Social radicalisms and their critiques

The paper seeks to determine the content and scope of the operational use of the concept of social radicalism. The introductory sections of the paper are dedicated to a linguistic analysis of the term itself and the historical contexts in which it was used. The central part of the paper is occupied, first, by a presentation of two classical or proto-radicalisms (Joseph de Maistre and Karl Marx), followed by two typical critiques of radicalism (Helmut Plessner and Karl Popper). Considering the various understandings of radicalism presented, the concluding section highlights the advisability of speaking about it in the plural, as well as the possibility of a so-called radical critique of radicalism, which would not end with warnings about its potentially disastrous revolutionary consequences but would dismantle the fascination with the root (radix) underlying the discursive figure it practices.