According to the age-of-acquisition hypothesis, words acquired early in life are processed faster and more accurately than words acquired later. Connectionist models have begun to explore the influence of the age/order of acquisition of items (and also their frequency of encounter). This study attempts to reconcile two different methodological and theoretical approaches (proposed by Lambon Ralph & Ehsan, 2006 and Zevin & Seidenberg, 2002) to age-limited learning effects. The current simulations extend the findings reported by Zevin and Seidenberg (2002) that (...) have shown that frequency trajectories (FTs) have limited and specific effects on word-reading tasks. Using the methodological framework proposed by Lambon Ralph and Ehsan (2006), which makes it possible to compare word-reading and picture-naming tasks in connectionist networks, we were able to show that FT has a considerable influence on age-limited learning effects in a picture naming task. The findings show that when the input–output mappings are arbitrary (simulating picture naming tasks), the links formed by the network become entrenched as a result of early experience and that subsequent variations in frequency of exposure of the items have only a minor impact. In contrast, when the mappings between input-output are quasi-systematic or systematic (simulating word-reading tasks), the training of new items was generalized and resulted in the suppression of age-limited learning effects. At a theoretical level, we suggest that FT, which simultaneously takes account of time and the level of exposure across time, represents a more precise and modulated measure compared with the order of introduction of the items and may lead to innovative hypotheses in the field of age-limited learning effects. (shrink)

Two controversial thinkers discuss a timeless but nonetheless urgent question: should philosophy interfere in the world? Nothing less than philosophy is at stake because, according to Badiou, philosophy is nothing but interference and commitment and will not be restrained by academic discipline. Philosophy is strange and new, and yet speaks in the name of all - as Badiou shows with his theory of universality. Similarly, Zizek believes that the philosopher must intervene, contrary to all expectations, in the key issues of (...) the time. He can offer no direction, but this only shows that the question has been posed incorrectly: it is valid to change the terms of the debate and settle on philosophy as abnormality and excess. At once an invitation to philosophy and an introduction to the thinking of two of the most topical and controversial philosophers writing today, this concise volume will be of great interest to students and general readers alike. (shrink)

A leading continental philosopher from France and author of Theory of the Subject interrogates the "anti-philosophy" of Ludwig Wittgenstein in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, arguing that his beliefs compromise truth and logic while rendering philosophy a practice of esoteric aphorisms.

Explores the link between mathematics and ontology.

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)

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)

The philosopher replies to reactions provoked by his book about Gilles Deleuze in 1997, that were published by Futur Antérieur.

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)

The din and deadlock of public life in America--where insults are traded, slogans proclaimed, and self-serving deals made and unmade--reveal the deep disagreement that pervades our democracy. The disagreement is not only political but also moral, as citizens and their representatives increasingly take extreme and intransigent positions. A better kind of public discussion is needed, and Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson provide an eloquent argument for "deliberative democracy" today. They develop a principled framework for opponents to come together on moral (...) and political issues.Gutmann and Thompson show how a deliberative democracy can address some of our most difficult controversies--from abortion and affirmative action to health care and welfare--and can allow diverse groups separated by class, race, religion, and gender to reason together. Their work goes beyond that of most political theorists and social scientists by exploring both the principles for reasonable argument and their application to actual cases. Not only do the authors suggest how deliberative democracy can work, they also show why improving our collective capacity for moral argument is better than referring all disagreements to procedural politics or judicial institutions. Democracy and Disagreement presents a compelling approach to how we might resolve some of our most trying moral disagreements and live with those that will inevitably persist, on terms that all of us can respect. (shrink)

Les idées ici proposées ne dépendent point de quelque idée supérieure d'abord posée, et ne conduisent même point à quelque notion commune qui puisse définir tous les arts en peu de mots. Au contraire je me suis attaché à marquer les différences, les séparations, les oppositions, me réglant ainsi, autant que peut faire la critique, sur les oeuvres elles-mêmes, dont chacune s'affirme si bien et n'affirme qu'elle.

