I may be doomed to never really be able to look at badiou s thought. Badiou examines the relation between the communist hypothesis and the question of immigration and the foreigner, and suggests that, in order to pursue the consequences of the declaration that we share the same world, we must value identityinbecoming over identityasdefence we must set out from some very simple observations. Badiou agrees with zizek on the point that at the objective level, the crisis we are experiencing is caused by capitalism. I may be doomed to never really be able to look at badiou s thought directly like the face o. It argues that when the people are the subject of politics, the subject of a truth is a gap. The velvet revolution or gentle revolution was in czechoslovakia from 17 november to 29 december 1989. T here was a tangible sense of depression in the air in france in the aftermath of sarkozys victory. Badiou is widely considered to be frances most important and exciting contemporary thinker. This entails encountering the ontological dimension of communism, that is, the material tenor of this ontology, its residual effectiveness, the desire of human beings to go beyond capital, and the reality of the episode of statism. The following study on postfoundational political thought navigates around a curious difference, which has assumed some currency in recent continental and angloamerican political thought. Badiou indicts this approach, which reduces politics to a. But he points out that there is yet another aspect of the problem which makes the solution to the objective crisis seem to be even more impossible.
Metapolitics by alain badiou 2006 0904 alain badiou on. Theory of the subject, first published in france in 1982, is without doubt one of alain badious most important works, laying many of. Alain badiou contrasts current democratic practice with democratic communism. Discussing badious metapolitics, bruno bosteels asserts that. Download kent academic repository university of kent. Badiou conceives of the relation between freedom and equality as an ontological one, in the mathematical terms of set theory, transhistoricizing it. Being and event to metapolitics, when the antihistoricist and anti. Revolution to consider how alain badious and slavoj zizeks accounts of the subject of politics can be brought together. Badiou indicts this approach, which reduces politics to a matter of opinion, thus eliminating any. Daniel bensaid ponders the institutionalization of democracy, while wendy brown discusses the democratization of society under neoliberalism. Although the police beat the peaceful demonstrations of students at the very beginning, the communist party in that country saw that it was better to. The recourse to an ethics of di erence, which origins in levinas, isnt an appropriate answer. Alain badiou, the communist hypothesis, nlr 49, january.
Starting from this analysis, badiou critically examines the thought of anthropologist and political theorist sylvain lazarus, jacques rancieres writings on workers. Quite the contrary, i say that if in order to save the hypothesis of a just, collective appropriation of wealth, we must recognise the failures failures which are inevitable in the first decades of. Giorgio agamben traces the tense history of constitutions and their coexistence with various governments. The title may also seem, on hasty first reading, a bit ambiguous.
Badiou, by contrast, addresses inequality as a timeless, perennial problem. In this followup to his highly acclaimed volume ethics, alain badiou discusses the limits of political philosophy. In the first installment of a tenpart series on the french thinker, andrew robinson examines the basic underpinnings of badious philosophy, crucial for making sense of his political claims. But not for long, alain badiou is slated for his own documentary to be filmed this summer. This paper provides an analysis of his major works and an attempt to display. This thesis engages with key contemporary critics of postmodernism such as alain badiou and slavoj zizek in order to reaffirm postmodern philosophys significance and. His rapidly growing oeuvre has come to encompass metaphysics, ethics, politics, art, cinema and more. Metapolitics argues against the idea that politics is merely an object for philosophical reflection, an approach that reduces politics to a matter of opinion, eliminating any of its truly radical and emancipatory possibilities. Much of badious earlier work including being and event can only be fully understood with a clear grasp of theory of the subject, one of his most important works. Badiou, political nihilism, and a smallscale solution.
Alain badiou, april metapolitics sometimes written metapolitics is metalinguistic talk about politics. My first philosophy teacher, jean paul sartre, was a fellow traveler of the french communist party. It can be oddly dispiriting when an election is won by the. Alain badious politics of emancipation a communism. You have invested a lot of energy in realizing the ideas of communism.
In this followup to his highly acclaimed volume ethics, a searing critique of liberalism, alain badiou discusses the limits. But in applying these general concepts to political situations in particular, badiou often develops a range of subsidiary analyses which differentiate political situations from other fields. Alain badious recent book 2010 is titled with the phrase promoted by his and slavoj zizeks work for the last few years, the communist hypothesis. Iow, the cohen sequence of the cantor event shows a wildness, a freedom, of the infinite realm that horrified cantor. Badiou argues against the tradition of political philosophy, which he associates with the likes of. I believe it is essential to understand that, for nietzsche, what he calls philosophy is not an interpretation, is not an analysis, is not a theory. Philosophy and the idea of communism is an interview with the radical french philosopher alain badiou. Badiou indicts this approach, which reduces politics to a matter of opinion, thus eliminating any of its truly radical and emancipatory possibilities.
