Theoretical Writings

299 Pages·2004·1.4 MB·English

by  Alain Badiou

Theoretical Writings
Also available from Continuum:
Being and Event, Alain Badiou
Infinite Thought: Truth and the Return of Philosophy, Alain Badiou
Think Again: Alain Badiou and the Future of Philosophy,
edited by Peter Hallward
Theoretical
Writings
Alain Badiou
EditedandtranslatedbyRayBrassierandAlbertoToscano
Continuum
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Contents
ListofSources viii
Editors’Note ix
Author’sPreface xiii
SectionI.OntologyisMathematics
1. MathematicsandPhilosophy:TheGrandStyleandtheLittleStyle 3
2. PhilosophyandMathematics:InfinityandtheEndofRomanticism 21
3. TheQuestionofBeingToday 39
4. PlatonismandMathematicalOntology 49
5. TheBeingofNumber 59
6. One,Multiple,Multiplicities 67
7. Spinoza’sClosedOntology 81
SectionII.TheSubtractionofTruth
8. TheEventasTrans-Being 97
9. OnSubtraction 103
10. Truth:ForcingandtheUnnameable 119
11. Kant’sSubtractiveOntology 135
12. EightThesesontheUniversal 143
13. PoliticsasTruthProcedure 153
SectionIII.LogicsofAppearance
14. BeingandAppearance 163
15. NotesTowardaThinkingofAppearance 177
16. TheTranscendental 189
17. HegelandtheWhole 221
18. Language,Thought,Poetry 233
Notes 243
Postface 253
IndexofConcepts 279
IndexofNames 281
ListofSources
‘Mathematics and Philosophy: The Grand Style and the Little Style’ is
translated from an unpublished manuscript; ‘Philosophy and Mathematics:
Infinity and the End of Romanticism’ originally appeared as ‘Philosophie et
mathe´matique’ in Conditions (Paris: Seuil, 1992), pp. 157–78; ‘The Question
of Being Today’ originally appeared as ‘La question de l’eˆtre aujourd’hui’ in
Court traite´ d’ontologie transitoire (Paris: Seuil, 1998), pp. 25–38; ‘Platonism
and Mathematical Ontology’ originally appeared in Court traite´ d’ontologie
transitoire, pp. 95–119; ‘The Being of Number’ originally appeared in Court
traite´ d’ontologie transitoire, pp. 141–51; ‘One, Multiple, Multiplicities’ ori-
ginally appeared as ‘Un, multiple, multiplicite´(s), in multitudes 1 (2000), pp.
195–211; ‘Spinoza’s Closed Ontology’ originally appeared as ‘L’ontologie
ferme´e de Spinoza’ in Court traite´ d’ontologie transitoire, pp. 73–93; ‘The
Event as Trans-Being’ is a revised and expanded version of ‘L’e´ve´nement
comme trans-eˆtre’ in Court traiteˆ d’ontologie transitoire, pp. 55–9; ‘On Sub-
traction’originally appearedas‘Confe´rencesurlasoustraction’inConditions,
pp. 179–95; ‘Truth: Forcing and the Unnameable’ originally appeared as
‘Ve´rite´:forc¸ageetinnomable’inConditions,pp.196–212;‘Kant’sSubtractive
Ontology’ originally appeared as ‘L’ontologie soustractive de Kant’ in Court
traite´ d’ontologie transitoire, pp. 153–64; ‘Eight Theses on the Universal’ ori-
ginally appeared as ‘Huit the`ses sur l’universel’ in Universel, singulier, sujet,
ed. Jelica Sumic (Paris: Kime´, 2000), pp. 11–20; ‘Politics as a Truth Proce-
dure’ originally appeared in Abre´ge´ de me´tapolitique (Paris: Seuil, 1998), pp.
155–67;‘BeingandAppearance’originallyappearedas‘L’eˆtreetl’apparaıˆtre’
inCourttraitsd’ontologietransitoire,pp.179–200;‘NotesTowardaThinking
of Appearance’ is translated from an unpublished manuscript; ‘The Trans-
cendental’ and ‘Hegel and the Whole’ are translated from a draft manuscript
of Logiques des mondes (Paris: Seuil, forthcoming); ‘Language, Thought,
Poetry’ is translated from the author’s manuscript, a Portuguese language
versionhasbeenpublished inParaumaNovaTeoriadoSujeito:Confereˆncias
Brasileiras(RiodeJaneiro:Relume-Dumara´,1994),pp.75–86.
Editors’Note
The purpose of this volume is to distil the essential lineaments of Alain
Badiou’s philosophical doctrine. In spite of the plural ‘writings’ in our title,
thisisnotareader,anovervieworarepresentativeselection.Anyonealready
acquainted with Badiou’s ‘English’ works, but not familiar with his entire
output, could be forgiven for mistaking him for a polemical essayist – gifted,
insightful, provocative, but by no means a thinker capable of recasting the
existingparametersofphilosophical discourse.Thosewhohavereactedscep-
tically to zealous claims made on his behalf may feel legitimately entitled to
their scepticism on the basis of the evidence presented by Badiou’s extant
and forthcoming English publications (these being, in chronological order:
Manifesto for Philosophy; Deleuze; Ethics; Infinite Thought; Saint Paul; On
Beckett; Handbook of Inaesthetics; On Metapolitics). Notwithstanding the
undeniable interest and often striking originality of these works, without an
adequate grasp of Badiou’s systematic doctrine, they can easily be (and indeed
have been) treated as works of polemical intervention, pedagogy, popularisa-
tion, commentary ... in short, as works that might elicit enthusiastic assent
or virulent rejection, but which fail to command the patient, disciplined
engagementsolicitedbyan unprecedentedphilosophical project.Whatdowe
mean by an unprecedented philosophical project? Quite simply, the one laid
out in Badiou’s Being and Event (1988) – a book which may yet turn out to
have effected the most profound and far-reaching renewal of the possibilities
of philosophy since Heidegger’s Being and Time, regardless of one’s eventual
evaluation ofthe desirability or ultimate worth of such a renewal.Just as one
does not have to be a Heideggerean to acknowledge the epochal importance
of Being and Time, one does not have to accept Badiou’s startling claims in
order to acknowledge the astonishing depth and scope of the project initiated
in Being and Event, which is being extended and partially recast in the forth-
comingTheLogicsofWorlds(2005).
TheoreticalWritingsprovidesaconcentrateofthisproject.Admittedly,itis
a book assembled from a wide variety of texts, some published, some unpub-
lished: essays, book chapters, lectures, conference papers, as well as two