L’auteur commence par rappeler la diversité d’aspects des textes mathématiques. Il s’appuie pour cela sur plusieurs études historiques récentes consacrées à l’analyse et aux conséquences de cette diversité dans le cas des mathématiques babyloniennes, grecques et chinoises. Il propose ensuite une analyse sémiotique de la transcription de l’un des textes latins par lesquels l’arithmétique fondée sur les chiffres arabes a été diffusée en Occident. La comparaison des résultats obtenus avec ceux de la même analyse appliquée à la traduction française qui (...) a récemment été donnée de ce texte lui permet de comparer l’évolution de la forme des textes mathématiques avec l’évolution des caractéristiques sémiotiques des nombres. Au cours de cet article, il propose un rapprochement entre le type de «mise en texte» adoptée et certains préjugés formalistes. (shrink)

In Mathematics of the Transcendental, Alain Badiou painstakingly works through the pertinent aspects of Category Theory, demonstrating their internal logic and veracity, their derivation and distinction from Set Theory, and the 'thinking of being'. In doing so he sets out the basic onto-logical requirements of his greater and transcendental logics as articulated in his magnum opus, Logics of Worlds. This important book combines both his elaboration of the disjunctive synthesis between ontology and onto-logy (the discourses of being as such (...) and being-appearing) from the perspective of Category Theory and the categorial basis of his philosophical conception of 'being there'. Hitherto unpublished in either French or English, Mathematics of the Transcendental provides Badiou's readers with a much-needed complete elaboration of his understanding and use of Category Theory. The book is an essential aid to understanding the mathematical and logical basis of his theory of appearing as elaborated in Logics of Worlds and other works and is essential reading for his many followers. (shrink)

Le manuscrit decouvert a la Bibliotheque de la Sorbonne est la seule source en francais du cours d'esthetique de Hegel. Le cahier ne mentionne aucun nom, mais les traces de l'ecriture de Victor Cousin atteste que celui-ci en etait le possesseur et le destinataire. La comparaison avec les autres sources manuscrites montre que se texte se rapporte au cours donne a Berlin pendant le semestre d'ete 1823, prenant la forme d'un abrege. L'accent est mis sur la structuration du discours et (...) la dimension systematique, distinguant cette version condensee de l'edition traditionnelle de l'Esthetique. Le texte constitue egalement l'exemple exceptionnel d'une traduction hegelienne realisee du vivant du philosophe. L'enseignement de Hegel, inedit en son temps, se trouve ainsi restitue pour la premiere fois au public francophone sous sa forme originale. (shrink)

L’auteur commence par rappeler la diversité d’aspects des textes mathématiques. Il s’appuie pour cela sur plusieurs études historiques récentes consacrées à l’analyse et aux conséquences de cette diversité dans le cas des mathématiques babyloniennes, grecques et chinoises. Il propose ensuite une analyse sémiotique de la transcription de l’un des textes latins par lesquels l’arithmétique fondée sur les chiffres arabes a été diffusée en Occident. La comparaison des résultats obtenus avec ceux de la même analyse appliquée à la traduction française qui (...) a récemment été donnée de ce texte lui permet de comparer l’évolution de la forme des textes mathématiques avec l’évolution des caractéristiques sémiotiques des nombres. Au cours de cet article, il propose un rapprochement entre le type de «mise en texte» adoptée et certains préjugés formalistes. (shrink)

In this commentary I use recent empirical evidence and theoretical analyses concerning the importance of language and the meaning of self-recognition to reevaluate the claim that the right mute hemisphere in commissurotomized patients possesses a full consciousness. Preliminary data indicate that inner speech is deeply linked to self-awareness; also, four hypotheses concerning the crucial role inner speech plays in self-focus are presented. The legitimacy of self-recognition as a strong operationalization of self-awareness in the right hemisphere is also questioned on the (...) basis that it might rather tap a preexisting body awareness having little to do with an access to mental events. I conclude with the formulation of an alternative interpretation of commissurotomy according to self-awareness — a “complete” one in the left hemisphere and a “primitive” one in the right hemisphere. (shrink)

