Infinite Thought

by Alain Badiou, Justin Clemens (Editor), Oliver Feltham (Editor)

Alain Badiou is already regarded as one of the mostoriginal and powerful voices in contemporaryEuropean thought. Infinite Thought brings together arepresentative selection of the range of AlainBadiou's work, illustrating the power and diversity ofhis thought.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Politics, Theory, Unfinished

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Alain Badiou, Ph.D., born in Rabat, Morocco in 1937, holds the Rene Descartes Chair at the European Graduate School EGS. Alain Badiou was a student at the École Normale Supérieure in the 1950s. He taught at the University of Paris VIII (Vincennes-Saint Denis) from 1969 until 1999, when he returned to ENS as the Chair of the philosophy department. He continues to teach a popular seminar at the Collège International de Philosophie, on topics ranging from the great 'antiphilosophers' (Saint-Paul, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Lacan) to the major conceptual innovations of the twentieth century. Much of Badiou's life has been shaped by his dedication to the consequences of the May 1968 revolt in Paris. Long a leading member of Union des jeunesses communistes de France (marxistes-léninistes), he remains with Sylvain Lazarus and Natacha Michel at the center of L'Organisation Politique, a post-party organization concerned with direct popular intervention in a wide range of issues (including immigration, labor, and housing). He is the author of several successful novels and plays as well as more than a dozen philosophical works.

Trained as a mathematician, Alain Badiou is one of the most original French philosophers today. Influenced by Plato, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Jacques Lacan and Gilles Deleuze, he is an outspoken critic of both the analytic as well as the postmodern schools of thoughts. His philosophy seeks to expose and make sense of the potential of radical innovation (revolution, invention, transfiguration) in every situation.

Reviews

[Argos · Rating 3 out of 5]

A. Badiou kendine özgü bir felsefe yaratmış, bu anlayışını farklı konulara monte etmeye çalışmış. Siyaset, şiir, psikanaliz, adalet, terör gibi konuları işlemiş. Sanki peşinden kovalayan var gibi hızlı geçişler, alıntıdan alıntıya atlamalar ile “felsefik hız” denemesi yapmış dersem abartmış olmam. Çeşitli sempozyum veya toplantılara sunduğu bildiriler kitabın ana yapısını oluşturuyor.
Ben en çok “Felsefe ve Siyaset” bölümündeki “adalet” kavramı ile ilgili düşüncelerini beğendim. “Felsefe ve Komunizmin Ölümü” bölümü de ilginç ama daldan dala atladığı için pek niyet hasıl olmamış gibi geldi bana. Bu kitabi hakkıyla okumak icin verilecek enerjiyi başka kitaba kullanmak daha mı iyi olurdu diye düşünmedim değil. Okunmasa kayıp olmaz.

[Tom Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may not be his best or most known work, but it is a most acceptable and interesting introduction into the larger thought of Badiou's philosophy.

He is one of the few thinkers who is revolutionizing philosophy with new ideas based on both the continental and analytic tradition. He was helpful to me at understanding things like Heidegger and Set Theory.

The book makes me want to read more of his work.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to disagree with Badiou's thesis that contemporary philosophy is deficient, as it shies away from making hard pronouncements or uncovering truths. Truth (with a capital "T") is something of an anathema in postmodern theory, or else it's rigidly proscriptive in continental (analytic) thought, or something ineffable and personal in German idealism. Badiou calls for a "return to philosophy" and with it, a new relation to truth: Truth as an event which subjects must identify and act upon faithfully. It's refreshing but still retains that French theory jargon feel.

This is my first time reading Badiou, and I suppose this book is a pretty good introduction. It starts with the foundations of his theory, and ends with some essays concerning practical, contemporary matters, e.g., "Philosophy and the War on Terror." I particularly enjoyed that, and his essay on cinema. Some were obtuse, as in "What is Philosophy?"

For Badiou, the act of philosophy requires a solid ontology, and his idea is to take mathematical set theory as this foundation. Sets are multiplicities, and are made of other sets, which naturally agrees with the strange state of reality wherein a single identity (such as a human) is actually a multiplicity of others (cells) which are in turn themselves multiplicities... This sort of fractal composition, which distorts or invalidates traditional concepts of identity or unity, follows naturally from his ontological framework. Badiou also finds a place for set-theoretical concepts of the power set and generic element- I'm not sure if he's straining a metaphor or probing something very deep within thought.

Anyway, it was a pretty good read and I am generally sympathetic to the call for a "return to philosophy."

[Aslı Can]

Alain Badiou bu kitapta felsefenin sanat, siyaset, psikanaliz, matematik gibi alanlarla ilişkisini tartışıyor. Ben bu alanlarla ilgili bölümleri biraz yüzeysel bulduğumu söyleyebilirim. Bir düşünceden bir düşünceye hızlı hızlı atlayan bir kitap. Tam olarak nerede konaklayacağını bilemez gibi bir hali varken, her şeyi maddeleştirmeye, kategorize etmeye çalışması beni rahatsız etti.

Yeni bir deneyim veya fikir dünyasına girdiğimi söyleyemem, içindekileri tamamen değersiz bulduğumu da söyleyemem. Sanırım Alain Badiou hakkında yorum yapabilmek için en azından bir kitabını daha okumam lazım.

[christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just re-read the sections "An introduction to Alain Badiou's philosophy", "Philosophy of Truth", "Philosophy of art", and "The definition of philosophy" as a converse to The Life of the Mind -- not that Arendt mentioned Badiou, because she didn't.