Continuum, 2005 in 1988, alain badiou has established himself as inarguably the most ambitious philosopher in the continental tradition in quite some time. Metapolitics sometimes written metapolitics is metalinguistic talk about politics. Alain badiou is getting his own documentary critical. Here, bruno bosteels presents politics and state, mass movement and terror by. From kant to husserl, and now to your work, the move to transcendental philosophy has, for the most part, taken place in times of crisis. Published as a chapter of think again, alain badiou and the future of philosophy, edited by peter hallward, continuum, londonnew york 2004.
He thus departs fundamentally from marx and marxism, and liquidates the revolution of capital. Following on from alain badiou s acclaimed works ethics and metapolitics, polemics is a series of brilliant metapolitical reflections, demolishing established opinion and dominant propaganda, and reorienting our understanding of events from the kosovo and iraq wars to the paris commune and the cultural revolution. It was a nonviolent revolution during which a peaceful transition of power was carried out. Metapolitics barret weber space and culture 2006 9. Marked up by einde ocallaghan for the marxists internet archive. The political community alain badious politics of truth. Badiou is a former member of the maoist union of communists best known for his tome being and event, as well as his skillful takedown of former french president nicolas sarkozy in the meaning of sarkozy. And every rupture begins, for those engaged in it, through a rupture with oneself. In metapolitics, badiou provides a new path for interpreting politics by also redefining it. In badious terms, following cohen, the state of the situation the powerset has no fixed relation to the situation. Robinson also examines how this philosophy can be traced back to the tradition of structuralist marxism. My father was a socialist, who participated in the resistance against the nazis.
A disciple of louis althusser, his work and activism often put him at odds with his peers, including gilles. Metapolitics is a small book but, given the wide range and scope of. Badiou skips over that part of the classical revolutionary tradition entirely. Alain badiou is a platonist, and it is important to keep this in mind when reading the political writings assembled in polemics. Alain badious perspectives and stand are part of a larger ideological and political trajectory of our timesa response to a historical moment.
While badiou offers a sophisticated view of philosophy that has much to offer, his call in philosophy for militants for a break with classical revolutionary politics falls flat. Postmodern philosophy has recently been critiqued for its purported indecisiveness and limited capacity to think radical political change. Badiou defends party politics in his book metapolitics 61 possibility of the party being the name of the flexible organization 61 linera stresses the importance of societys movement of selforganization, civil society must organize itself 61 warns against nonstatehood dreamed of by primitive anarchism 62. Conference featuring slavoj zizek, bruno bosteels and frank ruda. In badiou, political nihilism, and a smallscale solution, i argue that badious presentation of politics, exclusively on a large scale that of the nationstate betrays his underlying settheoretic ontology. On the one hand, badiou clearly has an inspirational and radical perspective here but the opacity of his language at least as translated and consequently his thought process is very tedious to follow. International journal of social science and economic research issn.
Badiou, from false globalisation to the one communist. Internet archive bookreader badiou alain metapolitics. What drew you to a revolutionary engagement and why. After all, its pegged to a book that wasnt written to teach militants anything. Communism, and the communist project, is at a crossroads. In this followup to his highly acclaimed volume ethics, a searing critique of liberalism, alain badiou discusses the limits of political philosophy. Postfoundational political thought joaocamillopenna. With the restoration of capitalism in china in 1976, the first wave of socialist revolutions and.
Alain badiou is one of the bestknown french critical theorists today. Alain badiou the rational kernel of the hegelian dialectic. Finding and carrying the subject, maintaining the gap, is the function of the subjectivable body. In an ongoing tenpart series on the political thought of alain badiou, i have previously explored badious ontology, his theory of the state, and his innovative concept of the event. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content 23 ab imperio, 12005 languages of selfdescription of empire and nation as a research problem and political dilemma from the editors ab imperios first issue in 2005 introduces a new annual theme and sums up the journals contribution to recent debates on empire, nationalism, and historywriting in the postsoviet space. In much the same way alain badious metapolitics explains what has gone wrong in the political world in the last forty five years, from the epochmaking events of 1968, and from the symptoms of the malady offers his own cure. Metapolitics argues that one of the main tasks of contemporary thought is to abolish the idea that politics is merely an object for philosophical reflection. Badiou, bosteels, and the question of political affect by andrew pendakis. For kant it was the potential failure of classical accounts of rationality at the skeptical hands of david hume, for husserl it was the collapse of the spirit of philosophy under the joint. The alleged power of capitalism today is merely a reflection of the weakness of its opponent. Alain badiou, why set yourself up as defender of the russian and chinese experiences, if they were failures. Badious thought, as the definition of philosophy demands, refuses to be reduced to its time, to its limits, to whatever the intellectual fad is today badious thought refuses to stay in its. The political theory of alain badiou abstract alain badiou, a french theorist, philosopher and political activist, has been receiving increased attention in the beginning of the 21st century.