“How Is Innovation Possible?”: An Analysis of Rancière’s Post-Marxist View on Innovation

Abstract

As a representative figure of contemporary left-wing and post-Marxism, Rancière answers the question of how innovation is possible from the perspective of aesthetic politics. In his view, innovation is only possible when reformationary “undivided division” takes equality as a prerequisite, thus breaking the division of sensible space by the capitalist security order and achieving “sensible redistribution.” Although Rancière’s view on sensible innovation recognizes the confinement of sensible space by capitalist rule, it is ultimately reduced to post-Marxist discourse critique because it loses the practical orientation of Marx’s innovation theory. The analysis of Rancière’s innovation does not only help to discover the “bright spots” and defects in his thought, but also provide new ideas for us to consider the aforementioned question in contemporary times.