This article examines the trajectories of contemporary academic Marxism through three hypotheses: Marxism as an economic science, a science of history, and a political ideology. We criticize the reduction of Marxism to mere economic or historical science, highlighting the intricate relationship between Marxism and revolutionary politics. And we argue that Marxism, as a philosophy, must be intrinsically linked to revolutionary practice to maintain its significance. In this sense, the term ‘Marxism’ refers to a multifaceted framework that encompasses all levels of (...) analysis and understanding, particularly in its relation to political practice. Rooted in the concept of class, Marxism serves as a dynamic force driving collective action, aimed at inventing new practices capable of overcoming inherent divisions in the perception of societal components. Its core objective lies in weaving together unified outcomes from diverse perspectives, oriented towards irreversible change. (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)

Probing semantic relations Exploration and identification in specialized texts Alain Auger and Caroline Barrière In recent years, several scientific ...

Faut-il accepter comme une loi de la raison que le réel exige en toutes circonstances une soumission plutôt qu une invention? Le réel est toujours ce qui se découvre au prix que le semblant qui nous subjugue soit arraché. Aujourd hui, nous devons être convaincus qu'en dépit des deuils que la pensée nous impose, chercher ce qu'il y a de réel dans le réel peut être, est, une passion joyeuse. Professeur émérite à l École normale supérieure, Alain Badiou est (...) philosophe, dramaturge et romancier. 4e de couverture. (shrink)

Philosophy and history (with Jean Hyppolite) -- Philosophy and science (with Georges Canguilhem) -- Philosophy and sociology (with Raymond Aron) -- Philosophy and psychology (with Michel Foucault) -- Philosophy and language (with Paul Ricœur) -- Philosophy and truth (with Jean Hyppolite, Georges Canguilhem, Raymond Aron, Michel Foucault, Paul Ricœur, Alain Badiou and Dina Dreyfus) -- Philosophy and ethics (with Michel Henry) -- Model and structure (with Michel Serres) -- Teaching philosophy through television (with excerpts from Jean Hyppolite, Georges Canguilhem, (...) Raymond Aron, Michel Foucault and Paul Ricœur. Alain Badiou by telephone and Dina Dreyfus in the studio). (shrink)

Ils sont issus de la même génération. Ils ont tous les deux traversés les années rouges à la fin des années 1960. Alain Badiou est né en 1937 à Rabat, Jean-Claude Milner en 1941 à Paris. Mais s'ils furent l’un et l’autre maoïstes, le premier fixait toute son attention vers la Chine quand l’autre s’en détournait déjà. Cette polémique originaire sur le destin du gauchisme s’est nourrie de nouvelles et profondes divergences à propos du rôle de la philosophie et (...) de la politique au fil des années. La controverse oppose deux grands penseurs que tout rapproche et que tout éloigne. Qu’ils évoquent l’ère des révolutions, et en particulier la Commune et la Révolution culturelle chinoise ; qu’ils se penchent sur les grands massacres de l’Histoire ; qu’ils discutent de l’infini, de l’universel, du nom Juif, de l’antisémitisme, de la violence, du rôle des intellectuels, du progrès, du capitalisme, de la gauche, de l’Europe. Le scepticisme bon teint de Jean-Claude Milner se heurte constamment à la passion doctrinale d’Alain Badiou. L’amoureux de Lucrèce se frotte à la cuirasse de l’héritier de Platon. Les arguments minimalistes de Jean-Claude Milner croisent les propositions maximalistes d’Alain Badiou. Et ce débat hors normes débouche finalement sur de nouvelles interrogations. Car il n’est de meilleur remède à la puissance écrasante de la raison médiatique que la reviviscence des grandes disputes de l’esprit. (shrink)

