contemporary
characterize
what
or
it
make
anarchist
and not
quality
qualities
else?
What
its
of
from
something
distinguishes
critique
capitalism
or its anti-authoritarianism
from nihilism?
What draws the
Marxism,
threads of different anarchisms
various
together into a single weave?
At one time, people thought that the uniqueness
of anarchism
lay in
How
anarchism?
What
its critique of the state. While Marxists

sought to take over the state, or
a
to establish
of
the
until such time as the state
proletariat
dictatorship
to abolish
would
wither
instead
the state
away, anarchists
sought
Is it not Proudhon
himself who writes,
outright.
be watched,
spied upon, directed,
inspected,
enrolled,
indoctrinated,
regulated,
preached
"To be GOVERNED
law-driven,
is to
numbered,
at, controlled,
checked,
creatures
who
have
neither
estimated,
valued, censured, commanded,
by
nor the virtue to do so" (293-4). And Bakunin,
the right nor the wisdom
out that "the doctrinaire
in his criticism
of Marx's
program,
points
is to overthrow
and
revolutionaries, whose objective
existing governments
never
as
own
on
so
their
have
to
create
their
ruins,
regimes
dictatorship
are enemies only of
been and will never be enemies of the state...They
to take their place" (137).
because
they want
existing governments
is exploitation,
the
of oppression
the central category
For Marx,
is the problem,
If exploitation
extraction of surplus value from the worker.
to commandeering
the forces of the state in order to
once exploitation
it. True, the state will no longer be necessary
But in the
of its own accord.
has ceased, and then it can disappear
as
a
source
the
for
revolution
must
state
the
be
seized
meantime,
powerful
finds the
means
it
is
In
anarchism
of production.
of the
contrast,
said,
in
in exploitation
itself. Any
but
to lie not primarily
power
problem
is to be resisted, and the state, which
that can exert power
institution
there
is no bar
dismantle
is to be resisted above all.

the most power,
is amisreading
of anarchism. We should not see the difference
as lying in the argument between
those
and anarchism
between Marxism
at
and
of
the
the
feet
for
the
blame
who would
economy
oppression
lay
possesses
This
those who
instead
would
Board
lay it at the feet of

of Regents,
University
20 SubStance
the state.
of Wisconsin
While
System,
this
2007
#113, Vol. 36, no. 2, 2007

JacquesRanciere and the Ethics of Equality
21
anarchism. What
rightly, itmisreads
captures Marxism
but
domination.
is not power,
criticizes
strictly speaking,
is power that
domination
that
is the difference? We might
What
say
can happen
in many ways.
deleteriousness
The
operates deleteriously.
a worker by the mere
the
fact that he can withhold
A boss dominates
means
the
media
dominates
The mainstream
of subsistence.
worker's
can
the interests of the elites that fund it. Domination
public by veiling
as well, ways
more
in
that involve no conscious
subtle ways
happen
and Punish and
Foucault's works,
intention. Michel
especially Discipline
the first volume
of his History of Sexuality, are analyses of domination
In the former he details the ways people
without
intentional dominators.
towhich
come to be dominated
the
they become
by
practices of discipline
characterization
anarchism
and psychiatry
that form the
and by the practices of psychology
There are those who benefit from this
epistemic basis of that discipline.
But the
in particular
elites of capitalism.
the economic
domination,
in fact, they are unaware
do not engage in the domination;
beneficiaries
subject,
of its occurrence.
The History of Sexuality depicts how

the course of the last several centuries.
has arisen over
sexual domination
But again, it is not
others, but of how the

sexually dominate
history of how some people
a
can
form of domination.
become
very category of the sexual
rather
then, should be seen as a critique of domination,
Anarchism,
anarchism
does not
than as a critique of the state. Unlike Marxism,
concern
itself with a particular
type of oppression?exploitation?that
of capitalist production.
arises in a particular
arena?the
mode
Rather,
it concerns
the various dominations
that occur throughout
itself with
state may
stand out as a particularly
egregious
of bureaucratic
because of its concentration
it is not the only source of domination,
However,
the social
arena.
instigator
and military
and under
of domination,
The
power.
certain
situation
of
conditions ?for
the current
example
even
not
most
is
the
transnational
oppressive
capitalism?it
perhaps
concerns
one. What
is not the state itself as the
thinkers like Bakunin
source of all domination,
but the state as a particular
instigator of it.
see
to
would
to a repetition
this
lead
Further, in his view, Marx's
inability
of the very
ills Marx
sought
to cure.
In this, of course,
Bakunin
is not
mistaken.
to anarchism?
is proper
Have we then isolated what
Is anarchism
view that seeks to critique and to eradicate,
to the extent
the political
all forms of domination?
possible,
This is an important element of anarchism,
but Iwant to argue that
it is not all there is, or at least not all there should be.
Seen thus,
in a purely negative manner;
is defined
anarchism
it is defined by what
Substance
#113,
Vol.
36, no.
2, 2007

22 ToddMay
it is against.
"anarchism"
to replace
the historically
loaded label
attempts
other terms, such as "anti-authoritarianism,"
reflect
this negative
orientation.
There is something
about
the
right
negative
one does not impose a
orientation.
anarchism
By defining
negatively,
solution to the domination
it opposes.
One does not draw up
particular
the blueprint
of a better set of social arrangements,
and then seek to
Recent
with
like Marx's,
impose them or to lead others toward them. This attempt,
a
in
would
is
result
of
what
The
only
repetition
being fought.
blueprint
a new form of domination,
becomes
and the circle is complete.
Must we, then, settle for a negative definition
of anarchism?
Or can
we articulate a more positive
us to
of
anarchism
that
allows
conception
more
about
what
anarchism
is
at
level
without
another
say
recreating
the domination
seeks to oppose?
the political writings
and
of the French historian
theorist Jacques Ranciere become
relevant to us. Ranciere has developed,
in two works
in the mid-1990s?Disagreement
and On the
particularly
us to think anarchism
that
allows
Shores of Politics?a
of
thought
equality
in a positive
in a
it to become programmatic
fashion without
permitting
Here
anarchism
is where
Iwould
like to
aspect of this thought, one that Ranciere
in order to show that the politics he describes
himself has not pursued,
it an ethics towhich
also has within
the politics can appeal. The advantage
a structure of justification
for the politics
of this ethics is that it provides
that repeats
here
investigate
way
he
the mistakes
a particular
associated
with Marxism.
embraces.
French thinkers are often criticized

