alain badiou's ontology and utopian thought a thesis submitted to the graduate school of social ...

213 Pages·2015·0.93 MB·English

ALAIN BADIOU’S ONTOLOGY AND UTOPIAN THOUGHT

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
OF
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

ġEREF ANIL KAHVECĠOĞLU

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE
IN
THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION

SEPTEMBER 2015
Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences

Prof. Dr. Meliha AltunıĢık
Director

I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of
Master of Science.

Prof. Dr. AyĢe Ayata
Head of Department

This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully
adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science.

Assist. Prof. Dr. R. Ömür Birler
Supervisor

Examining Committee Members

Assoc. Prof. Dr. M.Nedim Karakayalı (Bilkent Uni,POLS)
Assist. Prof. Dr. R. Ömür Birler (METU,ADM)
Assist. Prof. Dr. Çağatay Topal (METU,SOC)
I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also
declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and
referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

Name, Last name :

Signature :

iii
ABSTRACT

ALAIN BADIOU’S ONTOLOGY AND UTOPIAN THOUGHT

Kahvecioğlu, ġeref Anıl
M.S., Department of Political Science and Public Administration
Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. ReĢide Ömür Birler

September 2015, 205 pages

This thesis analyzes Alain Badiou’s ontology in a utopian framework. Surprisingly,
there is no serious academic study in literature to examine his ontology in a
utopian context, even though his ontology involves significant concepts that may
connote utopian impulses. Hence, the main purpose of this thesis is to fill this
theoretical gap. In this regard, firstly, the thesis categorizes utopian thought as
traditional and contemporary, which display utterly opposite characteristics.
Secondly, Badiou’s interpretation of Plato, who is seen as one of the most
prominent figures of utopian thought, is discussed in order to provide the transition
between utopian theory and his ontology. Following, his key terms such as the
void, the state of the situation, infinity, event, subject and truth are analyzed
respectively. From this theoretical analysis of the concepts, the thesis positions
Badiou against the traditional utopian values which simultaneously brings him
closer to the contemporary utopian perspective. The assessment of the position of
Badiou’s ontology between these two utopian approaches presents the picture of
radical politics in the 21st century within the context of Badiou.

Key Terms: Badiou, Utopia, Event, Truth, Void

iv
ÖZ

ALAIN BADIOU ONTOLOJĠSĠ VE ÜTOPYACI DÜġÜNCE

Kahvecioğlu, ġeref Anıl
Yüksek Lisans, Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. ReĢide Ömür Birler

Eylül 2015, 205 sayfa

Bu tez Alain Badiou’nun ontolojisini ütopyacı bir çerçevede incelemektedir.
ġaĢırtıcı bir Ģekilde, Badiou’nun ontolojisinde ütopik dürtüleri çağrıĢtıracak
kavramlar olmasına rağmen, literatürde onun ontolojisini ütopyacı bir bağlamda
inceleyen ciddi hiçbir akademik çalıĢmaya rastlanmamaktadır. Bu nedenle bu tezin
ana amacı bu teorik boĢluğu doldurmaktır. Bu bağlamda bu tezde ilk olarak
ütopyacı düĢünce, birbirine tamamen zıt özellikler gösteren geleneksel ve çağdaĢ
düĢünce olmak üzere ikiye ayrılmaktadır. Ġkinci olarak, Badiou ile ütopya teorisi
arasında bir geçiĢ sağlamak amacıyla ütopyacı düĢüncenin en önde gelen
figürlerinden biri olan Plato’nun Badiou tarafından nasıl yorumlandığı
tartıĢılmaktadır. Devamında ise Badiou’nun ontolojisinin anahtar terimleri olan
boĢluk, durumun devleti, sonsuzluk, olay, özne ve hakikat kavramları sırasıyla
analiz edilmektedir. Kavramların bu teorik analizinden yola çıkarak, bu tez
Badiou’yu geleneksel ütopyacı değerlerin tam karĢısında konumlandırıp aynı
zamanda onu çağdaĢ ütopyacı perspektife yaklaĢtırmaktadır. Badiou’nun
ontolojisinin bu iki ütopyacı yaklaĢım arasındaki konumu Badiou bağlamında bir
21. Yüzyıl radikal siyaset resmi sunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Badiou, Ütopya, Olay, Hakikat, BoĢluk
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Assist. Prof.
Dr. ReĢide Ömür Birler for her guidance, advice, criticism, encouragements and
insight throughout the research.

I would also like to thank Gökhan ġensönmez and Burak Sönmez for their
creative comments that helped me to develop my ideas. Special thanks also to
Kemal Türkeri and Erolcan Talas who provided intellectual instruments for my
theoretical imaginations.

This thesis project would not have been possible without the permanent
support of my family. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my father, mother
and sister.