Dans ce livre, la philosophie n'est pas présentée essentiellement comme doctrine ou comme système, mais comme transmission, mouvement, école. Le philosophe n'est pas un solitaire, il est inséparable de ses élèves, de ses disciples, de ses adversaires. Il ne parvient qu'en fin de course aux formes écrites et stables de son œuvre. On a donc finalement affaire plus à un théâtre qu'à un traité, plus à des dialogues qu'à des monologues, plus à un cours qu'à un livre. Le modèle évident (...) est le Socrate de Platon, qui a su assurer, en fondant la philosophie comme discipline, qu'elle devait s'établir n'importe où dans le multiple du monde. Éloge, oui, de la philosophie comme création publique d'une pensée qui, s'inventant et se transportant n'importe où, parlant à n'importe qui d'un n'importe quoi retravaillé, invente la théâtralisation de l'être, en tant qu'être." A.B. Quelle philosophie pour le siècle qui vient? Faux dialogue platonicien, qui met en scène le 'parleur' Tocéras aux prises avec des interlocuteurs issus de pays et de cultures philosophiques différents - le Britannique John After, la Grecque Amantha, le Sénégalais B'adj Akil, le Chinois Xi La Pong, et d'autres encore -, cet éloge déroule les fils d'une histoire de la pensée revisitée dans un jeu de formes inventif et libérateur, à la lumière des cinq grandes questions qu'explore Alain Badiou : démocratie, liberté, universalité, langage et incarnation."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Maria Kakogianni : On dit toujours que Platon est un anti-démocrate, eh bien, je pense qu'il est avant tout un antilibéral. On fait de lui un métaphysicien idéaliste, alors que c'est un très fin stratège. Et qui dit stratège, dit bataille. Il recherche sans arrêt les coordonnées d'un nouveau type de conflit. Comment changer un régime qui fonctionne au "changement" et à la "critique" ; qui fabrique des rebels without a cause pour annuler toute possibilité de révolte logique? Alain (...) Badiou : C'est en effet une question importante et difficile. Il y a deux voies, depuis toujours. Celle des principes d'abord, qui permet de "lire" la société au rebours de sa prétention normative. Les sociétés contemporaines ne sont nullement libres, car la "liberté" individuelle qu'elles promeuvent est en réalité la "liberté" de consommer les produits, le plus souvent laids et inutiles, voire nuisibles, dont la production et la circulation enrichissent sans mesure une oligarchie très restreinte. Et cette prétendue "liberté" se paie d'inégalités monstrueuses aggravées par des crises dévastatrices. L'autre voie est la construction d'une force politique apte à tenir pour réel ce que le capitalo-parlementarisme dominant déclare impossible. Il s'agit dans ce cas d'une effectuation des principes, toujours locale, et qui demande une invention toujours renouvelée, pour que les mots d'ordre dont les masses populaires sont saisies soient en quelque sorte dictés par les gens eux-mêmes, dès lors qu'ils sont positivement touchés par les principes communistes. (shrink)

Why bother to praise mathematics when you claim, as Alain Badiou does, that philosophy is first and foremost a metaphysics of happiness, or else it’s not worth an hour of trouble? What possible relationship can there be between mathematics and happiness? That is precisely the issue at stake in this dialogue, which serves as a very accessible introduction to what mathematics is and an exploration of the crucial influence it has always exerted on the greatest philosophers. Far from the (...) thankless, pointless exercises they are often thought to be, mathematics and logic are indispensable guides to ridding ourselves of dominant opinions and making possible an access to truths, or to a human experience of the utmost value. That is why mathematics may well be the shortest path to the true life, which, when it exists, is characterized by an incomparable happiness. (shrink)

Lacan a été, depuis la fin des années cinquante du dernier siècle, un compagnon essentiel autant que malaisé de mon itinéraire intellectuel. Aussi dans ce Séminaire la controverse est-elle constamment mêlée à la surprise étonnée devant les inventions du maître. On chemine comme on peut, dans la broussaille parfois. Mais on rencontre tant de formules décisives! Celle que je retiendrai parmi tous ces trésors verbaux consiste à dire que l'objectif de la cure est "d'élever l'impuissance à l'impossible". Ce pourrait bien (...) être la définition, par moi cherchée depuis longtemps, et que Lacan avait trouvée de longue date pour un usage tout différent, de la philosophie. Alain Badiou. (shrink)

