Alain Badiou is without question one of, if not the, most important philosophers writing today in European philosophy. His work, principally expounded inBeing and Event (1988) and Logics of Worlds (2007) aims at nothing less than a reinvigoration of the Platonic moment in thought, according to which philosophy places itself under the single (and singular) aegis of truth. Equally surprising and innovative are the links he forges between mathematics and ontology, politics and subjectivity, love and novelty.
The goal of this course will be to provide an overview of this at once formidable and powerful thinker's work. The first week will be devoted to Being and Event and the books surrounding it, while the second will address Logics of Worlds, and Badiou's more recent texts that engage with questions of contemporary life, politics, love, and the nature of the philosophical enterprise itself.
Suggested prior readings
Badiou, A Manifesto for Philosophy
Bartlett and Clemens (ed), Badiou: Key Concepts
Difficulty
Introductory to Intermediate