Googleplex

Morton with A WITTY REMARK.

For the record, though I’ve said this before, I think the advent of Badiou was important and salutary for continental philosophy, just as the Deleuze wave was extremely healthy, happening when it did.

However, I will oppose all efforts to set up Badiou as the next 30-year unshakeable referent for our field, as a 21st century Derrida. There are simply too many problems there, and he’s gotten a free ride on many of them so far. That’s one of the reasons why I’ll be doing something longer on Badiou soon. What Badiou calls a theory of objects in Logics of Worlds is nothing of the sort, and he needs to be called on it.

Nothing personal, though. I still think his net effect has been favorable, and it’s hard not to be impressed with him as a person. My one encounter with Badiou left a nice impression: the way he showed up for a full day of papers at the American University of Paris, listened very closely and in silence, then simply left without having thrown his weight around. There was something deeply charming about his demeanor that day.