Just to note from LRB that Alain Badiou is speaking at Birkbeck on SAturday
26th. I found his paper unreadable. It reminded me of Kristeyva (sp?) before
she fled to novels.
i
Douglas Clark, Bath, Somerset, England ....
http://www.dgdclynx.plus.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dominic Fox" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 12:41 PM
Subject: Badiou
I've just been reading a short text by Alain Badiou, titled _What Is
Love_. It's online here:
http://www.cjs.ucla.edu/Mellon/Badiou_What_Is_Love.pdf
I'm very struck by Badiou's language here, which is innovative to say
the least. He's the first really *different* thinker I've come across
in quite a while.
Here's a bit I liked from an interview (here:
http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/5/alainbadiou.php) with Badiou
about "evil":
"I must particularly insist that the formula "respect for the Other"
has nothing to do with any serious definition of Good and Evil. What
does "respect for the Other" mean when one is at war against an enemy,
when one is brutally left by a woman for someone else, when one must
judge the works of a mediocre "artist," when science is faced with
obscurantist sects, etc.? Very often, it is the "respect for Others"
that is injurious, that is Evil. Especially when it is resistance
against others, or even hatred of others, that drives a subjectively
just action. And it's always in these kinds of circumstances (violent
conflicts, brutal changes, passionate loves, artistic creations) that
the question of Evil can be truly asked for a subject."
Badiou is very strongly anti-Levinas, which is rather bracing for me
as Levinas has been my pet Philosopher-of-the-Good for quite a while
now.
Dominic
--
Shall we be pure or impure? Today
we shall be very pure. It must always
be possible to contain
impurities in a pure way.
--Tarmo Uustalu and Varmo Vene
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