Alain Badiou Theoretical Writings

Alain Badiou is arguably the most important and original philosopher working in France today. Swimming against the tide of postmodern orthodoxy, Badiou?s thought revitalizes philosophy?s perennial attempt to provide a systematic theory of truth. This volume, assembled with the collaboration of the author, presents for the first time in English a comprehensive outline of Badiou?s ambitious system. Starting from the controversial assertion that ontology is mathematics, this volume sets out the theory of the emergence of truths from the singular relationship between a subject and an event.

Also included is a substantial excerpt from Badiou?s forthcoming work on the logics of appearance and the concept of world, presented here in advance of its French publication. Ranging from startling re-readings of canonical figures (Spinoza, Kant and Hegel) to decisive engagements with poetry, psychoanalysis and radical politics, Theoretical Writings is an indispensable introduction to one of the great thinkers of our time. The volume includes a preface by Alain Badiou, an extensive editor?s introduction, and a glossary of key terms.



Table of Contents


Table of Contents
The Stellar Matheme: Editor¹s Introduction
Author¹s Preface
I. Mathematics is Ontology
1. The Question of Being Today
2. Philosophy and Mathematics
3. Platonism and the Philosophy of Mathematics
4. The Being of Number
5. One, Multiple, Multiplicity
Addendum A (Historical) Spinoza¹s Closed Ontology
Addendum B (Conditional) The Desire of the Matheme
II. The Subtraction of Truth
6. The Event as Trans-Being
7. On Subtraction
8. Truth: Forcing and the Unnameable
9. Eight Theses on the Universal
Addendum C (Historical) Kant¹s Subtractive Ontology
Addendum D (Conditional) Politics as a Truth Procedure
III. Logics of Appearance
10. Being and Appearance
11. Towards a Thought of Appearance
12. The Transcendental
Addendum E (Historical) Hegel and the Whole
Addendum F (Conditional) Language, Thought, Poetry
Glossary