Cet ouvrage donne la parole à cinq philosophes marxistes français de renommée internationale - Main Badiou, Étienne Balibar, Jacques Bidet, Michael Löwy, Lucien Sève - qui présentent l'évolution de leur rapport à Marx, à la philosophie et à la politique, depuis les années 1950 jusqu'à aujourd'hui. Dans ces entretiens, chacun à son tour, les auteurs ont répondu aux questions posées par deux philosophes de générations différentes, Alexis Cukier et Isabelle Garo : comment avez-vous rencontré la pensée de Marx, et (...) comment avez-vous commencé à en faire usage? Dans quel contexte théorique et politique, pour répondre à quelle urgence et à quel problème, en rapport avec quels engagements militants? Quelle a été l'évolution de votre conception du communisme et que devraient être une action ou une organisation politique communiste aujourd'hui? Que retenez-vous d'essentiel de la pensée de Marx pour penser la période politique présente? Au fil des réponses à ces questions, les auteurs analysent les rapports entre philosophie et politique, reviennent sur la trajectoire du marxisme en France et abordent la signification du communisme aujourd'hui. L'introduction, complétée d'une bibliographie étendue, présente les coordonnées théoriques et politiques complexes de ces trajectoires singulières, leurs convergences et leurs divergences, qui éclairent le renouvellement en cours de la philosophie marxiste ainsi que de l'engagement communiste."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Ce livre est l’un des premiers en français à avoir été consacré aux émotions en histoire contemporaine en tentant de définir un « régime émotionnel » spécifique à la période et à une grande partie de l’élite d’un État (Reddy, p. 43). Les études s’appuient sur une généalogie qui remonte, sous le vocable des « sensibilités », en 1941 pour Lucien Febvre, puis à Alain Corbin. Nous nous intéresserons particulièrement dans ce livre collectif aux contributions qui concernent « (...) le genre des émotions... (shrink)

The concept of innovation has entered a turbulent age. On the one hand, it is uncritically understood as ‘technological innovation’ and ‘commercialized innovation.’ On the other hand, ongoing research under the heading responsible research and innovation suggests that current global issues require innovation to go beyond its usual intent of generating commercial value. However, little thought goes into what innovation means conceptually. Although there is a focus on enabling outcomes of innovation processes to become more responsible and desirable, the technological (...) and commercial nature of these processes is rarely questioned. For these reasons, this paper poses the following research question: what concept of innovation is implicitly taken up by the RRI discourse and what implications does this concept have for the societal purpose of RRI? As a first step, we analyze the extent to which the concept of innovation in the RRI literature is uncritically presupposed to be technological. Subsequently, we examine the diverse meanings innovation has had over time and argue that while innovation originally had a political connotation it is only recently restricted to the meaning of technological innovation. We go on to show that even though the concept of technological innovation can contribute to the societal purpose of RRI, this requires certain conditions that are difficult to guarantee. Consequentially, we argue that future research should explore alternative understandings of innovation that better enable the overall feasibility of the emerging frameworks of RRI. (shrink)

Praised as a panacea for resolving all societal issues, and self-evidently presupposed as technological innovation, the concept of innovation has become the emblem of our age. This is especially reflected in the context of the European Union, where it is considered to play a central role in both strengthening the economy and confronting the current environmental crisis. The pressing question is how technological innovation can be steered into the right direction. To this end, recent frameworks of Responsible Innovation focus on (...) how to enable outcomes of innovation processes to become societally desirable and ethically acceptable. However, questions with regard to the technological nature of these innovation processes are rarely raised. For this reason, this paper raises the following research question: To what extent is RI possible in the current age, where the concept of innovation is predominantly presupposed as technological innovation? On the one hand, we depart from a post-phenomenological perspective to evaluate the possibility of RI in relation to the particular technological innovations discussed in the RI literature. On the other hand, we emphasize the central role innovation plays in the current age, and suggest that the presupposed concept of innovation projects a techno-economic paradigm. In doing so, we ultimately argue that in the attempt to steer innovation, frameworks of RI are in fact steered by the techno-economic paradigm inherent in the presupposed concept of innovation. Finally, we account for what implications this has for the societal purpose of RI. (shrink)