like
by people
or Nancy
for failing to have
Fraser, for example,
or for not grounding
the positions
coherent political positions
they do
have in a reasonable ethical framework. One response to the latter charge
is not necessary,
and that in fact itmay
is to claim that such grounding
Contemporary
Jurgen Habermas
an
Iwould
way of thinking about politics.
This
there can be such ethical grounding.
argue
or founded
in
earlier
the
cannot
be
transcendental
way
many
grounding
ismore pedestrian.
philosophers
sought with their ethics. The grounding
a value that has an important place in our
to
Ranciere's
politics appeal
falls upon those who would oppose
thinking, and the burden ultimately
it. This does not offer any
that value to show why we should abandon
a
in
world
that has
but
transcendental
guarantees,
philosophical
one
can
it
is
the
best
the idea of such guarantees,
hope for.
jettisoned
in
Ranciere's
Before turning to the ethics implicit
thought (an ethics
in some of his recent
that is distinct from the type of ethics he disparages
an overview
of his political
itwould
writings),1
perhaps be best to offer
reflect
already outmoded
case
that in Ranciere's
SubStance
#113, Vol. 36, no. 2, 2007

23
position.
Although
he is hardly
English,
Ranciere
a number
of his works
a household
name
are now
into
being translated
in intellectual
circles in the U.S.
his career as a student of the Marxist

Louis Althusser,
that position when he became convinced
that Althusser's
in his
of inequality
rather than equality.
As he writes
book La Legon d'Althusser,
'Althusser needs the opposition
the
between
nature
if
of
and
the
of
is
the
'simplicity'
'complexity'
history:
production
affair of the workers,
history is too complex a thing for them and must be
the Party and Theory"
the
left to the specialists:
(33). This split between
an
workers
and the intellectuals
that
he
finds
implies
inequality
After years doing archival work on workers' movements,
intolerable.
ones, in the 1990s Ranciere began laying out a
pre-Marxist
particularly
theoretical position
that places equality at the center of his thought.
In his view, most of what passes for politics
is instead what he calls
started
but abandoned
is one
thought
seen as the set of

is generally
procedures
whereby
consent
and
is achieved,
of collectivities
the organization
of
aggregation
the distribution
of places
and roles, and the systems
for
powers,
"Politics
policing.
Ipropose
to give this system of distribution
this distribution.
legitimizing
and legitimization
I propose
to call it the police" (D, 28).
another name.
is this politics and why call it the police? What Ranciere defines
What
as we have come to live it. It involves elections,
here ismainstream
politics
in the state and the
the
of power
relations
bureaucracies,
shifting
the
for such shifts, and the justifications
that are
economy,
procedures
both
offered
a whole.
for particular
The
police
is
elements
politics
as
of this system
it
is
usually
as
and for the system

conceived,
and
as
it
is
by very few. We are subject to the police. We do not, however,

in either its creation or maintenance.
to this is
The exception
participate
an
serves
more
act
that
to
to
the
than
voting,
legitimize
police
change
is perhaps why so few people vote.
it?which
this form of politics policing, Ranciere
By naming
surely intends the
resonances
of coercion and repression
often associated with the police.
there is another, more historical
reference to the term, one that
However,
practiced
has been
by Michel
Foucault.
refers to the set of

Policing
in
the eighteenth
practices,
emergent particularly
century, that seek both
to utilize and to maintain
the population
are
of a state. Police practices
concerned with the demographics,
so
health, and safety of a population,
that it can contribute optimally
to the welfare of the state.2 Ifwe look at
the current state of mainstream
of this
politics, we see the relevance
as well.
association
it
is
not
the
state
but
also
Although
only
corporate
elites who benefit from the population's
stability, the general idea remains
much
Substance
the
analyzed
same.
#113,
Vol.
36, no.
2, 2007

24 ToddMay
with mainstream
Many
politics?
things, of course.
on
a
Ranciere
focuses
it presupposes.
the inequality
particular wrong:
as
acts
certain
Mainstream
know
both
the public
persons
politics
though
are
and
the
of
while
those
others
of
others,
good
good
incapable
achieving
this good without
the intervention
of those properly
situated to run the
affairs of a society. Mainstream
politics, which Ranciere calls the police, is
a refusal to recognize
on
that people can run their own affairs,
predicated
in the fifth century
and so must have them run for them. "From Athens
our
own
B.C. up until
the party of the rich has only ever
governments,
What
is wrong
ismost precisely
the negation of politics:
there is
said one thing, which
no part of those who have no part" (D, 14).
that
then, is politics, politics not as policing but as something
What,
the police order? Ranciere
undermines
says:
the term politics for an extremely
determined
whatever
breaks with
the tangible
and parts or lack of them are defined
parties
configuration
whereby
a
in that
has no place
that, by definition,
by
presupposition
of the part that has no part.. .an assumption
that, at
configuration?that
of the
the sheer contingency
the end of the day, itself demonstrates
now
I propose
activity
to reserve
antagonistic
order,
the equality
being.
(D, 29-30)
to policing:
of any
speaking
being
with
any
other
speaking
of the police
order
the
the undoing
is, in short,
through
of
the
of
all
beings.
speaking
presupposition
equality
is this? Speaking
Why "speaking beings," and whose presupposition
an order is
and
of
because
anyone
understanding
hearing
capable
beings,
as
an
in
to
with
order
of
others
equal in
interacting
participate
capable
life.
the creation of ameaningful
Politics
There
obey,
is order
but
some
in society because
people
an order
at least
to obey
in order
you must
required:
that you must obey
of the person who
command
and others
are
things must
understand
the order and you must
understand
to do that, you must
it. And
already be the equal
is ordering
you.
(D 16)
two
an order is no longer in need of one.

