Politics as the orientation of every assemblage

Although it may seem surprising and eccentric, the opening move that I am about to make is somehow necessary, stemming from my peculiar research area. I think that talking about «configurations» of life, the very possibility of discussing this topic, requires some preliminary decisions or, at least, the definition or declaration of our point of departure. In other words, the point is «configuring» my presence among you in a preliminary way, in order to be able of communicating with the «machine», with the hardware of our discussion. This technical term, referring to computing, must be understood in its Latin etymology: cum-figurare, to conform, to adapt the members of the present discussion to one another, thus enabling the communication between researchers who work in very different disciplinary fields. As we know, the Latin word cum can be employed in several ways. It can express simultaneity, concomitance, community -that is to say, connection -or, more radically, correlation, transit, exchange.

Azimuth. Philosophical Coordinates Between Modern and Contemporary Age, 2013

The Politics of Orientation. Deleuze meets Luhmann, 2023

The Politics of Orientation provides the first substantial exploration of a surprising theoretical kinship and its rich political implications, between Gilles Deleuze's philosophy and the sociological systems theory of Niklas Luhmann. Through their shared theories of sense, Hannah Richter draws out how the works of Luhmann and Deleuze complement each other in creating worlds where chaos is the norm and order the unlikely and yet remarkably stable exception. From the encounter between Deleuze and Luhmann, Richter develops a novel take on postfoundational ontology where subjects and societies unfold in self-productive relations of sense against a background of complexity. The Politics of Orientation breaks and rebuilds theoretical alliances by reading core concepts and thinkers of Continental Philosophy, from Leibniz to Whitehead and Marx, through this encounter. Most importantly, the book puts Luhmann and Deleuze to work to offer urgently needed insight into the rise of post-truth populism. In our complex democratic societies, Richter argues, orientation against complexity has become the ground of political power, privileging the simplistic narratives of the populist right.

Radical Democracy: Politics Between Abundance and Lack, 2005

Crítica Contemporánea. Revista de Teoría Politica, 2011

Springer Lecture notes in networks and systems, 2022

The purpose—Morphogenetics of political action presupposes transdisciplinary immersion in the experience of solving complex problems, that constantly intrude into the stable sign systems of political subjects and their order parameters, thereby changing precursors to intentional activity. The layering of political orders of sign systems, facilitating the emergence of mutually intersecting, complementary, competing or accommodating modes of political complexity embodiment, creates a pulsating problem field that requires analytical isolation and subsequent synthesis of real political experience constellations using semiotic tools of cognition. Design/Methodology/Approach—Semiotics occupies a supra-disciplinary position in the system of sciences, having no clear-cut boundaries—its place in the research space is isomorphic to the research object of the political science: it is always “between”, always “at junction”. Conceptualization of political complexity requires a switch from dichotomies to the triangulation of logos, pathos and ethos with a space for the creativity of political imagination, which replaces abstract ideas of the common good with the future vision as a well-founded integral synthesis. Transdisciplinary experience of philosophizing accumulates and condenses the results of disciplinary thought in communication here and now, which stretches the life-giving thread of community over the abyss of hermetic disciplinary discourses, which is relevant to solving complex issues in gradation from the individual to the supranational level. Findings—Political action combines both expression and preliminary premise of political complexity, inviting the researcher to plunge into an expanding universe of experience, framed by moving frontiers of space and time, within which the division between theory and practice is being emergently abolished. Semiotics of the sensual in politics refers to the vitality of matter, through which the self-organizing chaos of the world of things brings order to the living space of political subjectivity in the affective act. The affective action mode combines authenticity with the scaling of political action, creating space for phase transition from stability to change. Political action is a meeting point of contingency and determination, intentionality and blindness, the fruit of the tension of overcoming and the game of dichotomies of adaptability and pre-adaptability, tradition and innovation. The arteries of reciprocal interaction between the environments of political order formation branch out in a multiplicity of effects of political action, where the target reason for the distribution of powers becomes the dominant configurator, which can take both a latent form and performative forms of events that translate language into speech. Originality/Value—Disclosing specific attributive characteristics of political action requires accentuation of the procedural nature of political morphogenesis, which unfolds in the exchange between discrete political subjects. The procreative interval of politics is fractally reproduced in the space between determinism and randomness, creating a request to abandon the paradigm of “taken for granted” in understanding, conceptualizing and explaining the nature of politics. Research/Practical/Social/Environment implications—Language fulfils the functions of transfer, fixation and distribution of the sign systems that underlie the political form by selecting morphogenetic meanings of political action. Political morphogenesis is triggered, provided and overturned by recursive repetition in the language, built according to the logic of positive and negative feedback. Centre-peripheral polarities between interpretations of concepts in political science are smoothed out when using the emerging transdisciplinary language of semiotics, which freely operates in the space of new challenges for political science. Research limitations—The canvas of text, articulating and reinforcing, restraining and invoking, transforms information into frames containing reference points for political action with hotbeds of the flame of new meanings in the intervals of the accelerating pulse of digital life mode. Normo-genesis embedded in morphogenesis as a “core practice” includes the reproduction of “norm” statements often out of touch with the ideal and every time through a concrete solution to the issue of inclusiveness/exclusivity and the included Third, where what is verbalized is actualized, what is drowned in silence is deprived of the right to exist, and what is between them creatively sprouts with new life in the aesthetics of politics.