The works of Gilles Deleuze -- on cinema, literature, painting, and philosophy -- have made him one of the most widely read thinkers of his generation. This compact critical volume is not only a powerful reappraisal of Deleuze's thought, but also the first major work by Alain Badiou available in English. Badiou compellingly redefines "Deleuzian, " throwing down the gauntlet in the battle over the very meaning of Deleuze's legacy. For those who view Deleuze as the apostle of desire, (...) flu, and multiplicity, Badiou's book is a deliberate provocation. Through a deep philosophical engagement with his writings, Badiou contends that Deleuze is not the Dionysian thinker of becoming he took himself to be; on the contrary, he is an ascetic philosopher of Being and Oneness. Deleuze's self-declared anti-Platonism fails -- and that, in Badiou's view, may ultimately be to his credit. "Perhaps it is not Platonism that has to be overturned, " Badiou writes, "but the anti-Platonism taken as evident throughout this entire century." This volume draws on a five-year correspondence undertaken by Badiou and Deleuze near the end of Deleuze's life, when the two put aside long-standing political and philosophical differences to exchange ideas about similar problems in their work. Badiou's incomparably attentive readings of key Deleuzian concepts radically revise reigning interpretations, offering new insights to even the veteran Deleuze reader and serving as an entree to the controversial notion of a "restoration" of Plato advocated by Badiou -- in his own right one of the most original figures in postwar French philosophy. The result is a critical tour de force that repositions Deleuze, one of the mostimportant thinkers of our time, and introduces Badiou to English-speaking readers. (shrink)

Underlying Giorgio Agamben’s and Alain Badiou’s disagreement over the apostle Paul we find common cause: following Paul’s deactivation of law, both Agamben and Badiou see the fixed identities necessary to the naturalised nomos of State politics as transfigured by a politics of grace. This transfiguration is differently rendered as either the emergence of a universal subject or the opening up of existing subjectivities, but both the messianic vocation in Agamben and the universal subject in Badiou allow subjective possibility to (...) that which is not in the present objectified order. Developing this theme of a basic emancipatory affinity, two moments of the political which exist in a difficult but necessary tension are identified: revolution and dissent. While revolution signals subjective possibility itself by determining that the truth of the event is for all, dissidence keeps that possibility alive by pointing to the human subject’s fundamental indeterminacy. (shrink)

Contra those proclaiming the end of philosophy, Badiou aims to restore philosophical thought to the complete space of the truths that condition it.

Infinite Thought brings together a representative selection of the range of Alain Badiou's work, illustrating the power and diversity of his thought.

El presente artículo recuerda momentos cruciales de una historia del sujeto que va de Jacques Lacan a Alain Badiou. Tras la división y la subversión lacaniana del sujeto, se revisan reacciones que intentan revertirla en varios autores. Estas reacciones se contrastan con la idea badiouana de la escisión del sujeto entre el esplacio y el fuera-de-lugar. La absolutización estructuralista del esplacio estructural se ilustra con la acción de la estructura de Jacques-Alain Miller, se aproxima al argumento de las (...) estructuras que descienden a la calle con el que Lacan defendió la posición estructuralista contra Lucien Goldmann y se explica por la forclusión del sujeto en el estructuralismo, en el sistema capitalista y en la ciencia en general. Con respecto al campo científico, se muestra cómo fue definido primero por la forclusión y luego por la suturación del sujeto en Miller, simultáneamente por la forclusión y la suturación en Lacan, y sólo por la forclusión en Badiou, quien empezará negando y terminará aceptando la existencia de un sujeto de la ciencia, pero diferente del de Lacan y Miller. (shrink)

In this dialogue, Alain Badiou shares the clearest, most detailed account to date of his profound indebtedness to Lacanian psychoanalysis. He explains in depth the tools Lacan gave him to navigate the extremes of his other two philosophical "masters," Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Althusser. Élisabeth Roudinesco supplements Badiou's experience with her own perspective on the troubled landscape of the French analytic world since Lacan's death--critiquing, for example, the link (or lack thereof) between politics and psychoanalysis in Lacan's work. Their (...) exchange reinvigorates how the the work of a pivotal twentieth-century thinker is perceived. (shrink)