And lastly, this thesis could not have been completed without her existence
in my life. I am forever indebted to Sezin Çırak for her understanding, endless
encouragement and patience.

vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLAGIARISM .......................................................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iv
ÖZ............................................................................................................................... v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................ vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... vii
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1
2. A PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH TO UTOPIAN THOUGHT ................. 8
2.1 Ambiguity of the Term Utopia ................................................................ 8
2.2 Traditional Utopian Thought vs. Contemporary Utopian Thought ....... 13
2.3 Utopia as Perfection ............................................................................. 18
2.4 Utopia as Finitude and Infinity .............................................................. 22
2.5 Utopia as Hope and Faith ...................................................................... 28
2.6 Utopia as Newness ................................................................................ 36
2.7 Utopia and the Uncounted ..................................................................... 41
3. UTOPIA AS TRUTH ................................................................................... 43
3.1 Who is Plato?......................................................................................... 44
3.2 Platonic Truth, The Good and Philosopher Kings ................................ 48
3.3 Badiou, Plato and Truth......................................................................... 55
3.4 Platonism of the Multiple ...................................................................... 65
4. BADIOU’S ONTOLOGY: THE VOID AND INFINITY ........................... 69
4.1 The Decision: The One is not ................................................................ 71
4.2 The Void ................................................................................................ 76
4.3 The State of the Situation ...................................................................... 84
4.4 Infinity ................................................................................................... 93
vii
5. EVENT, SUBJECT AND TRUTH ............................................................ 102
5.1 The Definition of Event ....................................................................... 102
5.2 Subject, Intervention and Fidelity ....................................................... 112
5.3 Truth .................................................................................................... 124
5.4 Event, Subject, Truth and Politics ....................................................... 135
6. BADIOU AND UTOPIANISM ................................................................. 149
6.1 Utopia, Event and Subject ................................................................... 150
6.2 Hope and Faith: Traditional or Contemporary? .................................. 161
6.3 Truth as the One: Universality, Equality and Utopianism .................. 166
6.4 Final Comment .................................................................................... 170
7. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 172
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 177
APPENDICES
A. TURKISH SUMMARY ............................................................................. 193
B. TEZ FOTOKOPĠ ĠZĠN FORMU ................................................................ 205

viii
CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Those who are oppressed, who feel the humanitarian and ethical
responsibility of advocating the rights of the dominated fundamentally share a
common point: what reproduces inequality, what adjusts and defines justice
according to the advantage of the dominant, what sustains the order by exploiting
those who are obliged to sell their labor, should be changed just because it is not
right. What makes these people say that “this is not right” is not based on the
books they read, nor imaginations of a peaceful world, nor intellectual discussions
concerning what should be, but rather on what they are exposed to as an individual
or a community; it is utterly a scream of experiencing something violent,
something unjust and in fact something wrong.
Radical politics1 has always been one of the most significant and influential
parts of this scream of the oppressed. One should acknowledge that radical politics
is in a crisis and without doubt, it is searching for new ways, both at theoretical
and practical levels, in order to overcome the impasse reproduced permanently by
the global order. In other words, radical politics strives for founding new forms of
political struggle so as to raise the voice of the people whose screams are not heard
by anyone. Firstly, it is necessary to answer the following question: what does
radical politics refer to today? To be sure, radical politics is grasped through
several different ways and various strategies are developed accordingly. The desire
for radical change is the common basis of all variants of radical politics but
without doubt, they do not share the same vision with regard to the questions that
what to achieve and how to achieve. “Creative artists, suicide bombers, anti-

1 Radical politics is a comprehensive term and may contain manifold ideological stances both
from left and right. Yet one should note that I am specifically referring to radical left by the
concept of radical politics.
1
capitalists, tree-huggers and anarchists” might be labeled as radicals despite their
disparate concerns and methods of struggle.2 On the one hand, it is argued that the
plurality of radical political perspectives “is the weakness of contemporary radical
politics,” simply because of the lack of a grand alternative, which may provide an
anchor point around which different approaches might gather.3 On the other hand,
some argue that the plurality of such perspectives “is the strength of radical
politics.”4 It acquires its strength from the capability of producing a plural political
field in which distinct political approaches can fight against the system in various
ways. According to this perspective, an overarching radical alternative does
nothing more than suppressing people who do not believe the values imposed by
this alternative. Hence, such an alternative is out of question and “it is better to
deal with injustices as they arise in particular situations, rather than produce a
single solution for all.”5 In brief, in the light of these oppositional approaches, one
can divide radical politics into two: One suggests a grand alternative mainly
advocating the classical understanding of radical politics in Marxian sense, which
has certain rules and limitations, and postulating the emancipation of all. The other
rejects any attempt to transform the status quo with a grand alternative by
defending the idea that a total solution is unnecessary owing to its non-realism.
Rather, what is necessary is to struggle in particular fields with particular purposes.
Both approaches are problematical in themselves. For instance, the latter
approach, Zygmunt Bauman argues, provides an opportunity for various ways of
struggle to detach itself from the rest of the world. He states that it is not possible
to “defend our freedoms here at home while fencing ourselves off from the rest of

2 Jonathan Pugh, “What is Radical Politics Today?”, in What is Radical Politics Today?, ed.
Jonathan Pugh, (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2009), 3.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

2