A rooted constructivism: elucidation, ontology and creation of concepts in Cornelius Castoriadis

Jean-Marc Ferry stands opposed to the philosophy of Cornelius Castoriadis, claiming that it relies upon an arbitrary ontological decision. According to Ferry, Castoriadis' philosophy does not respect the Kantian critique of reason. In this contribution, I reply to this objection. I comment on his specific methodological operation: elucidation. I show that this method does not go beyond Kantian finitude, and that it allows him to justify his ontological concepts. In the last part of this article, I interpret his method as a 'grounded constructivism' and I explain how it contributes to those philosophical theories.