I am currently working on a paper that begins with the notion that philosophers seek to ‘clear the ground’ – to avoid presupposing what they are seeking to account for – and then seek to walk upon the cleared ground.  They must feel that they ‘walk upon solid ground’ or are ‘in touch with reality’.  This might seem to be a statement of the obvious but if philosophy begins at all it must find the zero-point and then set forth while feeling confident that the system building ...

I have been ruminating on an issue I raised in a recent post that considered Badiou’s reading of Hegel.  This concerns a theory of problems that is positive and effective rather than problems being things that are always destined to be solved.  The other danger is that they become so established that they structure social space, as the Oedipus Complex does, and thus over-determines and stifles thought and practice.  Different theories of problems may make them insignificant or it may make t...

At page 170 of Being and Event Badiou ends his reading of Hegel’s philosophy by locating a ‘fragile verbal footbridge’ at its heart.  The unity of his system is said to depend upon a fragile construction which aims to span a gap that for Badiou must be treated very differently.  I am interested in the history of philosophy which runs throughout Being and Event.  The assessment of Hegel here (in Meditation 15) echoes his treatment of Spinoza (in Meditation 10) which I puzzled over in a p...

I am currently working on a paper that begins with the notion that philosophers seek to ‘clear the ground’ – to avoid presupposing what they are seeking to account for – and then seek to walk upon the cleared ground.  They must feel that they ‘walk upon solid ground’ or are ‘in touch with reality’.  This might seem to be a statement of the obvious but if philosophy begins at all it must find the zero-point and then set forth while feeling confident that the system building ...

I have been ruminating on an issue I raised in a recent post that considered Badiou’s reading of Hegel.  This concerns a theory of problems that is positive and effective rather than problems being things that are always destined to be solved.  The other danger is that they become so established that they structure social space, as the Oedipus Complex does, and thus over-determines and stifles thought and practice.  Different theories of problems may make them insignificant or it may make t...

At page 170 of Being and Event Badiou ends his reading of Hegel’s philosophy by locating a ‘fragile verbal footbridge’ at its heart.  The unity of his system is said to depend upon a fragile construction which aims to span a gap that for Badiou must be treated very differently.  I am interested in the history of philosophy which runs throughout Being and Event.  The assessment of Hegel here (in Meditation 15) echoes his treatment of Spinoza (in Meditation 10) which I puzzled over in a p...