In Praise of Philosophy
Apr 2025 · John Wiley & Sons
Ebook
202
Pages
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
About this ebook
What kind of philosophy do we need for the 21st century? To answer to this question, Alain Badiou imagines a dialogue between Tocéras, an earnest and engaging professor, and various interlocutors from different countries and philosophical cultures – John After from Britain, Amantha from Greece, B’adj Akil from Senegal, Xi La Pong from China and several others. Their conversation takes readers on a playful journey through the history of philosophy framed by the five great questions that have preoccupied Alain Badiou: democracy, freedom, universality, language and being.
At the same time, philosophy is presented not as a system or doctrine but as movement and dialogue. The philosopher is not a solitary figure; he is inseparable from his pupils, his disciples and his adversaries. It is only at the end of the journey that he arrives at the written, stable forms of his work. So we are dealing more with a play than a treatise, more with dialogues than monologues, more with a course than a book. The obvious model is Plato's Socrates, who, in founding philosophy as a discipline, ensured that it could be established anywhere in the world. In praise, yes, of philosophy as the public creation of a thought that, inventing itself and transporting itself anywhere, speaking to anyone about anything, invents the theatricalization of being.
At the same time, philosophy is presented not as a system or doctrine but as movement and dialogue. The philosopher is not a solitary figure; he is inseparable from his pupils, his disciples and his adversaries. It is only at the end of the journey that he arrives at the written, stable forms of his work. So we are dealing more with a play than a treatise, more with dialogues than monologues, more with a course than a book. The obvious model is Plato's Socrates, who, in founding philosophy as a discipline, ensured that it could be established anywhere in the world. In praise, yes, of philosophy as the public creation of a thought that, inventing itself and transporting itself anywhere, speaking to anyone about anything, invents the theatricalization of being.
About the author
Alain Badiou is a philosopher, mathematician and novelist who lives in Paris.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