Twenty years ago, Alain Badiou's first Manifesto for Philosophy rose up against the all-pervasive proclamation of the "end" of philosophy. In lieu of this problematic of the end, he put forward the watchword: "one more step". The situation has considerably changed since then. Philosophy was threatened with obliteration at the time, whereas today it finds itself under threat for the diametrically opposed reason: it is endowed with an excessive, artificial existence. "Philosophy" is everywhere. It serves as a trademark for (...) various media pundits. It livens up cafés and health clubs. It has its magazines and its gurus. It is universally called upon, by everything from banks to major state commissions, to pronounce on ethics, law and duty. In essence, "philosophy" has now come to stand for nothing other than its most ancient enemy: conservative ethics. Badiou's second manifesto therefore seeks to demoralize philosophy and to separate it from all those "philosophies" that are as servile as they are ubiquitous. It demonstrates the power of certain eternal truths to illuminate action and, as such, to transport philosophy far beyond the figure of "the human" and its "rights". There, well beyond all moralism, in the clear expanse of the idea, life becomes something radically other than survival. (shrink)

A passionate critique of Enlightenment--both in its contemporary invocation and its historical and cultural use--and a call to arms to rethink human equality and liberty without the sacrifice of individual rights and ethnicities.

Explores the link between mathematics and ontology.

DOMINIC WILLSDON. — Nous accueillons Alain Badiou, un des philosophes importants en France depuis plusieurs décennies, de plus en plus connu maintenant que ses œuvres sont traduites en anglais, et que la littérature secondaire sur sa philosophie se développe aussi en anglais. Parmi ses livres traduits ces dernières années, on trouve Deleuze. La..

Plato's _Republic_ is one of the best-known and most widely-discussed texts in the history of philosophy. But how might we get to the heart of this work today, 2,500 years after its original composition? Alain Badiou breathes life into Plato's landmark text and revives its universality. Rather than producing yet another critical commentary, he has instead worked closely on the original Greek and, through spectacular changes, adapted it to our times. In this innovative reimagining of Plato's work, Badiou has (...) removed all references specific to ancient Greek society--from lengthy exchanges about moral courage in archaic poetry to political considerations mainly of interest to the aristocratic elite--and has expanded the range of cultural references. Here, philosophy is firing on all cylinders: Socrates and his companions are joined by Beckett, Pessoa, Freud, and Hegel, among others. Together these thinkers demonstrate that true philosophy endures, ready to absorb new horizons without changing its essence. Moreover, Badiou--who is also a dramatist--has transformed the Socratic dialogue into a genuine oratorial contest. In his version of the _Republic_, the interlocutors do much more than simply agree with Socrates. They argue, stand up to him, put him on the spot, and show thought in motion. In this work of dramatic scholarship and philosophy, we encounter a modern version of Plato's text that is alive, stimulating, and directly relevant to our own world. (shrink)

Published in 1973, "L'Etourdit" was one of the French philosopher Jacques Lacan's most important works. The book posed questions that traversed the entire body of Lacan's psychoanalytical explorations, including his famous idea that "there is no such thing as a sexual relationship," which seeks to undermine our certainties about intimacy and reality. In There's No Such Thing as a Sexual Relationship, Alain Badiou and Barbara Cassin take possession of Lacan's short text, thinking "with" Lacan about his propositions and what (...) kinds of questions they raise in relation to knowledge. Cassin considers the relationship of the real to language through a Sophist lens, while the Platonist Badiou unpacks philosophical claims about truth. Each of their contributions echoes back to one another, offering new ways of thinking about Lacan, his seminal ideas, and his role in advancing philosophical thought. (shrink)

In this commentaryI evaluate the claim made byKeenan, Nelson, OÕConnor, and Pascual-Leone (2001) that since self-recognition results from right hemispheric activity, self-awareness too is likely to be produced by the activity of the same hemisphere. This reasoning is based on the assumption that self-recognition represents a valid operationalization of self-awareness; I present two views that challenge this rationale. Keenan et al. also support their claim with published evidence relating brain activityand self-awareness; I closelyexamine their analysis of one specific review of (...) literature and conclude that it appears to be biased. Finally, recent research suggests that inner speech (which is associated with left hemispheric activity) is linked to self-awareness—an observation that further casts doubt on the existence of a right hemispheric self-awareness. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. (shrink)

Martin Heidegger was an ordinary Nazi and a loyal member of the provincial petty bourgeoisie. He was also a seminal thinker of the Continental tradition and one of the twentieth century's most important philosophers. How are we to make sense of this dual life? Should we factor Heidegger's domestic and political associations into our understanding of his thought, or should we treat his intellectual work independently of his abhorrent politics? How does any thinker reconcile the mundane with the ideal or (...) the pursuit of philosophical inquiry with the demands of civic engagement? In Heidegger, Alain Badiou and Barbara Cassin immerse themselves in the philosopher's correspondence with his wife Elfride to answer these questions as they relate to Heidegger and all thinkers vulnerable to the politics of their times. They focus on Heidegger's tormented relationship with his wife, with Hannah Arendt, and with numerous other women, bringing an unusual level of intimacy to his personal and intellectual worlds. (shrink)

This article raises the question of how we acquire self-information through self-talk, i.e., of how self-talk mediates self-awareness. It is first suggested that two social mechanisms leading to self-awareness could be reproduced by self-talk: engaging in dialogues with ourselves, in which we talk to fictive persons, would permit an internalization of others' perspectives; and addressing comments to ourselves about ourselves, as others do toward us, would allow an acquisition of self-information. Secondly, it is proposed that self-observation is possible only if (...) there exists a distance between the individual and any potentially observable self-aspect; self-talk, because it conveys self-information under a different form , would create a redundancy -- and with it, a wedge -- within the self. (shrink)

Two eminent French philosophers discuss German philosophy—including the legacy of Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Adorno, Fichte, Marx, and Heidegger—from a French perspective. In this book, Alain Badiou and Jean-Luc Nancy, the two most important living philosophers in France, discuss German philosophy from a French perspective. Written in the form of a dialogue, and revised and expanded from a 2016 conversation between the two philosophers at the Universität der Künste Berlin, the book offers not only Badiou's and Nancy's reinterpretations of German (...) philosophers and philosophical concepts, but also an accessible introduction to the greatest thinkers of German philosophy. Badiou and Nancy discuss and debate such topics as the legacies of Kant, Hegel, and Marx, as well as Nietzsche, Adorno, Fichte, Schelling, and the unavoidable problem of Heidegger and Nazism. The dialogue is contentious, friendly, and often quotable, with strong—at times passionate—positions taken by both Badiou and Nancy, who find themselves disagreeing over Kant, for example, and in unexpected agreement on Marx, for another. What does it mean, then, to conduct a dialogue on German philosophy from a French perspective? As volume editor Jan Völker observes, “German philosophy” and “French philosophy” describe complex constellations that, despite the reference to nation-states and languages, above all encompass shared concepts and problems—although these take a range of forms. Perhaps they can reveal their essential import only in translation. (shrink)

"French philosopher Alain Badiou (b. 1937) introduces the concept of democratic materialism to refer to the belief that there are only bodies and languages, then employs a fair amount of science in what he calls a somewhat fastidious examine of it. He covers formal theory on the subject (meta-physics); the greater logics: the transcendental, the object, and relation; the four forms of change; the theory of points; what a body is; and what it is to live."--Provided by publisher.

Cela peut arriver à n'importe qui. N'importe qui peut être saisi par un événement politique, n'importe qui peut être saisi par l'amour. Quand nous sommes engagés dans une procédure de vérité, nous sommes saisis par elle et nous observons la maxime de fidélité à cette procédure. Il n'y a pas d'autre impératif éthique que : "Persévérez! Persévérez dans votre fidélité!" Je soutiens la formule de la fidélité comme "discipline à l'indiscipline de l'événement". Je crois avoir montré que la fidélité est (...) une errance, un trajet sans concept, ou encore - Mallarmé - "le hasard vaincu mot par mot". Finalement, il s'agit de répondre à une question intimidante : que vaut notre temps? Car il ne vaut, philosophiquement, que par les quelques vérités qu'il prodigue. Nietzsche a raison : ce qui vaut d'une époque est ce qui supporte l'idée d'un retour éternel. La philosophie anticipe ce retour, en saisissant à leur naissance les vérités, en les tournant vers leur intemporel destin. (shrink)

Il s’agit d’indiquer les liens entre le programme d’EMC et le programme de l’enseignement philosophique. L’objectif n’est pas de rendre indissociables ces derniers mais de montrer qu’il n’est pas impossible de passer de l’un à l’autre. Après un premier travail de définition en première partie, une problématisation du rapport des notions en présence est effectuée dans la seconde. On ne saurait nier la nouveauté de bien des difficultés notamment engendrées par les progrès de la biologie et toute occasion est bonne, (...) pour la pensée, de se remettre en question mais en quoi cette remise en question peut-elle consister? Doit-elle conduire à renoncer à une bonne part de la tradition philosophique ou faut-il, au contraire, qu’elle se caractérise par sa reprise à nouveaux frais? (shrink)