of those
it
is, it is the presupposition
presupposition
no
when
that
has
that
of
the
is
the presupposition
who act. It
part,
part
name
own
in
its
of
the
to assert itself in the public realm
part decides
a
in power,
to
those
In
is
not
that
sense,
merely
proof
politics
equality.
"This is the definition
but a proof to oneself through one's own actions.
a demand upon the
can never be merely
of a struggle for equality which
a proof
other, nor a pressure put upon him, but always simultaneously
a
a
creates
creates
to
Politics
oneself"
(LTD, 48).
political subject?it
given
come into being as a people
which
actions
the
by
they
people?through
as equal.
who at once see and impose themselves
Anyone
As
capable
to whose
of understanding
SubStance
#113,
Vol.

36, no.
2, 2007
Jacques Ranciere
25
The effect of the presupposition

of the police order?classifications
of equality
by which
is to undo
some
the classifications
are
given authority
over others, whether
or
virtue
status.
of
'The
race,
wealth,
by
gender,
essence of equality is in fact not so much
to unify as to declassify,
to undo
the supposed
and to replace
it with
naturalness
of orders
the
mean
controversial
of
division"
This
does
not
that
there
(EP, 32).
figures
is no unity within politics. What politics
is to divide
the
accomplishes
a
to
social order,
sometimes
introduce what Ranciere
calls
dissensus into
less than
"part that has no part," the people who are considered
a
no
in
assent
to
order
that
order;
equal
given police
longer
they split
themselves
off from it. They may have unity among
but
themselves,
introduce
division
into
the
social
is
This
order.
inasmuch
inevitable,
they
as any social order functions on a presupposition
of inequality
This undoing of the naturalness
of police orders, this concerted action
out of the presupposition
of equality, is, in Ranciere's
eyes, the only real
can
that
be attached
to the term democracy.
is
meaning
"Every politics
in this precise sense: not in the sense of a set of institutions,
democratic
but in the sense of forms of expression
that confront the logic of equality
it. The
with
the logic of the police order" (D, 101). Democracy

is the practice of
it
is
the
of
the
of
politics;
expression
equality through its assertion
logic
one
reason
or another, that
those
who
have
been
for
told,
by
they have
no part in the determination
of their collective
lives.
The
anarchism
those who would

state
and
its
limits
of Ranciere's
view
is evident here.
In contrast
to
a
a
seek politics from above?be
it liberal politics of the
or
a Marxist
politics
of
the
avant-garde
party?
a politics
from below.
It is those
rigorously
on the basis of their mutual
who participate,
and who participate
pre
of equality, who create the political character of any politics.
supposition
it can be seen how the presupposition
of equality allows us to
Moreover,
in a positive way, without
conceive of anarchism
falling into the trap of
If
for
one
others.
the
of
is
domination
side of the anarchist
speaking
critique
of equality is the other. It is because equality is
coin, the presupposition
that domination
becomes
intolerable.
The use of power
presupposed,
over another
in that it violates
is deleterious
that person's
equal ability
to determine
his or her life. This, it seems to me, is the vital nerve of all
anarchist
thinking and practice.
Ranciere's
politics
remains
the presupposition
of equality
allows one to retain the
Finally,
as a
anarchist concept of domination
to a variety
one,
plastic
applicable
of situations.
The presupposition
of inequality is instantiated
in different
in
whether
or
economic
societies,
ways
through gender
oppression
or
or
or
racism
some
other
form
of
domination.
exploitation
homophobia
Substance
#113,
Vol.
36, no.
2, 2007

26 ToddMay
To act from
the presupposition
of equality,
that
then, is to champion
a
a
in
in
the
face
of
situation,
presupposition
particular
particular
domination.
from the presupposition
of equality does not aim at
Acting
across all
the same political
target or require the same political behavior
situations.
It is as flexible as the concept
of domination,
leaving the
as well
as the political
of political movement
character
of
analysis
in the hands
domination
of those who
have
"no part"
in a particular
situation.
to the ethical status of the presupposition

of equality,
an
over
to
that
be
raised
Ranciere's
pausing
objection
might
in
is
recent
This
evident
of
French
project.
objection
particularly
light
tenets
and
One
of
the
central
postmodernist
thought.
poststructuralist
Before
turning
it is worth
a
human nature.
Positing
to those for whom
(Foucault),
history
ethics (Levinas) or language
(Deleuze),
(Derrida) has, in one
ontology
either the unity of humanity,
the concept of
way or another, undone
of
Inasmuch as Ranciere embraces
the presupposition
essence, or both.
not
is
not
of
these
thinkers?
Does
he
he
the
lessons
ignoring
equality,
is that there
of this thought
essence
is no essential
is anathema
human
essence
into political
the concept of a human
thought?a
and at worst a repetition
that would
be at best nostalgic
and others
to which Foucault, Deleuze,
of the problems
Levinas, Derrida
reintroduce
reintroduction
have
called
our
attention?
for
point are not essentialist,
the content of the presupposition
itself, and the second with the role the presupposition
plays in his political
than
requires nothing more
thought. The content of the presupposition
run
own
to
their
lives.
people's being equally intelligent
In his book The Ignorant Schoolmaster, Ranciere traces the life of French
commitments
Ranciere's
two reasons.
The first has
at this crucial
to do with
the Restoration,
After
Jacotot flees to
revolutionary
Joseph Jacotot.
even though he
Flanders, where he takes up the position of schoolteacher
is a copy of
does not know a word of Flemish. All he has to teach with
Telemachus in both French and Flemish. He requires the students to write
on Telemachus, using only that book as their guide to
are eminently
What
he finds is that the students
capable of
on this topic, and from this he develops
the
turning in high quality work
common
are equally
stultifies
the
"What
idea that people
intelligent.
we might
take this book to have a
(although
people," Ranciere writes
but the
"is not the lack of instruction,
dual author: Ranciere/Jacotot),
in
belief
This
belief in the inferiority of their intelligence"
(IS, 39).
equal
can score the same on
is not, of course, a belief that everyone
intelligence
It is the belief
an SAT exam or conceive
theoretical physics.
advanced
a paper
French.
in French
SubStance
#113,
Vol.

