Force and understanding in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit
The Phenomenology of Spirit charts the development of consciousness as it rises from lowly common sense to the absolute. This passes through a series of transitions, and this essay takes a look at just one of them.
Giorgio Agamben: What is a commandment?
notes from CRMEP seminar delivered at Kingston University on 28 March 2011 – audio – draft transcript ARCHE v ARCHE The Greek term arche means both origin (hence “archeology”) and … Continue reading
Badiou on the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia
Alain Badiou wrote a short piece for Le Monde last month on the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. It’s already been translated into English a couple of times (on the … Continue reading
Notes on Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence
Somewhat surprisingly given its prominence in the interpretation of Nietzsche’s work, the motif of eternal recurrence occurs explicitly only a few times in his published books: in certain passages and … Continue reading
Review of Badiou’s Number and Numbers
[first published in Radical Philosophy 156, July/August 2009 – PDF] One of the more astonishing aspects of Alain Badiou’s philosophical position is that the key to what is most distinctive … Continue reading
Kant’s notion of ‘critique’ in the Critique of Pure Reason
The publication of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason in 1781 is widely seen as inaugurating the era of modern philosophy. It is the first of Kant’s three great critiques. Together … Continue reading
Notes on consciousness and bad faith in Sartre
Non-thetic consciounsness Sartre’s theory of consciousness, as outlined in early works such as The Transcendence of the Ego and Being and Nothingness, emerges out of his close critical engagement in … Continue reading
Notes on the master/slave relation in Nietzsche
Masters and slaves are a recurring motif throughout Nietzsche’s work, but the relationship between them is laid out most systematically in his 1887 book On the Genealogy of Morality. The … Continue reading
Notes on Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit
Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit boasts a bizarre and starkly original structure. While Hegel’s philosophical preoccupations are in line with those of his German Idealist precursors – constructing a scientific metaphysics, … Continue reading
Down with the ten capitalist ministers
[originally published on Lenin’s Tomb] A few critical words on Slavoj Zizek’s paper at the Politics of Truth conference held in London at the end of last month. You can listen … Continue reading
Three studies in consumer desire
[originally published on bat.blogspot.com and Lenin’s Tomb] A peculiar microtrend in consumer advertising has recently caught my attention: a penchant for unexpected dialectical reversals in the normal ideological discourse of … Continue reading
Zizek on counterfactuals
[originally published on bat.blogspot.com and Lenin’s Tomb] Exhibit A: witless reactionaries desperately trying to justify the summary execution of an innocent man in London last month by armed plain clothes … Continue reading
George Galloway’s libel victory
[originally published on bat.blogspot.com] I’ve been following the George Galloway libel story with a personal as well as a political interest – I was working for the Telegraph at the … Continue reading
Ascherson on Deutscher on Trotsky
[originally published on bat.blogspot.com] Neal Ascherson works as a political journalist for the Observer, but he is also a seasoned political operator in his own right, being active on the … Continue reading
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