The Politics of Logic: Badiou, Wittgenstein, and the Consequences of Formalism (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)

In this book, Livingston develops the political implications of formal results obtained over the course of the twentieth century in set theory, metalogic, and computational theory. He argues that the results achieved by thinkers such as Cantor, Russell, Godel, Turing, and Cohen, even when they suggest inherent paradoxes and limitations to the structuring capacities of language or symbolic thought, have far-reaching implications for understanding the nature of political communities and their development and transformation. Alain Badiou's analysis of logical-mathematical structures forms the backbone of his comprehensive and provocative theory of ontology, politics, and the possibilities of radical change. Through interpretive readings of Badiou's work as well as the texts of Giorgio Agamben, Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, Livingston develops a formally based taxonomy of critical positions on the nature and structure of political communities. These readings, along with readings of Parmenides and Plato, show how the formal results can transfigure two interrelated and ancient problems of the One and the Many: the problem of the relationship of a Form or Idea to the many of its participants, and the problem of the relationship of a social whole to its many constituents. Methodological Preface, p.xı -- Acknowledgments, p.xv -- PART I INTRODUCTORY -- 1 Introduction: An Inquiry into Forms of Life, p.3 -- PART Il PARADOXICO-CRITICISM -- 2 Origins of Paradoxico-Criticism: Structuralism and Analytic Philosophy, p.65 -- 3 Deleuze, Plato, and the Paradox of Sense, p.9 -- 4 Derrida and Formalism: Formalizing the Undecidable, p.113 -- 5 Wittgenstein and Parmenides, p.131 -- 6 Wittgenstein and Turing, p.148 -- PART IlI Badiou and the Stakes of Formalism -- 7 Formalism and Force: The Many Worlds of Badiou, p.187 -- 8 Badiou versus Paradoxico-Criticism, p.208 -- 9 Paradoxico-Critique of Badiou, p.238 -- 10 The Politics of Logic: Critica i and Practical Consequences, p.281 -- Notes, p. 317 -- Bibliography, p.363 -- İndex, p.373. Introduction: an inquiry into forms of life Origins of paradoxico-criticism: structuralism and analytic philosophy Deleuze, Plato, and the paradoxes of sense Derrida and formalism: formalizing the undecidable Wittgenstein and Parmenides Wittgenstein and Turing Formalism and force: the many worlds of Badiou Badiou vs. paradoxico-criticism Paradoxico: critique of Badiou The politics of logic: critical and practical consequences.