The Politics of Intersubjectivity: Representation and the Double

Abstract

This chapter introduces the dynamic motif of the double and its relation to intersubjectivity by visiting aspects of political representation, which is intrinsically doubled, whether in the form of origin or establishing narratives or in the form of representative government. I take up early modern English political philosophy, fortified by the backdrop of the King’s Two Bodies, and informing the meaning of political representation. Then, I look at the doubles that drive Haudenosaunee political culture. Next, I look at doubled icons that represent, broadly speaking, government or political power, which leads to a meditation on certain features of Marxism, of the Bolshevik Revolution, and then on aspects of Engels’ philosophy.