For Badiou

For Badiou serves both as an introduction to the influential French philosopher Alain Badiou’s thought and as an in-depth examination of his work. Ruda begins with a thorough and clear outline of the sometimes difficult main tenets of Badiou’s philosophy. He then traces the philosophers throughout Western thought who have influenced Badiou’s project—especially Plato, Descartes, Hegel, and Marx—and on whose work Badiou has developed his provocative philosophy. Ruda draws from Badiou’s oeuvre a series of directives with regard to renewing philosophy for the twenty-first century. For Badiou continues the interrogations of its subject and raises new materialistic and dialectical questions for the next generation of engaged philosophers.

About the Author

FRANK RUDA is an interim professor of philosophy at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and a visiting lecturer at Bard in Berlin.

Reviews

"Now that materialism has become common academic coin, it is time to take a hard look at the various current forms materialism takes and what, if anything, they retain of its contestatory value. Assuming this critical task with wit and lucidity, Frank Ruda also delivers here a highly compelling account of the work of Alain Badiou, not only one of our foremost philosophers but a rigorous, if paradoxical, defender of materialist dialectics."--Joan Copjec, Brown University

"Alain Badiou is scorned by liberals, reviled by reactionaries, and mocked by fake radicals. Now more than ever, Badiou is a philosopher worth fighting for. Frank Ruda’s For Badiou, defends Badiou’s achievement with exemplary passion and verve. This is a necessary book."--Ray Brassier, American University of Beirut

“Critically following on the tracks of Alain Badiou, Frank Ruda, one of the most incisive European thinkers of the new generation, passionately argues for a renewal of philosophy, displaying a rare courage of thought and an overwhelming power of ideas.”--Mladen Dolar, University of Ljubljana

"Ruda displays a mastery of different arguments in various contexts which span across Badiou’s writings . . . a decisive contribution to contemporary debates in materialist philosophy." --Parrhesia

" . . . the breadth of Ruda’s engagement with Badiou is impressive. This is a beautifully synthetic book, in many regards an exemplar of a close textual reading of a philosopher and his interlocutors." --Radical Philosophy