«Politics» and «The Political»: The Mythical Superposition of Two Political States
The distinction between «politics» and «the political» has been placed historically within a political narrative which is often overlooked by political science and political philosophy. This narrative pertains to the realm of myth, and, because of this, a clear interpretation of such narrative is still missing. The reason for this is that the relationship between myth and politics is often perceived as dangerous, and closer to totalitarian rather than democratic governments. These two concepts have been understood as different stages in the description of public affaires: first as a stage of emergence, and then as a stage of institutionalization. But by looking at myth as the ground from which political actions and institutions spring, the distinction between politics and the political can be understood in terms, not of stages, but of super positions. Reality collapses into either one of these superposed states with the intervention of a spectator. In this sense, public events no longer need to be seen as manifestations of politics that will eventually, and inevitably, become part of the political.
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