Fête du travail, 1915 Book

Let us imagine the plight of a naive reader who comes to us (because we, for the sake of argument, are people who appear to "know something of philosophy") and says, "I am interested in reading some philosophy because I know philosophers are people who try to grapple with the things of the world in thought, and it seems useful to be acquainted with that sort of thing, but I just find it so difficult! Philosophers are always referring in cryptic ways to other philosophers and using specialized language and I am never sure that they are even discussing things that are relevant to my life at all! It makes my head spin! For example, I hear that to understand Hegel, one must first understand Kant, and to understand Kant one should be acquainted with Hume, which necessitates a knowledge of Descartes, and to know what any of them are talking about requires familiarity with Plato and Aristotle! I don't have the time or the discipline to study the entire history of philosophy, and I can't read everything all at once, so what do I do?"

We could perhaps be helpful by responding thus, "I understand what you mean! Becoming acquainted with a philosophical vocabulary is a time consuming and often thankless process. Nonetheless, it is helpful to realize that philosophical thought is always grappling with the world in a particular context and from a certain historical juncture. It is usually easier to read and understand things that are closer to our own context, more in tune with our own zeitgeist, if you will. Therefore I recommend that you find the one serious philosophical treatise that is most contemporaneous and work your way through it as a starting point. Not only will such a procedure more likely convince you of philosophy's applicability and relevance to contemporary life, but it will also show you what remains useful and relevant in the philosophical tradition, which remains available should you want to pursue it further."

Being and Event is the major philosophical treatise of our time. If Heidegger was the philosopher of the twentieth century (and Hegel of the nineteenth, Kant of the eighteenth, and so forth) then Alain Badiou is the philosopher for the early twenty-first century, and Being and Event his magnum opus, the foundation of his philosophical system. Any exploration of Badiou's thought (which is to say, that which philosophy has to offer for the twenty-first century) should begin with this book, which works out in systematic terms Badiou's fundamental ontology (hint: it's mathematics), and offers a retrieve and reinterpretation of the previous philosophical tradition as ambitious as Heidegger's.

Everyone even vaguely interested in contemporary philosophy owes it to themselves to get acquainted with this book, even though it may be a little difficult, especially if your grasp of mathematics is weak (though anybody who made it through geometry and advanced algebra in high school should be just fine). It is a work that requires a little persistence and patience, though such efforts will be more than amply rewarded in the end.

Or as Slavoj Zizek (one who, if anything else, could at least be said to be someone who knows something of philosophy) has said: "Read [Badiou:] with the proper tremor, aware that you are reading a classic, that a figure like Plato or Hegel walks here among us!"