Recent Continental Rationalism

The killing blow to rationalism as a coherent philosophical project organised around the belief in the power of reason is often believed to have been delivered by Immanuel Kant with the 1781 publication of the *Critique of Pure Reason*. In recent decades, however, the critical turn in philosophy has itself been subject to strong critiques in the name of a new faith in rationalism.

This course aims to present a number of the most important figures belonging to this recent and contemporary trajectory. In particular, we will examine the thought of Gilles Deleuze, Alain Badiou, and Quentin Meillassoux, considered against the backdrop of early modern rationalism (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz) and Kant's philosophy.

Recent Continental Rationalism will be of particular interest to students of the 2009 MSCP Summer School Course 'History of Philosophy V: Modern Rationalism'.