Badiou's Ontology of the Present
Society, Economy and Culture in Transition
1st Edition
Published on 13. November 2025
328 pages
978-1-350-43787-6 (ISBN)
Description
Emerging from the twin shadows of neoliberalism and postmodernism, Michael Hauser paints our current historical moment as an interregnum, born of but departing from those two towering modes of late 20th-century culture. Seen in this light, the preoccupation of populism, identity politics, hybrid wars and other contemporary phenomena can be seen as the result of the disintegration of neoliberal agendas and postmodernist sensibilities.
Drawing together a vast range of thinkers and theoretical models, from Gramsci to Jameson, Hauser traces the reasons for the decline and demise of the grand narratives of the twentieth century and the ideologies that replaced them. His explanation of the foundational 'epicycloid' and disintegrative 'elliptical' stages of political movements then lays the ground for a deep engagement with Alain Badiou, understanding his 'transitory ontology' as a philosophical response to our interregnum. By expanding and unpicking Badiou's thoughts on mathematics, politics, art, love, and the conditions of doing philosophy, we can imagine a point beyond the present moment in history.
Drawing together a vast range of thinkers and theoretical models, from Gramsci to Jameson, Hauser traces the reasons for the decline and demise of the grand narratives of the twentieth century and the ideologies that replaced them. His explanation of the foundational 'epicycloid' and disintegrative 'elliptical' stages of political movements then lays the ground for a deep engagement with Alain Badiou, understanding his 'transitory ontology' as a philosophical response to our interregnum. By expanding and unpicking Badiou's thoughts on mathematics, politics, art, love, and the conditions of doing philosophy, we can imagine a point beyond the present moment in history.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
3 bw illus
ISBN-13
978-1-350-43787-6 (9781350437876)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 12/2025
Bloomsbury Academic
€118.70
Not yet published
Person
Michael Hauser is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Science, and an Associate Professor in Philosophy at the Faculty of Education of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
Content
Preface
Introduction : The Liberating Power of Generalization and the Prehistory of the Interregnum
Part I: The Eccentric Interregnum
First Section: The Epicyclic Period (1989-2000/2008)
1. Neoliberalism With Traces of Communism
2. Postmodernism, In Which Modernism is Extinguished
Conclusion of the First Section: The Epicyclic Character of the First Period of the Interregnum
Second Section: The Elliptical Period (2000/2008-present)
Introduction: The Path to a Pure Interregnum
1. Fractured Neoliberalism
2. Contemporary Culture and Politics as Infinite Circulation
Part 2: Badiou's Transitive Ontology
Introduction: The Philosophy of Truths as a Response to the Interregnum
1. Situating Badiou in the Interregnum
2. The Philosophical Exodus from the Interregnum: Event, Truth, and the Subject as a Composition of Unity and Multiplicity
3. The Interregnum as the Age of the Absolute
List of sources
Introduction : The Liberating Power of Generalization and the Prehistory of the Interregnum
Part I: The Eccentric Interregnum
First Section: The Epicyclic Period (1989-2000/2008)
1. Neoliberalism With Traces of Communism
2. Postmodernism, In Which Modernism is Extinguished
Conclusion of the First Section: The Epicyclic Character of the First Period of the Interregnum
Second Section: The Elliptical Period (2000/2008-present)
Introduction: The Path to a Pure Interregnum
1. Fractured Neoliberalism
2. Contemporary Culture and Politics as Infinite Circulation
Part 2: Badiou's Transitive Ontology
Introduction: The Philosophy of Truths as a Response to the Interregnum
1. Situating Badiou in the Interregnum
2. The Philosophical Exodus from the Interregnum: Event, Truth, and the Subject as a Composition of Unity and Multiplicity
3. The Interregnum as the Age of the Absolute
List of sources
