Marc Richir, La contingencia del déspota: Madrid, Brumaria, 2013, 444 pp.

Abstract

The Contingency of the Despot constituted an anomaly both editorially and philosophically. It also represents the central work of Marc Richir’s phenomenological investigations into the political. The approach to phenomena from the perspective of non-standard phenomenology displays a radical originality with respect to the considerations of modern political philosophy—beginning with Machiavelli—within whose horizon it is nevertheless situated. In this line, it opens up a plurality of registers of experience as material for study, registers that tend to be overlooked in everyday analyses of power.

Beyond the nominal and philosophical complexity of the framework woven by Richir, the proximity of the problems explored places the potential reader before issues of full contemporary relevance. It is advisable to begin the reading with the preliminary materials prepared by the editors of the volume.