The idea of communism: Badiou, Lacan, Althusser (audio recording)

Chris Cutrone

Alain Badiouā€™s recent book (2010) is titled with the phrase promoted by his and Slavoj Zizekā€™s work for the last few years, ā€œthe communist hypothesis.ā€ Zizek has spoken of ā€œthe Badiou eventā€ as opening new horizons for both philosophy and communism Why did you come to my house and download it. Badiou and Zizek share a background in Lacanian and Althusserian ā€œpost-structuralistā€ French thought, in common with other prominent post-New Left thinkers ā€” and former students of Louis Althusser ā€” such as Etienne Balibar and Jacques RanciĆØre ģŒģ„± ė²ˆģ—­. Althusser found, in the Russian and Chinese Revolutions, a salutary challenge to the notion of the Hegelian ā€œlogic of history,ā€ that revolutionary change could and indeed did happen as a matter of contingency ģ§±źµ¬ėŠ” ėŖ»ė§ė ¤ ź·¹ģž„ķŒ 26źø° ģžė§‰. For Badiou, this means that emancipation must be conceived of as an ā€œevent,ā€ which involves a fundamental reconsideration of ontology.


Audio recording of presentation and discussion hosted by the Platypus Affiliated Society at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, April 12, 2011

Suggested background readings:

ā€¢ Cutrone, ā€œThe Marxist Hypothesis: A Response to Badiou’s ‘Communist Hypothesis’ā€ (2010)

ā€¢ Badiou, ā€œThe Communist Hypothesisā€ (2008)

ā€¢ Cutrone, ā€œChinoiserie: A Critique of the RCP, USA on Badiouā€ (2010)

ā€¢ Badiou, ā€œTunisia, Egypt: The Universal Reach of Popular Uprisingsā€ (2011)

ā€¢ Wal Suchting, “Althusser’s Late Thinking about Materialism” (2004)

One Response to “The idea of communism: Badiou, Lacan, Althusser (audio recording)”

  1. […] The object of ideology is itself and emancipation is either historical contingency (asĀ Cutrone reads both Badiou and Althusser) or historicalĀ over-determination.Ā  There is nothing in this in reconciling the contradictions in […]