Pour Proust, on le sait, la mémoire fouille dans les ruines ce que le Temps a détruit, et ce que l’Art peut parfois sublimer. Face à un traumatisme soudain et dévastateur, le passé récent “convertit” (dans le sens alchimique, religieux, hystérique du terme) sa banale quotidienneté pour s’investir après-coup en paradis à jamais perdu. (Or les paradis ne sont-ils pas toujours des paradis perdus –Milton, Proust, Freud, et al.)? Anticipant par une dizaine d’années le vécu de notre présent mondialement pandémique, (...) le film de Soderbergh met en scène la monstruosité inexorable du virus, avec le chaos, la dépression universelle et l’agressivité qui en résultent, – illustrant ainsi comment le quotidien se transforme en une invivable dystopie. Cependant /u-topie/ et /dys-topie/ s’entrelacent et se reconfigurent dans une dynamique dialectique : De même que le passé (rétrospectivement) utopique contenait déjà le code de sa propre auto-destruction, de même le présent (prospectivement) dystopique engendre endurance et lutte à mort pour sur-vivre, ne serait-ce que dans un mode d’être différent du passé perdu et du présent mortel. Ce faisant, comme le montre notre analyse, Soderbergh surprend par la dimension féministe de son film. (shrink)

The theme of Aesthetics in Present Future concerns the new chances the arts have and the deep changes they are undergoing, due to the new media, and the digital world in which we are growingly immersed. That this world is to be understood from an aesthetic point of view, become clear if we think of how much of what we produce, and observe and study is offered through images in particular and perceptual means in general.

La crise est un moment singulier de l’existence des hommes et du monde où l’ordre habituel des choses se met à vaciller et menace même de retourner au chaos. On la redoute donc le plus souvent, en essayant de l’éviter. Mais plutôt que d’en craindre le pire, ne peut-on en espérer le meilleur : dans sa violence même, la crise ne fait-elle pas apparaître de nouvelles possibilités d’être? Ne faut-il pas alors tâcher de s’en saisir comme l’occasion d’une renaissance, aussi (...) bien dans l’existence personnelle des individus que dans la vie collective des peuples? (shrink)

Les références à la pensée de Karl Popper, dans les ouvrages contemporains de didactique ou de pédagogie, sont rares et se bornent généralement au rappel convenu des thèses les plus connues de l'épistémologie faillibiliste. L'oeuvre poppérienne comporte pourtant de nombreux autres aspects, ordinairement négligés, par lesquels elle se rapporte de façon beaucoup plus directe et essentielle aux questions éducatives. L'intérêt de Popper pour ces dernières est manifeste dans les écrits de jeunesse, rédigés durant sa période de formation à l'Institut pédagogique (...) de Vienne dans les années 1920. Il se montre encore, quoique de façon plus souterraine, dans l'oeuvre de la maturité, à travers les nombreux développements que le philosophe consacre à l'analyse de la subjectivité et à la question de l'apprentissage. De là, le projet de ce livre. En prenant pour guide la double métaphore du "seau" (Bucket) et du "projecteur" (Searchlight), au moyen de laquelle Popper oppose la théorie erronée de "l'esprit-réceptacle" à sa propre conception de l'activité mentale, celui-ci se propose d'interroger l'oeuvre poppérienne dans son ensemble, les écrits de jeunesse comme les textes de la maturité, sous l'angle d'une théorie du sujet humain et de sa formation. Il s'agit par là, d'une part, de jeter un éclairage sur le lien trop souvent méconnu qui unit de l'intérieur la pensée de Popper aux préoccupations d'ordre psychologique et pédagogique ; d'autre part, de montrer en quoi la prise en compte des thèses poppériennes peut contribuer à renouveler en profondeur la réflexion contemporaine sur l'apprentissage et l'éducation. (shrink)

