The Immanence of Truths - by Alain Badiou (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The Being and Event trilogy is the philosophical basis of Alain Badiou's entire oeuvre. It is formed of three major texts, which constitute a kind of metaphysical saga: Being and Event (1988), Logics of the Worlds (2006) and finally The Immanence of Truths, which he has been working on for 15 years. The new volume reverses the perspective adopted in Logics of Worlds. Where in that book, Badiou saw fit to analyze how truths, qua events, appear from the perspective of particular worlds that by definition exclude them, in The Immanence of Truths Badiou asks instead how the irruption of truths transforms the worlds within which they by necessity must arise. An emphasis on regularity and continuity has given way to an attempt, one unquestionable in its philosophical power and implications, to formalize rupture and reconfiguration. The Being and Event trilogy is a unique and ambitious work that reveals how truths can be at once context-specific and universal, situational and eternal."--

Book Synopsis

The Being and Event trilogy is the philosophical basis of Alain Badiou's entire oeuvre. It is formed of three major texts, which constitute a kind of metaphysical saga: Being and Event (1988). ), Logics of the Worlds (2006) and finally The Immanence of Truths, which he has been working on for 15 years.

The new volume reverses the perspective adopted in Logics of Worlds.Where in that book, Badiou saw fit to analyze how truths, qua events, appear from the perspective of particular worlds that by definition exclude them, in The Immanence of TruthsBadiou asks instead how the irruption of truth transforms the worlds within which they by necessity must arise. An emphasis on regularity and continuity has given way to an attempt, one unquestionable in its philosophical power and implications, to formalize rupture and reconfiguration.

The Being and Eventtrilogy is a unique and ambitious work that reveals how truths can be at once context-specific and universal, situational and eternal.

Review Quotes

The Immanence of Truths completes Alain Badiou's philosophical trilogy that began with Being and Event. It is a grand summa of years of conceptual creativity, mathematical research, political militancy in the quest for a new form of communism, and fidelity to the infinite power of art and the amorous encounter.

Bruno Bosteels, Professor of Comparative Literature and Latin American and Iberian Cultures, Columbia University, USA

Alain Badiou is that rare thing: a true Philosopher. In an age of cynicism, nihilism, relativism, and the deadening suspicion of thought, Badiou remains true to the courage that characterises Philosophy from the very beginning. Casting his rational and patient eye over developments in thought, religion and mathematics, Badiou continues to grapple with the infinite in this admirably clear work. Everyone is already capable of thought, Badiou suggests, the point is to realise it.
Nina Power, Philosopher, UK

About the Author

Alain Badiou teaches at the École Normale Supérieure and at the Collège International de Philosophie in Paris, France. He is the author of Being and Event and The Logic of Worlds as well as numerous plays, novels and political essays.

Kenneth Reinhard is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

Susan Spitzer is a frequent translator of Badiou's works.