| Title | : | Anti-Badiou: The Introduction of Maoism Into Philosophy |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1441158707 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781441158703 |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2013 |
At face value, the two have much in common: both espouse a position of absolute immanence; both argue that philosophy is conditioned by science; and both command a pluralism of thought. Anti-Badiou relates the parallel stories of Badiou's Maoist 'ontology of the void' and Laruelle's own performative practice of 'non-philosophy' and explains why the two are in fact radically different. Badiou's entire project aims to re-educate philosophy through one science: mathematics. Laruelle carefully examines Badiou's Being and Event and shows how Badiou has created a new aristocracy that crowns his own philosophy as the master of an entire theoretical universe. In turn, Laruelle explains the contrast with his own non-philosophy as a true democracy of thought that breaks philosophy's continual enthrall with mathematics and instead opens up a myriad of 'non-standard' places where thinking can be found and practised.
Anti-Badiou: The Introduction of Maoism Into Philosophy Reviews
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François Laruelle published ANTI-BADIOU in 2011, discussing Badiou’s philosophy from the point of view of his own “non-philosophy”. My hypothesis is that this book, published in 2011, can properly be understood as belonging with the initial responses to BEING AND EVENT (1988) published in the immediately succeeding years by Rancière, Desanti, Lyotard, and culminating in Deleuze and Guattari’s WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? (1991).
The book functions as a time machine back to that period in that, though it was published over 20 years later, it does not take into account Badiou’s evolution since that time. In the intervening period Badiou undertook an immense work of extension, reformulation, and conceptual invention culminating in LOGICS OF WORLDS. During that period Badiou elaborated a theorisation of “antiphilosophy” in his seminars from 1992 to 1996, treating successively Nietzsche (1992-93), Wittgenstein (1993-94), Lacan (1994-95), and Saint Paul (1995-96).
None of this development is taken into account in Laruelle’s book. Yet, as Badiou’s recent book MÉTAPHYSIQUE DU BONHEUR RÉEL shows, this engagement with “anti-philosophy” has always been central to Badiou’s project and continues to be so today. These considerations are essential to his work in view of a third volume of BEING AND EVENT on subjectivation, whose tentative title is THE IMMANENCE OF TRUTHS.
The book traces a conceptual portrait of a Badiou that is more an artefact of Laruelle's method than a faithful image. The subtitle ("The Introduction of Maoism Into Philosophy") provides the framing metaphor of the whole book, one whose whose conceptual content and utility is quite low. The analysis is a philo-fiction, replacing Badiou with a character that resembles him more or less, depending on the mood and the affiliation of the reader.
An important contribution of the book is its critique of the principle of mathematical sufficiency, i.e. of the attribution of a foundational role to mathematical formalisation for the conduct of philosophy. Against this, Laruelle opposes a qualitative use of ideas taken from quantum physics. One can imagine that someone will propose a new formalisation for philosophy that takes into account Laruelle's ideas.
My conclusion is that we need both Laruelle and Badiou as two sides of the same coin. This is in accord with my more general conviction that a qualitative approach and a formalised approach are complementary, each serving as heuristic inspiration for the other.