36, no.
2, 2007
Jacques Ranciere
that we
can all
one another
speak with
can
and
and
separately
being)
together
run our affairs.
To hold
them a deep
of humanism
this assumption
essence. There
about
27
(the equality of every

construct worthwhile
human
speaking
lives and
is not to ascribe to
beings
that runs afoul of the critique
is nothing here
leveled, for instance, by Michel Foucault in his genealogical
is it to return to the nineteenth-century
of
Nor
conception
writings.
or
human beings as inherently good, often associated,
wrongly,
rightly
It is simply to assume that people are capable
with the early anarchists.
In this sense, it is an assumption
of political action on their own behalf.
even be conceived.
cannot
Without
without which progressive
politics
to this minimal
extent, one
this, without
"trusting the people"
assuming
cannot even begin to critique the hierarchies
and dominations
of a given
social order.
and this is the second point, the presupposition

of equality
Moreover,
not function as an ontology
of human beings.
It is not a political
a
isn't proving
"[Ojur problem
ontology, but rather
political assumption.
can be done under that
is equal.
It's seeing what
that all intelligence
does
And for this, it's enough

that the opinion be possible?
presupposition.
no
that is, that
truth be proved"
(IS, 46). The role of the
opposing
one
is
of
not
of
to be equal, but
presupposition
equality
showing people
of starting with that presupposition
to see where politics can lead. It is
an
in some empirical observation,
to be sure, but
grounded
experiment,
not in order tomake a case for a human essence so much as tomake a case
for
political
action.
With
this understanding
role in Ranciere's
thought, we
The presupposition
those against whom
of the presupposition
of equality and its
can turn to the question of its ethical status.
of equality plays a dual ethical role?one
regarding
one is pressing
the presupposition,
and another
those alongside of whom one is pressing

it. In Ranciere's
terms,
regarding
an
the presupposition
of equality has
ethical role to play regarding
those
who "have a part" and a different
role to play with those who "have no
of equality
part." We must look at each in turn, because the presupposition
in the two cases.
functions differently
one acts out of the
of equality, particularly
in
presupposition
as democratic,
one confronts
that think of themselves
the elites,
those who have a part, with a contradiction.
The contradiction
does not
a
to
the
to
but
is
the elites. It
contradiction
that is
belong
political actors,
When
societies
action brings
usually veiled; political
democratic
hand, elites in a nominally
woven
into
structure
belief
the
deeply
SubStance
#113,
Vol.
36, no.
it out
into the open. On the one

in equality.
It is
society believe
of such societies that everyone
is
2, 2007

28 ToddMay
this belief is a purely normative matter?that

everyone
equal. Whether
ismore deeply ontologically
should be treated equally?or
grounded?
sense is important for politics?
that people are indeed equal inwhatever
is held.
is relevant
is that the belief in equality
is irrelevant. What
a
commitment
to inequality.
That
On the other hand,
there is
commitment
is usually not doxa; it is not a belief in inequality per se.
to the hierarchies
and dominations
it involves the commitment
Rather,
of a given police order. To believe that a given hierarchical
police order is
or
to
is
to
the
be
committed,
proper
implicitly,
inequality of speaking
just
which
is
distribution
of
It
to
believe
that
the
roles,
places some in
beings.
them?in
of
the role of speaking for others, of ordering
them,
exploiting
and indeed
at least ethically
them?is
permissible
dominating
is rarely made
explicit in
ethically proper. To be sure, this commitment
the thinking of the elites. Rather, it follows from their other, consciously
some among the elites may even believe
held commitments.3
(Admittedly,
rare in
in
those
with no part, but this ismore
the
of
explicitly
inequality
short,
democratic
societies.)
nominally
On
This is the contradiction.
the one hand, those who have a part, at

of equality
in nominally
democratic
societies, hold to a principle
a
hierarchical
On the other hand, by ratifying
police order, they hold to
a principle
If one were to follow a traditional Marxist
of inequality.
line,
one might be tempted to say that the former commitment
is ideological
to equality is no more
than
while
the latter one is real. The commitment
least
a formal, legal commitment

that serves only to conceal the real relations
it. Ranciere
that lie behind or beneath
of inequality
rejects this way of
that we take both
instead
He
contradiction.
about
the
suggests
thinking
one
roles of political
of
and
the
that
ends of the contradiction
seriously,
to bring
of
out
the
of
action?that
is, acting
equality?is
presupposition
them out
into the open.

offers a historical
a contradiction
explicit.
example of making
1830
stated that all French people
to the French Charter of
The preamble
were
in practice workers
treated
are equal before
the law. However,
a public
a variety of ways.
In fact, Ranciere
in
and
quotes
unequally,
the Law has done against
saying that, "Everything which
prosecutor
be lost if workers
would
associations
and
license
press
against political
with a
were daily to be given a picture of their position,
by comparison
that they
in society, by repeated assurances
more elevated
class of men
are men just like those others, and that they have a right to enjoy the same
one might
read this as amore explicit rejection of
things" (UD, 46). While
in all likelihood
the prosecutor would
equality by the public prosecutor,
to the Charter of 1830, without
the preamble
also have acknowledged
involved.
the
contradiction
recognizing
Ranciere
SubStance
#113,
Vol.

