Alain Badiou

[bretty]

Has anyone read his work? I'm currently reading Theory of the Subject, however I'm having a hard time reading through the Hegelian and Dialectic references and discussions.. I'm not sure what I'll take out of his work if anything at all but I'm interested nonetheless.

-Bretty

[scarletghoul]

I am hoping to start Theory of the Subject too, after I get a good understanding of Lacan.. currently I'm reading The Communist Hypothesis, which is much easier to understand and immediately relevent (its a book from 2010 that analysis the idea of communism, specifically the paris commune, may 68, and the cultural revolution, as well as the present financial crisis). I like most of what he says, and will try to post a proper reply after i finish it. He's a cool guy and its good to have a prominant maoist philosopher around.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Unless you have to do this to complete a college course, why read this a proiristic non-sense (http://www.revleft.com/vb/all-philosophical-theories-t148537/index.html)?

[scarletghoul]

Sorry Rosa but i can not be arsed to read that.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Scarlet:


Sorry Rosa but i can not be arsed to read that.

Stay ignorant then.

[blake 3:17]

Alex Callinicos deals with him in a recent book where he takes the fancy French thinkers more seriously than his book on PostModernism, which I thought was pretty kneejerk.

I started reading a critique of Deleuze by Badiou that was seemed soooooooooo abstract I couldn't take anything of value from it. I'd be interested to hear what different RLers who read him have to say.

[palotin]

I was surprised this was to the only thread on Badiou here. I'd love to find a forum to discuss his work a bit more in depth. To throw my two cents in here, what I've read of his work ('Ethics' and a few essays that were later collected into 'Communist Hypothesis') has been quite stimulating, but also a more than a bit frustrating. He makes no apologies for presuming a lot of prior knowledge, not only of Western Philosophy but also of his own work and the technical vocabulary he has developed over the years. I think we can't evaluate precisely what he means in a lot of key instances without having read 'Being and Event' several times over. I'm looking for people who have. If you're out there or know how to reach them, give urs a ring.

[Le Socialiste]

I read The Communist Hypothesis last summer, but I'd be lying if I said most of it didn't go over my head. :o

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

BTW- Badiou's scheduled to give a talk at NYU in NYC in a week or two. I have the details somewhere if anyone's interested.

[Susurrus]

I've heard he relates Marxism to Plato, which sounds utterly foolish to me, but other than that I can't say I know anything of him.

[o well this is ok I guess]

I've heard he relates Marxism to Plato, which sounds utterly foolish to me, but other than that I can't say I know anything of him. You can relate anything to Plato, really.
That's why it's dishonest to do it.

[x359594]

Badiou was a theoretical Maoist at one time. I read The Communist Hypothesis after reading an excerpt printed at Monthly Review or New Left Review (I can't remember which one it was at the moment,) and his arguments about the effect of the Paris Commune as a model for the potential socialist society and how this shaped the thinking of the socialist left (both Marxist and anarchist) are well reasoned and informative. He also talks about the Shanghai Commune, the paradigm shift in the capitalist West brought about by May 68 and the future possibilities of communism. Aside from a radio interview this is the only work by Badiou that I've read.

[ScarletStandard]

I've been studying philosophy under Adrian Johnston for a few years now, and I highly recommend his book Badiou, Zizek, and Political Transformations: The Cadence of Change. Johnston's specialties are in Hegel, Marx(ism), and Lacan, and he has been working actively with contemporary thinkers including the two cited in the book's title. This particular book is fairly accessible, considering the subject matter. I would also recommend Hegel and the Infinite in order to get a sense of where thinkers like Badiou are coming from. I haven't had the chance to dive into Badiou's body of work yet, but I hope this helps for those interested.

[scarletghoul]

Since my old post in this thread, i've read theory of the subject twice; it is definitely one of the coolest books ever written. Was well worth studying the basic lacan beforehand.
Have read Being and Event once, hoping to read it a second time so i can understand it soon haha.

[Zukunftsmusik]

What about making a thread to discuss one or some of his works? I would be interested.

I haven't read anything by Badiou except his essay in The Idea of Communism, where (I think) he explains/writes about his communist hypothesis. The whole book is actually a collection of essays (talks, originally, on a conference discussing communism) based on Badiou's communist hypothesis. Which I haven't read :blushing:

[RHIZOMES]

Alex Callinicos deals with him in a recent book where he takes the fancy French thinkers more seriously than his book on PostModernism, which I thought was pretty kneejerk.

I started reading a critique of Deleuze by Badiou that was seemed soooooooooo abstract I couldn't take anything of value from it. I'd be interested to hear what different RLers who read him have to say.

Deleuze is one of those thinkers I'm a bit wary of tackling first-hand, but every now and then another more down-to-earth thinker will use some of his abstract ideas in really interesting ways. Especially when it comes to questions of political movements, events and organisations (lines of flight, being-becoming, etc).

I'm planning on reading The Communist Hypothesis in the summer holidays since I will be embarking on postgrad Sociology next year and pretty much the majority of radical sociologists in the department thinks every non-dogmatic radical left student should read it.

[o well this is ok I guess]

I'm planning on reading The Communist Hypothesis in the summer holidays since I will be embarking on postgrad Sociology next year and pretty much the majority of radical sociologists in the department thinks every non-dogmatic radical left student should read it. I guess it's packaged as a little red book for a reason.

[blake 3:17]

Deleuze is one of those thinkers I'm a bit wary of tackling first-hand, but every now and then another more down-to-earth thinker will use some of his abstract ideas in really interesting ways. Especially when it comes to questions of political movements, events and organisations (lines of flight, being-becoming, etc).

A Thousand Plateaus is a bit more accessible than people make out. I've tried to approach it on a pragmatist basis -- Does the idea work? Where would it work? Is it any use to me? I find the writing on lines of flight very powerful.

There are a couple of very interesting books on Deleuze and film by Anna Powell that try to do this. She's quite up front that it may not work.