taking off from the previous post

It would be interesting to compile a list of the harshest things ever written by all philosophers against their most important predecessors: the harshest things written by Aristotle about Plato, Scotus about Aquinas, Spinoza about Descartes, Hegel about Kant, Nietzsche about Schopenhauer, Heidegger about Husserl, etc.

My suspicion is that a surprising number of them would have been written (if not published) while the predecessor was still alive (Badiou’s remark about Lacan as a norn was written though not published during Lacan’s lifetime). It might seem easier to trash somebody after they’re deceased, sure. But the touch of resentment against the vast shadow of a living mentor, which is so often mixed in with the gratitude as the younger person seeks to assert some individuality at any price, makes it more likely that offhand seminar remarks while the master is still alive are likely to be the harshest of them all. Just a hypothesis.