36, no.
2, 2007
29
does political action do in this case? It forces the contradiction

is right to say what he says and do
"If [the prosecutor]
to be recognized.
of the Charter must be deleted.
It should
what he does, the preamble
is
read: the French people are not equal.
If, by contrast,
[the preamble]
or
must
act
then
[the prosecutor]
(UD, 47).
speak
differently"
upheld,
is the core of the ethical situation.
It lies not in the violation
of a
Here
What
or in acting contrary to universal

reason.
It
that is inescapable,
principle
one's own stated principles.
lies in contradicting
in ethics, we can do no better
Ifwe are to abandon
foundationalism
than this by way of ethical critique. The reason for this is complex, but
its outlines can be given here.4 Ifwe reject the idea that there have to be
is committed
to which
everyone
principles
by virtue of being
or
we
or
can only engage in
the
children
of
then
rational,
God,
human,
are
that
ethical critique utilizing principles
actually held (or, alternatively,
are not held but follow from other
that
that are
principles
principles
can
one
can
in
at
two
This
least
First,
ways.
actually held).
happen
criticize someone who does not hold certain ethical principles
precisely
for the failure to hold them. This is a dogmatic
but one that is
position,
ethical
It occurs at the point where

ethical dialogue
inescapable.
For instance, faced with someone
breaks off, and force usually begins.
in claiming,
in the face of all evidence,
who persists
that Jews or
or African-Americans
are inferior to other races (assuming
Palestinians
one can make sense of the concept of a race), ethical discussion
has nowhere
sometimes
to go. One must

that
one's
violates
choose
own
either
principles,
to allow
or
the person
to
stop
to act on a prejudice
him/her.
Although
this
can arise, and is highlighted

in certain publicly
visible cases
I suspect
in
like abortion,
it is more
than
the
second
way
exceptional
which
ethical critique can occur.
situation
This second way involves internal contradiction

rather than external
seen
in
We
have
it
the
Ranciere
critique.
already
provides.
example
someone
an ethical
Rather
than chastising
to recognize
for failing
one shows instead that the
is recognized,
but that it
principle,
principle
one also holds, or that one is
conflicts with other principles
implicitly
or actions. Here the failure
to by virtue of other commitments
committed
is one of consistency:
the person criticized
is in contradiction with himself
or herself.
Ranciere points out that, in the case of the French Charter,
there are
two possibilities
to
to
the
the
of
open
prosecutor:
deny
principle
equality,
or to act inways consistent with the
(It should be noted that
principle.
there is, logically, a third possibility:
can commit himself
the prosecutor
to inconsistency.
However,
it leads to incoherence.)
SubStance
#113,
Vol.
36, no.
the problems
In the passage
with
where
this position are manifest;

Ranciere discusses
this
2, 2007

30 ToddMay
suspect a bit of irony at work. Who, one might ask, would

seriously deny the principle of equality, and thus ask for a revision of the
And,
indeed, the possibility may ring strange to the ears of
preamble?
it is a possibility
that must be taken seriously at
many of us. However,
In the absence
level.
of foundationalism,
the philosophical
nothing
one to choose one way rather than another.
There is nothing
commits
case, one may
in fact that requires

inconsistent
about choosing against equality, nothing
of any particular
The prosecutor
ethical principle.
the acceptance
can,
a
of
of rationality,
without
any dictates
accept
principle
violating
him is forced to return to the
If he does, then anyone opposing
inequality.
first position:
This does
external
critique.
will be
that it is arbitrary which
principle
a
a nominally
In
is
motivation
there
democratic
society,
strong
accepted.
some kind of principle
it is the point of
And
to embrace
of equality.
political
not mean
action?in
Ranciere's
sense?to
to much
widen
current
the scope of that embrace,

social and mainstream
its contradiction
In a single gesture, political
action provides
proof of
political practice.
no part, and proof of contradiction
to those holding
to
with
those
equality
a part. The second aspect of that gesture
is at once political and ethical,
as
no
Ranciere
offers
and,
guarantee of success:
recognizes,
by
showing
the verification
of equality within
confined
Jacotot's critique
a wish
to say and a
between
recreated
the continually
relationship
causes
to hear, such a verification
becomes
wish
"social,"
equality
an
to
to have a real social effect,
it mobilizes
obligation
only when
hear.
(CE, 86)
Whereas
ismobilized
Iwould
through the staging of
suggest that that obligation
a contradiction.
"the part
This is one side of the ethical coin. The other side concerns
that has no part." This segment does not have to be confronted with a
it has already, in the
its own equality,
By presupposing
a belief in equality
between
it acts, overcome
moment
any contradiction
to inequality.
This is already over the
and an implicit commitment
an ethical character
to the
is
there
moment
However,
politics begins.
Ranciere
action that has its own integrity.
bond created by political
of the
from his characterization
it, but it can be derived
rarely discusses
bond itself.
action does, Ranciere
tells us, is to create a subject
What political
was
none
and others have taught us,
As
Foucault
before.
there
where
a
the type liberal theory envisions
of
the supposition
subject?of
contradiction.
Ranciere
its actions and decisions?is
deeply problematic.
underlying
exists
and then
first
that
does not deny this. There is no political
subject
created
collective political subject?is
decides to act. A political subject?a
Substance
#113,
Vol.

