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Difficult Atheism: Post-Theological Thinking in Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy and Quentin Meillassoux PDF

297 Pages·2011·1 MB·English
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D Crosscurrents i Difficult Atheism f f SERIES EDITOR: CHRISTOPHER WATKIN i c Post-Theological Thinking in Alain Badiou, This series explores the development of European thought through u engagements with the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences. l Jean-Luc Nancy and Quentin Meillassoux t A ‘This book is a brilliant presentation of debates between key figures in t the recent turn to religion (even in the shape of an insistent atheism or h a-theism) in continental philosophy. Chris Watkin positions his work e very precisely between philosophies of the finite (Nancy) and of the i infinite (Badiou). The author could not have his finger more firmly on s the pulse of contemporary discussion of these matters. I cannot think of m a book on such difficult material written with more sparkle or clarity.’ David Wood, Centennial Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University Difficult Atheismshows how contemporary French philosophy is rethinking the legacy of the death of God in ways that take the debate beyond the narrow confines of atheism into the much broader domain of post-theological thinking. Christopher Watkin argues that Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy and Quentin Meillassoux each elaborate a distinctive approach to the post-theological, but that each approach still struggles to do justice to the death of God. Christopher Watkinteaches French literature and thought at the University of Cambridge where he is a fellow of Murray Edwards College. He is the author of Phenomenology or Deconstruction?: The Question of Ontology in Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Paul Ricœur and Jean-Luc Nancy(2009). C H WR I AS TT KO INP H E R ISBN 978 0 7486 4057 7 Jacket image: A Genesis, 2006. Oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm © Paul Saroglou Edinburgh University Press E 22 George Square d i Edinburgh n b EH8 9LF u www.euppublishing.com r g CHRISTOPHER WATKIN Cover design: www.paulsmithdesign.com h DIFFICULT ATHEISM WWAATTKKIINN PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd ii 1188//0033//22001111 1122::1155 Crosscurrents Exploring the development of European thought through engagements with the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences Series Editor Christopher Watkin, University of Cambridge Editorial Advisory Board Andrew Benjamin Martin Crowley Simon Critchley Frederiek Depoortere Oliver Feltham Patrick ffrench Christopher Fynsk Kevin Hart Emma Wilson Titles available in the series Diffi cult Atheism: Post-Theological Thinking in Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy and Quentin Meillassoux by Christopher Watkin Politics of the Gift: Exchanges in Poststructuralism by Gerald Moore Visit the Crosscurrents website at www.euppublishing.com/series/cross WWAATTKKIINN PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd iiii 1188//0033//22001111 1122::1155 DIFFICULT ATHEISM Post-Theological Thinking in Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy and Quentin Meillassoux Christopher Watkin EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS WWAATTKKIINN PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd iiiiii 1188//0033//22001111 1122::1155 © Christopher Watkin, 2011 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh www.euppublishing.com Typeset in 10.5/13 Sabon by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7486 4057 7 (hardback) The right of Christopher Watkin to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. WWAATTKKIINN PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd iivv 1188//0033//22001111 1122::1155 Contents Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations viii Series Editor’s Preface xii Introduction: Atheisms Today 1 1. The God of Metaphysics 22 2. The God of the Poets 58 3. Diffi cult Atheism 95 4. Beyond A/theism? Quentin Meillassoux 132 5. The Politics of the Post-Theological I: Justifying the Political 168 6. The Politics of the Post-Theological II: Justice 206 General Conclusion: How to Follow an ‘Atheism’ That Never Was 239 Bibliography 244 Index 277 WWAATTKKIINN PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd vv 1188//0033//22001111 1122::1155 For