Exiting the Woods: Cartesianism for the 21st Century (to come)

Abstract

Badiou’s philosophy has often been described by claiming that he labours for a new beginning of philosophy – after the (postmodern, deconstructivist) criticisms of the subject, systematic thought, the category of truth, etc. But his oeuvre has thus far not been systematically related to the works of the “radical new beginning of philosophy” (Husserl) that was introduced by the “grandfather of revolution” (Nietzsche), i.e. René Descartes. The article carefully traces the Cartesian elements in Badiou’s thought by highlighting how the two most prominent arguments that can be found in Descartes works (the infamous cogito argument and the argumentative proof of God’s existence) find a very specific and peculiar re-articulation in Badiou’s thought (and especially in his meta-ontology). It is by means of comprehending this very re-articulation that one consequentially is able to situate Badiou not only with regard to the theory of the subject that is so closely entangled with his name, but also with a – maybe – surprising category: the category of the unthinkable. By developing this Cartesian-Badiousian line, the article demonstrates how most of the misreading of Badiou’s ontological claims (i.e. that being is multiple) can be avoided and how the new beginning he labours for can be understood as a renewed Cartesianism for the next century (to come).