36, no.
2, 2007
action,
through
31
action
the
that expresses
through
own
not pre-exist
its
activity.
are simply diverse
there
action,
political
and
specifically
It does
of equality.
presupposition
can this be? Before
How
in accordance
individuals
acting
order.
People are classified
police
allotted
them by the
if not their
their behavior
in
of
the
their
classifications.
beliefs, accept
presupposition
once to reject one's classifications?politics
declassifies?
is
at
equality
and to create oneself as a subject: an actor with no name other than that
a
Imean
the production
of being equal.
through
"By subjectification
not previously
series of actions of a body and a capacity for enunciation
with
the roles
and, through
To engage
a given field of experience,

is
whose
identification
identifiable within
The
of the field of experience"
thus a part of the reconfiguration
(D, 35).
action.
is not the name of a group
that pre-exists
political
proletariat
is the name of
The proletariat
Before such action there are only workers.
a group that emerges when
it assumes
the name proletariat, along with
"Politics does
that that name implies.
the internal unity and equality
is
not happen
the
rich.
It
the
other way
because
the
poor oppose
just
of
the
the
effects of
around:
is,
(that
interruption
politics
simple
causes
as
an
to
exist
the
the
domination
rich)
poor
by
entity." (D, 11)
is the ethical
What
character of this subjectification?

What happens
in
is
form a democratic
action?
Ranciere
community
I
to
but only suggestive
here.
would
like
follow the hints
those who
among
suggestive,
in his essay "The Uses of Democracy."
in two passages
He tells
provided
us that "Democracy
in both senses of the
is the community
of sharing,
can only be expressed
in
in a single world which
term: a membership
adversarial
terms, and a coming together which can only occur in conflict"
(UD, 49).
must
ever
He
ends
be
in
the essay with

own
democracy's
the words,
image:
"The test of democracy

versatile,
sporadic?and
on trust" (61). Sharing (partage) and trust (confiancef?these

are
the ideas we must
follow in order to grasp the ethical nature of political
action?that
of a democratic
is, the appearance
community.
founded
We might
initially suspect that the ethical character of a democratic
would
be broadly Kantian.
treat others with
community
People would
as
as
ends rather than merely means,
and
equal respect,
co-participants
in a kingdom of ends. This would not be mistaken.
the Kantian
However,
flavor
of this characterization
misses
It is too
something
important.
in
remains
It
embedded
the
of
and
cognitive.
language
obligation
duty.
as obligation,
Considered
Kantian morality
has admittedly
captured
the internal ethical character of a democratic
But we should
community.
not
that
this
ethical
is
character
exhausted
There
suspect
by obligation.
is something more
to it.
SubStance
#113,
Vol.
36, no.
2, 2007

32 ToddMay
can
that excess by recognizing

that the concepts
of
approach
an
trust
not
do
lend themselves
to
sharing
cognitive
entirely
and trust are based not on reason?at
least not
approach.
Sharing
an
on
also
affective
that
bond
the
eludes
formal
of
solely?but
morality
a Kantian
even
a
Kant
makes
strict
division
(or
utilitarian)
approach.
between
acting for the sake of duty and acting out of inclination.
We
and
one's
[T]o preserve
an immediate
life
inclination
anxious
precautions
have no inner
purpose
content.
moral
They
not from the motive of
is a duty, and besides

this everyone
to do so. But on account
of this
taken
worth,
the greater
part of mankind
the maxim
of their action
by
and
their
protect
duty.
(Kant,
lives
in conformity
with
has
also
the often
for
this
iswithout
duty,
but
35)
The non-cognitive
aspect of sharing and trust efface such a distinction
between
and
inclination.
duty
This is a lesson taught to us by feminist
theorists of ethics,
from
Carol Gilligan onwards.
In describing many women's
to
ethics,
approach
she tell us,
Sensitivity
for taking
to
and
to the needs
care
include
in their
moral
weakness,
manifest
thus
inseparable
with
of others
lead women
and
to attend
the assumption
of responsibility
to voices
other
than their own
other
of view.
Women's
judgment
points
in an apparent
confusion
of judgment,
is
an
concern
from women's
moral
strength,
overriding
and
relationships
(16-17)
responsibilities.
Ethics need not be solely a matter of duties and obligations.

Principles
can be lived as connections with others rather than
simply as obligations
one is confronting
an adversary, when
to them. When
those who have
no part act
those
who
then
the
do,
against
politically
appeal to duties
and obligations
ismore pertinent.
to
There is no meaningful
connection
or
are
those who are dominating
who
But
one,
gaining by domination.
the creation of a collective
subject through political action is the creation
of internal connections,
and the ethical character of that subject would
if one did not recognize
be incompletely
described
them. Sharing and
trust are markers
of a set of connections
that arise through the political
a
to expose oneself
process of subjectification.
They indicate
willingness
to those alongside whom
takes
struggle
place.
To share6 is to offer part of what one has to another or to others, to
a part of oneself available
in a way that does not require an equal
return.
It is, in that sense, asymmetrical.
Sharing can be contrasted
in which
is coupled
with
of exchange,
the act of giving
the symmetry
make
with
the expectation
exchange,
sharing
of return.
carries with
governed
by expectations
the hands of those best
And
it is distinguished
from
an
In
economy
significance.
because
it a political
that play
of personal
gain (expectations
to obtain personal
situated
gain), sharing
SubStance
#113,
Vol.

36, no.
into
is a
2, 2007
deviant
33
It stakes out an alternative
relationship.
to the police
order of a
society.
capitalist
is an affective
of
Trust, concomitantly
relationship
asymmetrical,
a
it
constitutes
the
other.
Like
toward
rejection of
sharing,
vulnerability
a
one
can
in
context
arise
where
Trust
only
relationships.
exchange
for personal gain and, in addition,
considers others as more than vehicles
as similarly motivated.
to the
relies on and contributes
both
Trust, then,
a
of equality within
process of subjectification.
presupposition
amore cognitive
set of obligations.
trust
not
and
do
exclude
Sharing
are woven
In a political
Rather, the affective and the cognitive
together.
or inclined to share, and
by trust
There is also a role played by the
one is often
those
what
cognitive
recognition?against
taught?that
one is engaging
in political
action are indeed one's
others with whom
not everyone
ismotivated
movement,
no one is so motivated
all the time.
in understanding
If Kant is not exhaustive
the ethical character
equals.
is he irrelevant.
But the ethical character of
of political
action, neither
in the action as it is
political action is not the same among those engaged
a
In
it.
the
latter
contradiction
of
those
confronted
case,
among
by
in the former case, the
to the ethics of politics;
at play are at times grasped
at times lived
cognitively,
and at times both.
is central
principles
principles
affectively,
In political
action, the tapestry of this weaving