Alison, with all my love BB WWAATTKKIINN PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd vvii 1188//0033//22001111 1122::1155 Acknowledgements I owe a debt of gratitude to those who very kindly read all or part of this book in its latter stages, saving my blushes on a number of points and improving the text in countless ways. I would like to register par- ticular thanks to Frederiek Depoortere, Emma Gilby, John O’Brien, Joeri Schrijvers and Kenneth Watkin. I would like to thank Ian James and Martin Crowley for providing feedback and encouragement at an early stage in the project’s life, along with three anonymous readers for Edinburgh University Press who offered incisive and detailed feedback on the fi rst chapter at a critical point in the book’s development, and to two anonymous readers for French Studies whose invaluable comments on arguments from the second chapter led to a substantial re-write. The problems that no doubt still remain are all my own. My gratitude goes to Carol Macdonald at Edinburgh University Press for the care and professionalism with which she has handled the project from start to fi nish. I am grateful to the Master and Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and the President and Fellows of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, for their encouragement with the project at every phase. My profoundest admiration is reserved for Alison, who has lived with my tinkering away on this book at unconventional hours with a grace and largeness of spirit that speak of a greater love than I can here express. ‘We love because he fi rst loved us.’ vii WWAATTKKIINN PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd vviiii 1188//0033//22001111 1122::1155 Abbreviations BADIOU 15T ‘Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art’ 19R ‘Dix-neuf réponses à beaucoup plus de questions’ 2M Second Manifeste pour la philosophie AMP Abrégé de métapolitique AP Ahmed le philosophe APBE ‘Author’s preface’ in Being and Event APTW ‘Author’s preface’ in Theoretical Writings ASR ‘Afterword: some replies to a demanding friend’ BE Being and Event BF ‘Beyond formalisation’ BN ‘Being by numbers’ BOE Briefi ngs on Existence C Conditions CCBT ‘Can change be thought?’ Cen The Century CH The Communist Hypothesis Circ1 Circonstances 1 Circ2 Circonstances 2 Circ3 Circonstances 3 Circ4 Circonstances 4 Circ5 Circonstances 5 Con Conditions [English translation] ConM Le Concept de modèle CT Court Traité d’ontologie transitoire D Deleuze: La Clameur de l’être Del Deleuze: The Clamor of Being DP Monde contemporain et désir de philosophie E L’Ethique EE L’Être et l’événement viii WWAATTKKIINN PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd vviiiiii 1188//0033//22001111 1122::1155 Abbreviations ix Eth Ethics HJD ‘Homage to Jacques Derrida’ HOI Handbook of Inaesthetics IT ‘L’Investigation transcendantale’ LM Logiques des mondes LW Logics of Worlds M Manifeste pour la philosophie M&P ‘Mathematics and philosophy: the grand style and the little style’ Man Manifesto for Philosophy MetP Metapolitics MOS The Meaning of Sarkozy NN Le Nombre et les nombres NuN Number and Numbers ONTS ‘Ours is not a terrible situation’ OPI ‘Ontology and politics: an interview with Alain Badiou’ OR ‘L’Offrande réservée’ OTP On the Truth Process PAF ‘Préface’ in Après la fi nitude PE La Philosophie et l’événement PLN ‘Peut-on penser le nouveau en situation?’ PLP Peut-on penser la politique? PMI Petit Manuel d’inesthétique PND ‘Politics: a non-expressive dialectics’ Pol Polemics PoP ‘Politics and philosophy’ PoPa Pocket Pantheon PP ‘Philosophy and politics’ PPP Petit Panthéon portatif S Le Siècle SA ‘The subject of art’ SP Saint Paul: La Fondation de l’universalisme SPe Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism SR ‘Some replies to a demanding friend’ TC Théorie de la contradiction ThS Theory of the Subject TS Théorie du sujet TW Theoretical Writings W L’Antiphilosophie de Wittgenstein WWAATTKKIINN PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd iixx 1188//0033//22001111 1122::1155

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Drawing primarily on the work of Alain Badiou and Jean-Luc Nancy, plus Quentin Meillassoux and Slavoj Zizek, Watkin explores the theme of atheism through the ideas of the death of God and nihilism, and probes the limits of any "atheistic politics." Difficult Atheism argues that rigorous atheism is e
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