Upon second reading, I noticed some inherent fallacies Badiou makes that careens his arguments off the mark. As an example, when expressing the difference between Badiou's philosophy as opposed to poststructualists, there is an assumption that an event happens independent. Although Badiou appears to explain this away as part and parcel to being (that is, subjects in response not just subjects in existence) as a multiplicity rather than as a unity (the favoured response of Aristotle), he still does not actually explain when an event becomes out of the ether or what generated it. Even if he did, he doesn't explain how the being -- even in its multiplicities -- chooses. There's a tension in that Badiou doesn't actually really respond to the idea of choice as part of a component to willing.

And... I'll be honest, I don't particularly find mathematics as a answer to philosophical endeavours as convincing in of itself. Explaining away how and why man behaves through mathematics does nothing to explain the why at all, it just shows how it is formulated (well or not) since a formula states what is not why it is.

The other issue -- and this is more me than Badiou, is after reading Arendt, Badiou's structured assertions followed without any explanation or rooted in anything other than an argument (seemingly for arguments' sake), seems wanting.

However, there are still moments in which Badiou seems to touch on something quite extraordinary, especially in relation to thought and how emotions can provoke an event and thus, the event does, in this way, express itself as a choice. The willingness to do or not, instigated by a feeling, rendered through thought then expressed in judgment is exceptional work. If only he followed his ideas in this way more often rather than proving his worth by arguing to win rather than to discuss...

[Ariadna73 · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I liked the most about this small book is its clarity. It is carefully written to help the unsuspecting reader understand Badiou's brilliant mind. It explains with surprising simplicity, yet thoroughly the three streams of philosophy that feed his thought (Heidegger, Wittgenstein and the moderns). He spends a great deal explaining Heidegger's thought, which is always something to be thankful about because the german guy was really cryptic in his writing. He also has a bright essay on terrorism and the view of philosophy on the 9/11 affair. I wish I had more time to spend carefully reading this book and also more of the Badiou's writings, because that would really expand my mind. I might give this one a more careful look in the future. For now, I will let it rest and see if it sinks in a little bit more

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if I understood all of his ideas to a tee but I certainly got a lot out of thinking about (what I think) they were! And he is a fun writer - there's sprinkles of unexpected zest and personality throughout his texts.

The application of mathematics in his philosophy is also really interesting. I do wish that he formalized stuff a bit more clearly though. I still am not quite sure I know what a singularity is. One day I would like to read a philosopher that distinguishes definitions/theorems/proofs the way that a mathematician does.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some essays by philosopher Alain Badiou, on both conceptual philosophy and contemporary art and politics. He started by declaring that philosophy has moved too far from offering real Truth, but I didn't see a coherent path forward via his ideas. I enjoyed some of his summaries of contemporary philosophers, thoughts on art (perception, not concept) and terrorism (rhetoric to support displays of power).

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice ideas. Enjoyed the attempted critic of Heidegger, which almost gets me over the line. Original thoughts independent of Heidegger were compelling. Text short but still too dense for my little brain

[Toon Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

หนุกๆ สำหรับคนที่สนใจประเด็น contemporary philosophy ซึ่ง Badiou ได้ point out ให้เห็นว่าเราที่กำลังอาศัยอยู่โลกในยุคนี้อ่ะ มันเผชิญกับอะไรอยู่ แล้วปรัชญามันจะช่วยให้อะไรเราได้บ้าง เจ๋งๆ

[Sumeyye Pa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A for originality... And that is all abıut it actually

[Harry Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

3/10

[Tatjana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it! I could relate to much of the writing angst and decisions about stepping away from the novel writing. Not sure I’d recommend it for non-writers though.

[Jared Colley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Badiou is a difficult and challenging thinker. He is attempting to re-think the whole way we do philosophy in the 21st century. This, in my opinion, is the best place to start with him. It is not his best work at all, but it is a soft place to start when approaching this unconventional thinker for the first time. I'm still trying to wrap my head around Badiou and this book has helped. One thing I like about Badiou is his resistance to postmodern, non-committal philosophy. Badiou argues for universal truth, and he argues for a "dogmatic" philosophy in some sense. He does this with a mood of seriousness; this is not reactionary shock value, marketing itself in the wake of postmodernism's failings. This is a serious attempt to "return to philosophy."

[CR · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of essays, punctuated by sound polemics and a series of interesting conceptions on the nature of philosophy, politics, love, and so on. I deeply enjoyed the works on terrorism and the death of communism. A little dense at some points, and it's clear that at this period he was still collecting, analyzing, and interpreting his thoughts. It's nowhere near as mature as his later works, e.g., "Second Manifesto of Philosophy".

[Phoenix Rises · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great contemporary book on the turn away from Truth in modern philosophy, but why that search is still important. Badiou challenges us to turn back to the classical purpose of philosophy, in the tradition of thinkers like Plato and Socrates, but with a deep understanding of how this theory of philosophy fits in the larger tradition and context of philosophy in general. A nice primer to an alternative method of inquiry, that is much needed, and appreciated.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The translator's intro is actually a really concise and understandable summary of what Badiou's up to. The rest of the book's hit and miss, depending an what you find interesting. (I liked the chapters on desire, cinema, psychoanalysis, politics.)

[Katrinka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much easier to read than I thought it would be-- going to have to read his ethics. Also, still not convinced that there's not some sort of metaphysics to this all... Fascinating.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, think my days of reading dense theory works are behind me...

[in8 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in the context of Timor-Leste: http://www.5cense.com/12/dili.htm