Abstract
Today Kondylis seems to be a more or less forgotten philosopher. This is astonishing insofar as Kondylis’ writings reflect very prominent subjects of contemporary political and philosophical thought. Firstly there is the conceptualization of the history of thought as conflict, a major thesis of Kondylis’ work, which is shared in principle by influential thinkers such as Michel Foucault on the one hand and Quentin Skinner on the other. Secondly, we can find in Kondylis a theory of the constitutive role of conflict and power in political relations and in the constitution of political orders – a topic again prominently discussed today, e.g. in the writings of Chantal Mouffe and Jacques Rancière. But taking – in the light of contemporary debates – a closer look at Kondylis’ conceptualization of these subjects, his apodictic tendencies become evident, resulting from his highly problematic social ontology of conflict and struggle for power.
© by Akademie Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany
