In a two-page note he wrote in 1986 titled ‘Portrait du philosophe matérialiste’,
Althusser refers to the unknown, perhaps even outlaw, hero of
American Westerns typical of the popular culture of his own era, someone who
jumps on to a moving train without knowing whence it comes or where it is
going, then gets off at a small station and heads for the saloon to quench his
thirst:
Saloon, beer, whiskey. ‘Where d’ya hail from, bud?’ ‘From a long way off.’
‘Where ya headed?’ ‘Dunno!’ ‘Might have some work for ya.’ ‘Okay’.
The hero in the Westerns is the figure of an aleatory materialist, who does not
know the beginning or goal of his long journey. He is, nevertheless, a positive hero,
not a villain, even if the hero is an outlaw. In the town he gains the trust
of the people, reluctantly fastens the sheriff’s badge on his chest, presents his
own unique interpretation of the law, curbs the villains and schemers who
have terrorised the town, returns order for the time being and then disappears
into the sunset of the desert without knowing how long his good fortune
will continue or whether he will soon be killed by a bullet or arrow in some
skirmish.
Nobody or nothing forces the hero to jump on to that particular train nor to
get off at that particular station, nor to take on the job of the sheriff. The hero is
not a cavalry officer who merely obeys the orders of his superiors, nor is he a
city dweller or someone representing the federal state, as perhaps the previous
sheriff was, but who was unable to fulfill his legal duties.
- Mikko Lahtinen, Politics and Philosophy 'Althusser’s Aleatory Machiavelli', p.178
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