together of cognitive
elements around the presupposition
of equality has a name,
is rarely reflected upon.
It is solidarity.
that name
Political
is nothing
other than the operation
of the presupposition
of
and affective
although
solidarity
internal to the collective

action.
It arises in
subject of political
equality
a
arises
the ethical character of that collective
that
itself
subject,
subject
on
one
a
or
its
action.
the
basis
of
When
line,
joins
only
picket
speaks
or the Tibetans or the
about the oppression
of the Palestinians
publicly
or attends ameeting whose goal is to organize around issues
Chechnyans,
of fair housing, or brings one's bicycle to a ride with Critical Mass, one is
one is engaged
so from a
in what Ranciere
not?if
calls politics?doing
or
one
above
outside
those
Rather,
position
alongside whom
struggles.
one joins the creation
of a political
(which does not mean
subject
sacrificing one's own being to it). One acts, in concert with others, on the
of the equality of any and every speaking being.
the justificatory character of the ethics of political
action lies. It cannot lie, as we have seen, in an ethical framework
that
an
a
in
ultimate
foundation.
It
lies
instead
possesses
principle?the
can ground and justify political action
of equality?that
presupposition
it is accepted by those alongside whom
and
only to the extent to which
presupposition
And here
iswhere
SubStance
Vol.
#113,
36,
no.
2, 2007

34 ToddMay
one
It is, in that sense, an optional

ethical
struggles.
as
we
have also seen, this does not mean
that it is an
But,
principle.
the presupposition
of equality is embedded
arbitrary one. In our world,
within
the
ethical
of
most
societies.
framework
Even when
it is
deep
in the breach,
honored
it remains honored.
in
Political action consists
whom
against
the breach.
narrowing
There
remain
interpretive
this ethics
normative,
theoretical
action
does
The
two questions
to ask about this ethics. The first one is
and can be answered
is the relationship
of
quickly: What
to a vision
of contemporary
anarchism?
is
The second
and can only be responded
with a
to, at least at this moment,
if any, implications
gesture: What,
this ethical framework have?
interpretive
Ranciere's
question
to anarchism.
concerns
for the specifics

the relation
of
of political
the ethics
of
I hope
that the bond between

the two
politics
will be obvious
to those who have either studied or acted within
the
framework
of anarchism.
Anarchism's
of an avant-garde
rejection
its concern with the process of political
to
action, its sensitivity
politics,
various
forms of domination
both in society at large and in political
communities
and its orientation
toward radical equality,
themselves,
are all accounted
for in the ethics and politics of the presupposition
of
What
Ranciere's
work
does
and
is
equality.
politically
implies ethically
of a piece with the deepest concerns of much of contemporary
anarchism.
he offers a coherent way to frame those concerns and to bring
Moreover,
in
them forward theoretically.
Unlike
traditional Marxism,
anarchism,
concern
in
its
for equality, has often been reluctant to engage
theoretical
If what has been said here is correct,
reflection.
is
that reluctance
in politics,
to be understood
unwarranted.
There is much
and many
who
can contribute
to that understanding.
is to be understood
is the second
to
alluded
Among
question
if anything,
action imply for the
above: what,
do the ethics of political
I would
action
character
of political
itself?
that the pre
suggest
act
cannot
remain
of
those
who
limited to
supposition
equality among
one acts. Itmust also apply to one's adversaries.
those alongside whom
what
If those who have no part are to

have a part, then they must also
for
them. This has implications
such a presupposition
of equality
see themselves
see those who
as equal to those who

have a part as equal to
Iwould
action.
that
suggest
political
must
orient
all
among
parties
political
means. One must,
action toward non-violent
insofar as possible,
refrain
from treating those against whom one struggles as beneath consideration,
as open game, or as what Kant would
to one's own
call solely a means
action to be more
than just a struggle for
ends. This requires political
SubStance
#113,
Vol.

36, no.
2, 2007
of the adversary,
suppression
It must
domination.
cynical
even where
creative
be
35
the adversary
engages
in its expression
of
in
the
of equality.
in politics
presupposition
Nonviolence
This is not
is often confused with passivity.
of nonviolent
the nature and possibilities
the place to explain
action,7
often lies at the opposite
that nonviolence
itmust be understood
however
further away from it than violent resistance.
pole from political passivity,
cases the norm. One is dominated,
in
remains
resistance
Violent
many
so one oppresses.
In that sense,
one is oppressed,
so one dominates;
in a
the power
It reverses
is always the easy political option.
violence
can achieve
is something
else: not a
What nonviolence
relationship.
a context of
reversal of power, but an effacing of the terms in which
In the framework
of a political orientation
conceived.
action carries with itmore radical
nonviolent
task is to declassify,
inversion
that is the
than the simple
for declassification
possibilities
of violent resistance.
standard consequence
in a fruitful way,
If this line of thinking is right, or even if it iswrong
a
for us is not so much
that Ranciere has opened
then the perspective
a door
as
it
is
framework within which we can fit our political
thinking
we must walk in order better to reflect upon that thinking.
through which
of equality opens political
The presupposition
thought to new vistas?
vistas that, given the history of the last century, should appear more
once have done.
In this sense,
to us now than they might
attractive
a
as
task to be
anarchism
lies before us rather than behind us,
political
a historical
as
to
be
buried
than
footnote
and
rather
engaged
thought
to
multifarious
the
and
other
pervasive
challenges
alongside
of our world.
dominations
power
whose
has been
Clemson University
Cited
Works
tr. and
and Anarchy,
1990.
Press,
University
bridge
In a Different
Voice: Psychological
Carol.
Gilligan,
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Harvard
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University
bridge:
Bakunin,
of theMetaphysic
Immanuel.
Groundwork
Kant,
1956.
and Row,
P.-J. Proudhon,
Robinson.
tr. H.J.
Paton.
Development.
New
Jacques,
1999 (or. pub.
1995)
(D).
"The End of Politics,"
Jacques,
#113,
York:
Cam
Cam
Harper
tr. John Beverly