Tenu en 1983-1984, le séminaire intitulé L'Un, qui porte sur Descartes, Platon et Kant, est le premier du point de vue chronologique. Il inaugure le cycle de cinq années où Alain Badiou revisite toute l'histoire de la philosophie, de Parménide à Heidegger. Cette excursion passionnante aboutira à la rédaction de L'être et l'événement, dont l'Un est le concept majeur, avec la thèse radicale que, d'une certaine façon, le Sujet a toujours été l'objet de la philosophie.

La République de Platon est peut-être le texte le plus connu, le plus traduit et le plus commenté de toute l’histoire de la philosophie. Mais comment restituer la vérité de cette œuvre aujourd’hui, 2500 ans après sa rédaction? Alain Badiou a choisi d’inventer un genre nouveau pour rendre au texte de Platon son universalité et sa vivacité sans passer par un commentaire critique. Il a traduit l’œuvre à partir de l’original grec et a procédé à quelques changements afin de (...) l’adapter à notre temps. Tout d’abord, il a supprimé toute référence aux particularités de la société grecque antique, des interminables développements sur la valeur morale des poètes aux considérations politiques destinées par Platon à la seule élite aristocratique (les mesures révolutionnaires que Platon réserve aux seuls « gardiens » de la cité valent, sous la plume de Badiou, pour tous les habitants du pays). Il a élargi les références culturelles : la philosophie fait feu de tout bois, ainsi Socrate et ses compagnons connaissent-ils Beckett, Pessoa, Freud et Hegel. Ils réalisent l’actualité intemporelle de toute philosophie véritable, propre à s’ajuster à son époque. Enfin, Badiou, par ailleurs dramaturge, a fait du dialogue socratique une véritable joute oratoire : dans cette version de la République, les interlocuteurs de Socrate ne se contentent pas d’approuver ce qu’énonce le Maître. Ils lui tiennent tête, le mettent en difficulté et livrent ainsi une pensée en mouvement. Grâce à ce travail d’écriture, d’érudition et, avant tout, de philosophie, Alain Badiou donne à lire pour la première fois une version absolument contemporaine, vivante et stimulante du texte de Platon. (shrink)

"Malebranche est un penseur étonnant, et d'autant plus qu'en un sens, pour qui n'est pas chrétien, et chrétien convaincu, il semble inutilisable. Mais quant à la sincérité, à la lumière qui baigne toute l'entreprise, au style souple et charmeur, à la conviction audacieuse et toujours sur la brèche de ses stupéfiantes démonstrations, Malebranche est incomparable. On va de merveille en merveille, comme si on visitait une admirable église remplie de petites peintures toutes plus surprenantes les unes que les autres. Lorsque (...) je suis revenu au Traité de la nature et de la grâce, quelque chose comme une grâce m'a en effet touché. J'espère qu'à votre tour, lecteurs, vous en serez touchés", Alain Badiou. (shrink)

The following text is the transcription of Alain Badiou's remarks on Simon Critchley's book, Infinitely Demanding.2 The occasion was the invitation from the Slought Foundation in Philadelphia for a debate between Badiou and Critchley that took place on November 15th, 2007. Badiou organized his remarks around six passages from Critchley's text and then raised a series of critical questions. The event began with Critchley explaining the ethical and political argument of Infinitely Demanding. A DVD version of the entire event (...) was released as "Democracy and Disappointment: On the Politics of Resistance".3 Thanks are due to Jean-Michel Rabaté and especially Aaron Levy, Senior Curator at the Slought Foundation. (shrink)

