Knowledge versus “Knowledge”: Louis Althusser on the Autonomy of Science and Philosophy from Ideology—A Reply to William S. Lewis

摘要

William S. Lewis ventures to reconstruct Louis Althusser's view of the philosophy of the sciences based on the latter's later writings. In my reply, I argue that Lewis does not provide such a philosophy; instead, he attempts to discuss Althusser's metaphilosophies, and the result is found wanting because he (con)fuses the role philosophy plays in Althusser's earlier writings with that in his later writings (in terms of demarcation). Moreover, there are two suggestions as to how such a reconstruction might be achieved, which are problematic as presented by Lewis. In addition, I attempt to distinguish two notions of demarcation in Althusser's writings and suggest that Althusser moves away from the traditional problem of demarcation.