in the Nineteenth
Idea of the Revolution
Century,
1923.
Freedom
Press,
in On the Shores of Politics
"The Community
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(CE).
tr. Julie Rose.
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Minneapolis:
Disagreement,
University
Jacques,
SubStance
ofMorals,
and Women's
Cambridge:
General
Ranciere,
Ranciere,
Theory
S. Shatz.
London:
Ranciere,
Press,
ed. Marshall
Statism
Michael.
Vol.
36,
no.
in On
the Shores
of Politics
2, 2007

(EP).
36 ToddMay
tr.
in Intellectual Emancipation,
Five Lessons
Jacques, The Ignorant Schoolmaster:
1991 (or. pub. 1987)
Ross.
Stanford:
Stanford
Press,
(IS).
University
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The Distribution
The Politics
Ranciere,
of the Sensible,
Jacques,
of Aesthetics:
Continuum
London:
2004
Rockhill.
(or. pub. 2000).
Publishing,
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Kristin
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La Lecon
Ranciere,
Jacques,
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Jacques,
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1995
(or. pub.
(UD).
Notes
1.
3.
Ranciere
works,
has
utilized
the
term
ethical
to cover
a set of
as to stifle it. "The

to engage
is not so much
the political
purpose
to bear upon art or political
is not one of moral
brought
reign of the ethical
judgment
the
of an indistinct
action.
the constitution
It signifies,
sphere where
inversely,
are dissolved"
or artistic
dans V esthetiaue.
of political
(Malaise
practices
specificity
are recent
on the
of the ethical
Emblematic
Paris:
Galilee,
2004,
145).
writings
of
and therefore
which
seek to find everyone
Holocaust,
incapable
guilty
already
action.
democratic
truly
. For a discussion
de France
lectures of 1978, Securite,
of this, see Foucault's
College
Paris:
Cours au College de France
(1977-1978).
Territoire, Population:
Seuil, 2004.
reflections
recent
In several
whose
conscious
commitments
and of making
idea of implicit
ones,
following
see Robert
it Explicit
Brandom's
commitments
(Cambridge:
Making
explicit,
Press,
1994).
University
see my
ethical discourse,
of non-foundationalist
For a fuller treatment
of the character
On
the
implicit
Harvard
4.
5.
State Press,
Park: Penn
The Moral
1994),
(University
of Poststructuralism
Theory
1.
Chapter
see Aux bords du politique
For the original
French,
(Paris: Gallimard,
1998) pp. 94 and
has rendered
"founded
the translator
111. The last phrase of the second passage, which
as "that
is to say,
on trust,"
is more
rendered
is c'est-a-dire
This
literally
confiant.
self
does not put trust beneath
The more
literal rendering
democracy's
trusting."
it.
image but within
uses the term partage differently
from his use of it as portage du sensible
6. Here Ranciere
to indicate
of
the distribution
and hierarchization
in works
like The Politics of Aesthetics
sensible
7.
The
experience.
statement
classic
Gene
Sharp's
and Struggle
(Boston,
orientation
its general
political
of
the nature
The Politics
three-volume
Porter
Sargent:
and
unfolding.
remains
action
of nonviolent
possibilities
Power
Action.
The first volume,
of Nonviolent
of nonviolence:
the dynamic
1973) explains
is from
nonviolent
It shows
how different
and
passivity.
SubStance
#113,
Vol.

36, no.
2, 2007

Jacques Rancière and The Ethics of Equality

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Jacques Rancire and the Ethics of Equality

Author(s): Todd May

This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Sat, 5 Jul 2014 13:40:12 PM

and the Ethics of Equality

its critique of the state. While Marxists

is to be resisted above all.

lay it at the feet of

#113, Vol. 36, no. 2, 2007

This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Sat, 5 Jul 2014 13:40:12 PM

JacquesRanciere and the Ethics of Equality

The History of Sexuality depicts how

has arisen over

others, but of how the

This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Sat, 5 Jul 2014 13:40:12 PM

French thinkers are often criticized

#113, Vol. 36, no. 2, 2007

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JacquesRanciere and the Ethics of Equality

his career as a student of the Marxist

seen as the set of

and for the system

by very few. We are subject to the police. We do not, however,

refers to the set of

This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Sat, 5 Jul 2014 13:40:12 PM

an order is no longer in need of one.

This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Sat, 5 Jul 2014 13:40:12 PM

and the Ethics of Equality

The effect of the presupposition

the logic of the police order" (D, 101). Democracy

those who would

This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Sat, 5 Jul 2014 13:40:12 PM

to the ethical status of the presupposition

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and the Ethics of Equality

(the equality of every

and this is the second point, the presupposition

And for this, it's enough

those alongside of whom one is pressing

into the open. On the one

This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Sat, 5 Jul 2014 13:40:12 PM

this belief is a purely normative matter?that

the one hand, those who have a part, at

a formal, legal commitment

into the open.

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JacquesRanciere and the Ethics of Equality

does political action do in this case? It forces the contradiction

or in acting contrary to universal

It occurs at the point where

to go. One must

can arise, and is highlighted

This second way involves internal contradiction

this position are manifest;

This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Sat, 5 Jul 2014 13:40:12 PM

suspect a bit of irony at work. Who, one might ask, would

in fact that requires

the scope of that embrace,

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JacquesRanciere and the Ethics of Equality

a given field of experience,

character of this subjectification?

the essay with

"The test of democracy