Dans cet entretien qu’il a accordé à un journaliste allemand, Alain Badiou revient sur son parcours, sur l’influence du contexte politique sur sa pensée, sur ses relations avec Sartre, Derrida ou Lacan, sur sa philosophie du sujet notamment, dans laquelle ce n’est pas l’infini mais la finitude qui pose problème. C’est par l’échange autour de sa lecture de Marx qu’il en vient à discuter de l’idée du communisme, et de son actualité possible. Toute la question du rapport entre théorie (...) et pratique se pose alors. Les années de dictature invalident-elles de fait cette idée? Dans un langage très accessible, Alain Badiou revient ainsi sur l’un des plus grands malentendus intellectuels du XXème siècle et sur la force de cette idée, qui porte en elle la conviction qu’un autre type d’organisation de la société est possible. (shrink)

" Le présent séminaire est une véritable transition entre L'être et l'événement, publié en 1988, et sa suite, Logiques des mondes, publiée en 2006. De façon simple et centrale, on pourrait dire que le premier livre s'occupe de l'être, cependant que le second s'occupe de l'existence. Mais en quel sens un séminaire dont le titre est Théorie axiomatique du sujet peut-il porter sur le lien entre être et existence? En précisant autant que faire se peut la catégorie centrale de sujet. (...) Ce séminaire, plutôt qu'un produit fini, est une sorte de mine, dont je suis persuadé qu'on peut extraire des propositions encore inconnues. " A. B. Depuis 1966, une part importante de l'enseignement du philosophe Alain Badiou a pris la forme d'un séminaire, lieu de libre parole et laboratoire de pensée. Les éditions Fayard publient l'ensemble de ces Séminaires de 1983 à aujourd'hui, période où la documentation est abondante et continue. Ce volume est le treizième de la série. (shrink)

The notion of the ‘end’ has long occupied philosophical thought. In light of the horrors of the 20th century, some writers have gone so far as to declare the end of philosophy itself, emphasising the impossibility of thinking after Auschwitz. In this book the distinguished philosopher Alain Badiou, in dialogue with Giovanbattista Tusa, argues that we must renounce the ‘pathos of completion’ and continue to think philosophically. To accept the atrocities of the 20th century as marking the end of (...) philosophy is intolerable precisely because it buys into the totalising doctrines of the perpetrators. Badiou contends that philosophical thinking is needed now more than ever to counter the totalizing effects of globalised capitalism, which prescribes no objective for human life other than integration into its system, giving rise to a widespread sense of hopelessness and nihilism. To resist this degradation of human life, Badiou calls for a renewal of the idea of communism: the creation of new forms of collective organisation capable of challenging the logic of capitalism and enabling individuals to become self-determining subjects. This volume consolidates much of Badiou’s thinking over the years and will appeal to the many followers of his philosophical project, as well as all those interested in contemporary philosophy and radical political theory. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Logic of the SiteAlain Badiou (bio)Translated by Steve Corcoran (bio) and Bruno Bosteels (bio)The Commune Is a Site 1. Ontology of the CommuneTake any world whatsoever. A multiple that is an object of this world—whose elements are indexed by the transcendental of this world—is a site, if it happens to count itself within the referential field of its own indexation. Or again: a site is a multiple that happens (...) to behave in the world with regard to itself as with regard to its elements, in such a way as to be the support of being of its own appearance.Even if the idea is still obscure, we can begin to see its content: a site is a singularity, because it convokes its being in the appearing of its own multiple composition. It makes itself, in the world, the being-there of its being. Among other consequences, the site gives itself an intensity of existence. A site is a being that happens to exist by itself.We will ask: can we give a more concrete idea of what a site is? Is there a site?Let us consider the world "Paris at the end of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870." We are in the month of March 1871. After a semblance of resistance, and shot through with fear of revolutionary and worker Paris, the interim government of bourgeois "Republicans" capitulates to Bismarck's Prussians. In order to consolidate this political "victory"—very comparable to Petain's reactionary revenge in 1940 (where preferring an arrangement with the external enemy to exposure to the internal enemy)—it has an assembly with a royalist majority hastily elected by a frightened rural world, an assembly that sits in Bordeaux.Led by Thiers, the government hopes to take advantage of the circumstances to annihilate the political capacity of the workers. But on the Parisian front, the proletariat is armed in the form of a National Guard, owing to its having been mobilized during the siege on Paris. In theory the Parisian proletariat has many hundreds of cannons at its disposition. The "military" organism of the Parisians is the Central Committee, at which assemble the delegates of the various battalions of the National Guard, battalions [End Page 141] that are in turn linked to the great working-class quartiers of Paris—Montmartre, Belleville, and so forth.Thus we have a divided world whose logical organization—what in philosophical jargon could be called its transcendental organisation—reconciles intensities of political existence according to two sets of antagonistic criteria. Concerning the representative, electoral, and legal dispositions, one cannot but observe the preeminence of the Assembly of traditionalist Rurals,1 Thiers's capitulard government, and the officers of the regular army, who, having been licked without much of a fight by the Prussian soldiers, dream of doing battle with the Parisian workers. That is where the power is, especially as it is the only power recognized by the occupier. On the side of resistance, political intervention, and French revolutionary history, there is the fecund disorder of Parisian worker organizations, which intermingles with the Central Committee of the twenty quartiers, the Federation of Syndicate Chambers, a few members of the International, local military committees. In truth, the historical consistency of this world, which had been separated and disbanded [délié] owing to the war, is held together only by the majority conviction that no kind of worker capability for government exists. For the vast majority of people, including often the workers themselves, the politicized workers of Paris are simply incomprehensible. These workers are the inexistent aspect [l'inexistant propre] of the term "political capacity" in the uncertain world of the spring of 1871. But for the bourgeoisie they are still too existent, at least physically. The government receives threats from the stock exchange of this sort: "You will never have financial operations if you do not get rid of these reprobates." First up then, an imperative task, and a seemingly easy one to carry out: disarm the workers and, in particular, recuperate the cannons spread throughout working-class Paris by the military committees of the National Guard. It is this initiative that will make... (shrink)

