Badiou's 'Being and Event': A Reader's Guide

Description

Alain Badiou's Being and Event is the most original and significant work of French philosophy to have appeared in recent decades. It is the magnum opus of a thinker who is widely considered to have re-shaped the character and set new terms for the future development of philosophy in France and elsewhere. This book has been written very much with a view to clarifying Badiou's complex and demanding work for non-specialist readers. It offers guidance on philosophical and intellectual context, key themes, reading the text, reception and influence; and further reading.

Christopher Norris is Distinguished Research Professor in Philosophy at the University of Cardiff, Wales. He is the author of numerous books on aspects of philosophy, critical theory, and modern intellectual history.

'With exemplary elegance and acumen, the book clarifies, explicates and makes accessible, without hint of reduction, the thought og this most compelling, but difficult, of contemporary thinkers ... Everyone engaged in contemporary philosophy or theory should read this book.' -- Professor Patricia Waugh, Durham University, UK 'Norris approaches the task of reading Being and Event in a refreshingly straightforward way.' - Marx & Philosophy Review of Books Baki's discussion of the underlying formalism skillfully relates Badiou to his more or less recent historical antecedents and the broader history of philosophy while also significantly illuminating what is actually at stake in Badiou's own relatively novel formal approach ... there is little doubt that Baki's careful parsing of Badiou's use of formalism will provide an invaluable resource for those pursuing it. -- Paul M. Livingston, University of New Mexico * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *