In Praise Of Love

Badiou, Alain; Truong, Nicolas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846687799 ISBN 13: 9781846687792

Publisher: Serpent's Tail, 2012

A new century, new threats to love . . .

Love without risks is like war without deaths - but, today, love is threatened by an alliance of liberalism and hedonism. Caught between consumerism and casual sexual encounters devoid of passion, love - without the key ingredient of chance - is in danger of withering on the vine.

In In Praise of Love, Alain Badiou takes on contemporary 'dating agency' conceptions of love that come complete with zero-risk insurance - like US zero-casualty bombs. He develops a new take on love that sees it as an adventure, and an opportunity for re-invention, in a constant exploration of otherness and difference that leads the individual out of an obsession with identity and self.

Liberal, libertine and libertarian reductions of love to instant pleasure and non-commitment bite the dust as Badiou invokes a supporting cast of thinkers from Plato to Lacan via Karl Marx to form a new narrative of romance, relationships and sex - a narrative that does not fear love.

Review:

Scarcely any other moral philosopher of our day is as politically clear-sighted and courageously polemical, so prepared to put notions of truth and universality back on the agenda (Terry Eagleton)

One of the most important philosophers writing today (Joan Copjec)

A philosopher who is far from willing to abandon humanity to the vicissitudes of so-called global capitalism (Mark Fisher)

Book Description:

French philosopher Alain Badiou turns his attention to love