Season 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.
What Dominique Pagani says
Dominique Pagani calls an occulting concept a word that does not serve to reveal a positive reality, but to avoid naming another one1. He contrasts it with concepts made to show, which make things present23. According to him, such concepts serve not to make known but to make forgotten4. 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 be5. Nor is it an ethnic category: one can be Chadian and Western6. What the word avoids saying varies from one session to another. In 2020 and 2022, it is "capitalism" or "capitalist"47. In 2024, speaking about the Sahel, he adds "imperialist" and "Atlanticist"8. In 2026, he speaks of the Atlanticist imperialism that has dominated the world since Waterloo9.
- 1Adamov (Arthur)18 Feb 2016 · 1:12:46
- 2TROP TARD ?14 Aug 2024 · 5:22
- 3Les silences du vacarme médiatique - nouveau cycle : la renazification atlantiste.21 Oct 2025 · 4:49
- 4#3 Bien-et Mé-faits de l'amnésie...6 Nov 2020 · 45:36
- 5Racines ou migration ? De la rêverie analytique à l'actualité, de Hölderlin à la guerre17 Feb 2023 · 5:40
- 6Adamov (Arthur)18 Feb 2016 · 1:41:46
- 7#16 Michel Clouscard : "Y a pas de vacances dans le concept !" - Dominique Pagani7 Jul 2022 · 42:34
- 8AFRIQUE SAHÉLIENNE ET IMPÉRIALISME : Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger - avec Dominique PAGANI23 Mar 2024 · 24:39
- 9Le retour du fascisme4 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.
Season 14 · 4 Feb 2026The return of fascism
Season 14 · 21 Oct 2025The silences of the media uproar - new cycle: 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.
Season 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 - with Dominique PAGANI- 24:39"Westerners" is a concept that shows nothing, made to avoid saying capitalist, imperialist, Atlanticist.
Season 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.
Season 10 · 7 Jul 2022#16 Michel Clouscard: "There are no holidays in the concept!" - Dominique Pagani- 42:34Some words serve not to show things but to hide them: "the West" serves to avoid saying "capitalist."
Season 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.
Season 2 · 18 Feb 2016#2.3 Between crisis and war: Philosophising?