Confrontation: A Conversation with Aude Lancelin

by Alain Badiou, Alain Finkielkraut

Everything in their respective positions divides them: Alain Badiou is the thinker of a revitalized communism and Alain Finkielkraut the mournful observer of the loss of values. The two opponents, gathered here for their first-ever debate, have irreconcilable visions. Yet neither is a stranger to controversy, and in this debate they make explicit the grounds of their personal dispute as well as addressing, in a frank and open exchange, their ideas and theories. Guided by Aude Lancelin, the two philosophers discuss subjects as diverse as national identity, Israel and Judaism, May 1968, and renewed popularity of the idea of communism. Their passionate debate is more than just the sum total of their disagreements, however, for neither of them is satisfied with the state of our society or the direction in which its political representatives persist in taking it. They agree that there needs to be change and their confrontation in this volume shows the importance of asking difficult questions, not only of each other, but also of our political systems.

Genres: Philosophy

166 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2014

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

[Elliot Ratzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two French intellectuals debating issues of nationalism, antisemitism, and Islam is my idea of weekend reading. France is another world, with its own cache of scandals, outrages, and social problems. This series of debates is an exhilarating exchange. Badiou is an impossible-to-read philosopher whose politics are dedicated to revitalizing the “Communist Idea.” Finkielkraut is a melancholic Jewish essayist, wistful for a lost French humanism—an odd mix of conservative ideas about excellence, public order, and civilization that put him at odds with public displays of Islam and an unruly multicultural society. Those points aside, I found myself agreeing with his skepticism about Badiou’s uncomplex radicalism, ready to downplay historical communism for some vague long-game. Some of AB’s ideas seem antisemitic; some of AF’s points seem racist. AF is dedicated to a revitalized French society of mutual concern; AB is more outraged at the alienated conditions of French Muslims—both seem right.

[Brandon Prince · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the more lucid debates on the general state of the world available -- intense, humorous, often infuriating and at times beautiful. The passion and clarity in Badiou's voice is inspiring.