La place de Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) dans le siècle des Lumières, comme dans l'histoire des idées, est difficile à déterminer. Tenu à l'écart des courants dominants de son époque, il n'a été lu et étudié que bien après sa mort. Sa pensée n'a cessé depuis de faire l'objet d'interprétations diverses et contradictoires : certains la jugent tournée vers le passé, nourrie de l'humanisme grec et latin revivifié par le christianisme ; d'autres y voient la préfiguration des grandes visions modernes de (...) l'histoire. Son oeuvre, écrit Alain Pons, dépasse l'opposition entre Anciens et Modernes ; elle a l'ambition de fonder une science nouvelle, non pas du monde naturel mais du monde des hommes, sous la forme d'une étude des nations. Pour ce faire, le philosophe napolitain unit intimement deux savoirs distincts : une philosophie de l'esprit humain qu'il ne veut pas réduire à la pure raison, et une philologie qui explore le savoir historique accumulé depuis la plus lointaine antiquité. Cette lecture met en lumière la façon dont, selon Vico, naissent, vivent et peuvent mourir les nations, et comment se construisent chez elles les "choses humaines" - religions, langages, coutumes, lois, institutions politiques. Elle donne son relief à l'intuition fondamentale qui fait l'originalité du philosophe : c'est dans le temps de l'histoire et dans la vie des nations que l'homme accomplit son humanité. La Science nouvelle (1744) ouvre certaines voies dans lesquelles vont s'engager la philosophie moderne et les sciences humaines. Elle aide à comprendre les interrogations, les espoirs et les craintes que le destin des nations fait toujours naître. (shrink)

In _Can Politics Be Thought?_—published in French in 1985 and appearing here in English for the first time—Alain Badiou offers his most forceful and systematic analysis of the crisis of Marxism. Distinguishing politics as an active mode of thinking from the political as a domain of the State, Badiou argues for the continuation of Marxist politics. In so doing, he shows why we need to recapture the emancipatory hypothesis of Marx's original gesture in order to actualize its radical potential. (...) This volume also includes Badiou's “Of an Obscure Disaster: On the End of the Truth of the State,” in which he rebuts claims of Communism's death after the fall of the Soviet Union. (shrink)

Merker’s definition of consciousness excludes self-reflective thought, making his proposal for decorticate consciousness not particularly groundbreaking. He suggests that brainstem sites are neglected in current theories of consciousness. This is so because broader definitions of consciousness are used. Split-brain data show that the cortex is important for full-blown consciousness; also, behaviors exhibited by hydranencephaly patients and decorticated rats do not seem to require reflective consciousness.

The fall of the Berlin wall was seen by many as the final triumph of liberal democracy over communism. But now, in the wake of the great financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath, things look a little different. New questions are arising about capitalism and democracy, new social movements are challenging established institutions and new political possibilities are emerging. Is democracy an inevitable hostage of capitalism, or can it reinvent itself to meet the challenge of globalization? In an exclusive, (...) previously unpublished dialogue, Alain Badiou, a key figure of the radical left and a leading advocate of the communist idea, and Marcel Gauchet, a major exponent of anti-totalitarianism and a champion of liberal democracy, confront one another. Together, they take stock of history, interrogate one another s views and defend their respective projects: on the one side, the revival of the communist hypothesis, and on the other, the radical reform of a contested democratic model. (shrink)

Everything in their respective positions divides them: Alain Badiou is the thinker of a revitalized communism and Alain Finkielkraut the mournful observer of the loss of values. The two opponents, gathered here for their first-ever debate, have irreconcilable visions. Yet neither is a stranger to controversy, and in this debate they make explicit the grounds of their personal dispute as well as addressing, in a frank and open exchange, their ideas and theories. Guided by Aude Lancelin, the two (...) philosophers discuss subjects as diverse as national identity, Israel and Judaism, May 1968, and renewed popularity of the idea of communism. Their passionate debate is more than just the sum total of their disagreements, however, for neither of them is satisfied with the state of our society or the direction in which its political representatives persist in taking it. They agree that there needs to be change and their confrontation in this volume shows the importance of asking difficult questions, not only of each other, but also of our political systems. (shrink)

In this collection of essays, Alain Badiou revisits the age-old problem of the relation between literature and philosophy, arguing against both Plato and Heidegger's famous arguments. Philosophy neither has to ban the poets from the republic nor abdicate its own powers to the sole benefit of poetry or art. Instead, it must declare the end of what Badiou names the "age of the poets," from Holderlin to Celan. Drawing on ideas from his first publication on the subject, "The Autonomy (...) of the Aesthetic Process," Badiou also offers an illuminating set of readings of contemporary French prose writers, giving us fascinating insights into the theory of the novel while also accounting for the specific position of literature between science and ideology. (shrink)

I reconsider Aristotle’s account of perception by way of an ‘organic’ reading of the sensitive mean. I argue that the mean serves as a homeostatic mechanism that allows for the replication of forms in the organs in the process of perceptual alteration. The mean, as a product of properly constituted organs, is that by which Aristotle separates animals from plants.

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