Archives mensuelles : février 2016

Badiou speaks here about his seminar on Heidegger, professed from October 1986 to June 1987. Some hasty commentators have claimed that Badiou does not know much about Heidegger’s philosophy or has had nothing much to say about it. However, this … Lire la suite →

A CHARITABLE READING IS A GENERIC READING Badiou’s transformation of the mathematical distinction between constructible and generic into a philosophical distinction is a very interesting piece of conceptual creation. Badiou tells us that this distinction expresses a real alternative between … Lire la suite →

The definable sets in the conservative world (on the left) are already tied to language, wholly known to everyone. They are used to cover over anything undefined, anything new that could arise (on the right) in transgression and displacement of … Lire la suite →

Badiou’s guiding idea in his seminar for this year (2016): « every figure of oppression amounts to being imprisoned in a finite figure of existence, at the very place where one could maintain an infinte perspective » (Badiou, Seminar February 15 2016) … Lire la suite →

« If one may give some advice, it is better to be a floating and inspired reader, as the author must sometimes be, an undulatory reader rather than a corpuscular one. He must begin like someone diving into the water, or … Lire la suite →

« Must great philosophy be obscure? » asks Keith Frankish in an interesting article posted in AEON This is a vey interesting problem.This post is not intended as a critique of Frankish’s argument but as a series of reflections inspired by it. … Lire la suite →

Laruelle’s negative phase of « non-philosophy » must be understood and assimilated before we can hope to understand his more recent positive achievements. His PRINCIPLES OF NON-PHILOSOPHY is an essential step on the way to his later more positive works, e.g. NON-STANDARD … Lire la suite →

There is no shame in being passionate about a particular philosopher and being influenced by their ideas to the point of working in their wake. It all depends on whether you are fixated on an identity or to something else … Lire la suite →

Duane Rousselle has posted a critique of those who live under the delusion of being Deleuzians. The same objections can be applied Laruelleans, and to many other followers of Big Masters, including Lacanians. Rousselle’s text is a useful critique of … Lire la suite →

A new lecture by Quentin Meillassoux is available online at the site Savoirs ENS of the École Normale Supérieure. The title is « Principles of the Empty Sign ». Here is my translation of the abstract. « The aim will be to defend … Lire la suite →