On desiring in common. Criticism, politics, subjectivities

The modern historical sense and its critical reason seem outdated and unactual today and cannot orient social behaviour towards emancipatory and progressive horizons. "Orphans" of the great horizons that marked the twentieth century, our societies are going through radical changes in the apparent absence not only of visions that have the strength to give an alternative form to our world but also of subjectivities that can embody these visions. Using a Foucauldian expression, the crisis of all those "subjectivations" that have marked modernity (liberal, socialist, Christian, revolutionary) contributes to our bewilderment. It is also why we live in a "critical" time: a time in which modern political subjects seem to have vanished, and neither the forms nor the conditions of possibility to produce new subjectivities are precise.
 
In my contribution, I intend to discuss - without resolving - what I believe to be the threefold challenge facing a thought that wants to become "critical" today. Firstly, to understand if and how critique can occur in a world that appears empty of historical meaning. Secondly, to understand how critique can give emerging subjectivities durable, cooperative, and mutual forms. Lastly, how to base critique on a knowledge of the 'limits' and historical and material possibilities of political action, so that critical thought can direct action and be translated into it.