Second Manifesto for Philosophy

Twenty years ago, Alain Badiou's first Manifesto for Philosophy rose up against the all-pervasive proclamation of the end of philosophy. In lieu of this problematic of the end, he put forward the watchword: one more step.

The situation has considerably changed since then. Philosophy was threatened with obliteration at the time, whereas today it finds itself under threat for the diametrically opposed reason: it is endowed with an excessive, artificial existence. Philosophy is everywhere. It serves as a trademark for various media pundits. It livens up caf s and health clubs. It has its magazines and its gurus. It is universally called upon, by everything from banks to major state commissions, to pronounce on ethics, law and duty. In essence, philosophy has now come to stand for nothing other than its most ancient enemy: conservative ethics.

Badiou's second manifesto therefore seeks to demoralize philosophy and to separate it from all those philosophies that are as servile as they are ubiquitous. It demonstrates the power of certain eternal truths to illuminate action and, as such, to transport philosophy far beyond the figure of the human and its rights. There, well beyond all moralism, in the clear expanse of the idea, life becomes something radically other than survival.

Author: Alain Badiou
Publisher: Polity Press
Published: 02/08/2011
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.48lbs
Size: 7.40h x 4.90w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780745648620

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2011

About the Author
Alain Badiou is Emeritus Professor in Philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure.

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