The Concept of the Subject in Laclau

Abstract

Abstract In this article Laclau's conception of the subject as ‘the distance from undecidability to the decision’ is explained, defended and criticised. The starting point of Laclau's intervention, namely the impasse of both the transcendental and structuralist conceptions of the subject, is sketched and the conception of the subject in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (HSS) is examined and its shortcoming pointed out. Laclau's post-HSS conception of the subject stricto sensu, that is, as distinct from the ‘full ego subject’ or subject qua ‘subject-position’, is then presented and contrasted with the theories of the subject advanced by Sartre and Zizek. In conclusion, Laclau's conception is itself criticised on the ground that it excludes the subject's own contribution to its emergence – the subject cannot be reduced to ‘the distance from undecidability to the decision’, but must also refer to the distance from antagonism to undecidability.