Alain Badiouโs 1983โ1984 lecture series on โthe Oneโ is the earliest of his seminars that he has chosen to publish. It focuses on the philosophical concept of oneness in the works of Descartes, Plato, and Kantโa crucial foil for his signature metaphysical concept, the multiple. Badiou declares that there is no โOneโ: there is no fundamental unit of being; being is inherently multiple.
What is novel in Badiouโs view of multiplicity is his reliance on mathematics, and set theory in particular. A set is a collection of thingsโyet, as he observes, it often is taken to โcount as oneโ operationally for the purposes of mathematical transformations. In this seminar, distinguishing between โthe Oneโ and โcounting as oneโ emerges as essential to Badiouโs ontological project. His analysis of reflections on oneness in Descartes, Plato, and Kant prefigures core arguments of his defining work, Being and Event.
Showcasing the seeds of Badiouโs key ideas and later thought, The One features singular readings, breathtaking theorizations, and frequently astonishing offhand remarks.
Alain Badiouโs 1983โ1984 lecture series on โthe Oneโ is the earliest of his seminars that he has chosen to publish. It focuses on the philosophical concept of oneness in the works of Descartes, Plato, and Kantโa crucial foil for his signature metaphysical concept, the multiple. Badiou declares th...