Description
Book SynopsisAlain Badiou offers a tour de force encounter with a lesser-known seventeenth-century philosopher and theologian, Nicolas Malebranche, a contemporary and peer of Spinoza and Leibniz. The seminar is at once a record of Badiou’s thought at a key moment and a lively interrogation of Malebranche’s key text, the
Treatise on Nature and Grace.
Trade ReviewI devoured this magnificent work in an evening. It blends Badiou’s usual systematic approach with a nuanced account of seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century philosophy that draws skillful contrasts between Malebranche’s system and those of Arnauld, Bossuet, Leibniz, Pascal, and the Jesuits. Hovering over the scene is the unlikely but finally compelling specter of Jacques Lacan. -- Graham Harman, author of
Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of EverythingMalebranche emerges from this seminar as an author divided between an asphyxiating theological doctrine and an exhilarating theory of the subject, which anticipates many ideas about desire, fantasy, finitude, and grace that will appear much later, from Hegel to Lacan. Even though Badiou claims that nothing productive came from his effort, we can appreciate in this new installment of his seminar a crucial stepping stone between
Theory of the Subject and
Being and Event. -- Bruno Bosteels, author of
Badiou and PoliticsThis book tackles Malebranche through Alain Badiou’s unique perspective. Badiou nicely translates questions of theology into questions of politics, bringing Malebranche a contemporary resonance that he doesn’t have in any other account. -- Todd McGowan, author of
Emancipation After Hegel: Achieving a Contradictory RevolutionThe book reads very well, and the translation is as excellent as one would expect from this team. . . . Anyone curious about Malebranche, or wishing to recall things they used to know about him, should enjoy Badiou's presentation; and anyone who appreciates solid philosophical exegeses and a bit of intellectual flair should be very entertained and provoked by this seminar as well. -- Ed Pluth * Notre Dame Philosophical Review *
Malebranche is a must-read for Marxists, Philosophers, Theologians, and anyone interested in the Philosophy of Alain Badiou. -- Dalton Winfree * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books *
A fascinating interrogation of a thinker much ignored in the English-speaking world by a leading contemporary philosopher. * Choice *
Malebranche is Badiou’s most richly theological work . . . Like nearly all of Badiou’s writing, it is conceptually difficult and challenging, but immensely rewarding. * Modern Theology *
Table of ContentsEditors’ Introduction to the English Edition of the Seminars of Alain Badiou
Author’s General Preface to the English Edition of the Seminars of Alain Badiou
Introduction to the Seminar on Malebranche: Malebranche’s “Political Ontology”
(Jason E. Smith)
About the 1986 Seminar on Malebranche
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
Session 6
Session 7
Notes
Index
