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The Praxis of Alain Badiou
Anamnesis
Anamnesis means remembrance or reminiscence, the collection and re-
collection of what has been lost, forgotten, or effaced. It is therefore a
matter of the very old, of what has made us who we are. But anamnesis is
also a work that transforms its subject, always producing something new.
To recollect the old, to produce the new: that is the task of Anamnesis.
a re.press series
re.press
The Praxis of Alain Badiou
Paul Ashton, A. J. Bartlett and Justin Clemens, editors
re.press Melbourne 2006
First published 2006 by re.press
This work is ‘Open Access’, published under a creative commons license which means that you are
free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work as long as you clearly attribute the work to the
authors, that you do not use this work for any commercial gain in any form and that you in no way al-
ter, transform or build on the work outside of its use in normal academic scholarship without express
permission of the author and the publisher of this volume. Furthermore, for any reuse or distribution,
you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.
For more information see the details of the creative commons licence at this website:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/
Published by re.press
PO Box 75
Seddon, 3011
Melbourne, Australia
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Typeset by A&R in Baskerville
Printed on demand wherever it is desired.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
The praxis of Alain Badiou.
Bibliography.
Includes index.
ISBN 9780980305203.
ISBN 0 9803052 0 9.
1. Badiou, Alain. 2. Events (Philosophy) - History. 3.
Ontology - History. 4. Philosophers, French. I. Ashton,
Paul, 1974- . II. Bartlett, A. J. (Adam John).
III. Clemens, Justin. (Series : Anamnesis).
111
This publication benefited from a small grant from the Institute for Community Engagement and
Policy Alternatives (ICEPA) at Victoria University, Australia.
Contents
Abbreviations vii
Acknowledgements ix
INTRODUCTION
Masters & Disciples: Institution, Philosophy, Praxis 3
Paul Ashton, A. J. Bartlett & Justin Clemens
What is a Philosophical Institution? Or: Address, Transmission, Inscription 13
Alain Badiou
SCIENCE
The Law of the Subject: Alain Badiou, Luitzen Brouwer and
the Kripkean Analyses of Forcing and the Heyting Calculus 23
Zachary Fraser
The Limits of the Subject in Badiou’s Being and Event 71
Brian Anthony Smith
Had we but worlds enough, and time, this absolute, philosopher… 102
Justin Clemens
LOVE
Count-as-one, Forming-into-one, Unary Trait, S1 147
Lorenzo Chiesa
Introduction to Sam Gillespie 177
Sigi Jöttkandt
Giving Form to Its Own Existence: Anxiety and the Subject of Truth 180
Sam Gillespie
Conditional Notes on a New Republic 210
A. J. Bartlett
ART
An Explosive Genealogy: Theatre, Philosophy and the Art of Presentation 247
Oliver Feltham
Ontology and Appearing: Documentary Realism as a Mathematical Thought 265
Lindsey Hair
Can Cinema Be Thought? Alain Badiou and the Artistic Condition 291
Alex Ling
POLITICS
Towards an Anthropology of Infinitude: Badiou and the Political Subject 309
Nina Power
The Bourgeois and the Islamist, or, The Other Subjects of Politics 339
Alberto Toscano
Philosophy and Revolution: Badiou’s Infidelity to the Event 367
Toula Nicolacopoulos and George Vassilacopoulos
Follysophy 388
Dominique Hecq
Bibliography of Work on and by Alain Badiou in English 393
Contributors 419
Index 421
Abbreviations
C Conditions
CT Court traité d’ontologie transitoire
D Deleuze: The Clamor of Being
E Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil
EE L’être et l’événement
BE Being and Event
HI Handbook of Inaesthetics
IT Infinite Thought: Truth and the Return to Philosophy
LM/LOW Logiques des mondes: l’être et l’événement, 2
LS Le Siècle
M Metapolitics
MP Manifesto for Philosophy
NN Le Nombre et les nombres
OB On Beckett
P Polemics
SP Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism
TO Briefings On Existence: A Short Treatise on Transitory Ontology
TC The Century
TS Théorie du sujet
TW Theoretical Writings
vii
Description:Anamnesis Anamnesis means remembrance or reminiscence, the collection and re-collection of what has been lost, forgotten, or effaced. It is therefore a