La tradition sociologique a habituellement considéré la mobilité, qu’elle soit sociale ou spatiale, comme le déplacement entre des positions établies, l’essentiel étant d’analyser le système formé par ces positions. On trouve cependant, dans la sociologie même, les moyens pour élargir cette perspective. Des travaux sur la mobilité sociale, on tire une interrogation sur l’accès aux ressources qui prend en compte diverses formes de mobilité. Simmel développe l’analyse du rôle de la proximité et de la distance dans la construction du social. (...) Des travaux contemporains qui portent sur les déplacements ou sur la télématique s’inscrivent dans la même perspective. Tocqueville introduit la notion d’une mobilité individuelle, notamment spatiale, consommatoire, et qui n’a d’autre objectif qu’elle-même. Ces trois orientations permettent à la sociologie de contribuer à une théorie de la mobilité généralisée, qui croise l’interrogation sur la modernité.Sociological tradition used to consider mobility – whether social or spatial – as a movement from an established position to another, but it put more emphasis on the positions system than on the movement itself. Yet sociology itself provides the means to widen the scope. Studies on social mobility have eventually resulted in the larger problématique of resource acquisition involving various forms of mobility. Simmel developed an in-depth analysis of the influence of presence vs absence in the set up of social relationships, interrelated with current studies dealing with movements and telematics. Earlier Tocqueville had introduced the concept of individual mobility, notably spatial, consumption-focussed, and with a life of its own ; which eventually resulted in the philosophy of self-reference. These three orientations enable sociology to contribute to a theory of generalized mobility intersecting with the questioning on modernity. (shrink)

Cutting through simultaneously the conventions of sinology and a capitalist universalism modeled on the West, Jullien unfolds a difference between Chinese thought and philosophy that allows it to be thought out without taking sides. His unusual move insists on the irreducibility of the difference yet at the same time renders the irreducibility intelligible; Jullien gives us a world structured by distinct lines of thought.