Cycle 14 · 4 Feb 2026The return of fascism- 36:27It does not show an existing thing, it hides it: "the West" masks the Atlanticist imperialism that has dominated the world since Waterloo.
Occulting concept
Worked through in 8 videos · 9 passages.
Summary
Dominique Pagani calls an occulting concept a word that does not serve to reveal a positive reality, but to avoid naming another one. He contrasts it with concepts made to show, which make things present12. According to him, such concepts serve not to make known but to make forgotten3. From 2016 to 2026, he always takes the same example, the word "West" ("Occident"). He stresses that the West is not a place, since the West is wherever one wants it to be4. Nor is it an ethnic category: one can be Chadian and Western. What the word avoids saying varies from one session to another. In 2020 and 2022, it is "capitalism" or "capitalist"35. In 2024, speaking about the Sahel, he adds "imperialist" and "Atlanticist"6. In 2026, he speaks of the Atlanticist imperialism that has dominated the world since Waterloo7.
- 1Too late?14 Aug 2024 · 5:22
- 2The silences of the media uproar: the Atlanticist re-Nazification21 Oct 2025 · 4:49
- 3#3 Benefits and harms of amnesia…6 Nov 2020 · 45:36
- 4Roots or migration? From analytical reverie to current events, from Hölderlin to the war17 Feb 2023 · 5:40
- 5#16 Michel Clouscard: “There are no holidays in the concept!”7 Jul 2022 · 42:34
- 6Sahelian Africa and imperialism: Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger23 Mar 2024 · 24:39
- 7The return of fascism4 Feb 2026 · 36:27
Summary produced automatically from 9 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.
Cycle 14 · 4 Feb 2026The return of fascism
Cycle 14 · 21 Oct 2025The silences of the media uproar: the Atlanticist re-Nazification- 4:49Unlike a positive concept that makes something visible, the West is a word designed to prevent us from seeing, to hide capitalism.
Cycle 12 · 14 Aug 2024Too late?- 5:22Alongside concepts that make things present, there are concepts made to hide and not name; "West" is one of these.
Talks · 23 Mar 2024Sahelian Africa and imperialism: Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger- 24:39"Westerners" is a concept that shows nothing, made to avoid saying capitalist, imperialist, Atlanticist.
Cycle 11 · 17 Feb 2023Roots or migration? From analytical reverie to current events, from Hölderlin to the war- 5:40Alongside concepts made to show, some are made not to say: "the West" is one of these, since the West is wherever one wants.
Cycle 10 · 7 Jul 2022#16 Michel Clouscard: “There are no holidays in the concept!”- 42:34Some words serve not to show things but to hide them: "the West" serves to avoid saying "capitalist."
Cycle 9.1 · 6 Nov 2020#3 Benefits and harms of amnesia…- 45:36"The West" does not serve to make known but to make forgotten: it avoids saying capitalism.
Cycle 2 · 18 Feb 2016#2.3 Between crisis and war: philosophising?