DEUS EX MACHINA: PHILOSOPHIE D'UN TROPE LITTÉRAIRE
DEUS EX MACHINA: PHILOSOPHY OF A LITERARY TROPE

Summary/Abstract: The paper starts from Aristotle's view concerning the literary trope deus ex machina. Nietzsche's reference to this trope opens the path to the critique of the modern society. The last chapter of the work emphasises both the concept of human freedom as it is encircled by the modern relations and the attempts to escape them. There are two aspects related to this concept: freedom as relationship of the real with its illusions and the question of the human limits. These aspects are illustrated by two institutions embodying the principle of deus ex machina: lottery, as gambling, and corruption. Therefore this principle proves to be a pattern of behaviour in front of the social anankè: behaviour suggesting the force of the social constraints not only as exterior determinism over men but also as imprint within the human conscience.

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