Alain Badiou's Handbook of Inaesthetics, Mini-Review
Badiou’s Handbook of Inaesthetics is now the 8th book I’ve read of Badiou’s since finishing his Being and Event back in October last year (2023). I’ve been looking forward to it because the topics it deals with are, on the face of it, on the farther reaches of what Badiou’s philosophy seems geared to engage. Mathematics and art: how to bring these together? Well, I read it, and, it’s probably the first book of Badiou’s that I’ve been somewhat disappointed by. So, as usual with things that bother me, I wrote something small about it. Here’s my mini-review of the book: Now three months deep into my dive into Badiou, his Handbook of Inaesthetics marks, for me, something of a test. Not one for me, mind you, but for Badiou (or better: for me yes, but for Badiou too!). After all, how does a philosopher for whom “philosophy is an insensate act” deal wth the thorny question of aesthetics? Aesthetics, the sensorial field par excellence . Can Badiou, arch-rationalist, ontologist of mathematic...