Changes

[[Alain ]] [[Badiou ]] was [[born ]] in 1937 in Rabat and [[Jean-Claude Milner ]] in 1941 in [[Paris]]. They were both involved in the “Red Years” at the end of the Sixties and both were Maoists, but while Badiou was focusing all his attention on China, Milner was already taking his distance from it. Over the years, that original dispute over the destiny of gauchisme was fueled by deep, new differences between [[them ]] concerning the [[role ]] of [[philosophy ]] and [[politics]].

In this wide-ranging and compelling dialogue, these two great thinkers explore the role of politics in today’s [[world ]] and consider the [[need ]] for a [[formal ]] [[theory ]] of [[communist ]] [[political ]] organization. Whether they are addressing the era of revolutions, and in [[particular ]] the Paris Commune and the Chinese [[Cultural ]] [[Revolution]], or discussing the infinite, the [[universal]], the [[name ]] “Jew”, [[violence]], [[capitalism]], the [[left]], or [[Europe]], Jean-Claude Milner’s dyed-in-the-wool skepticism constantly runs up against Alain Badiou’s doctrinal [[passion]].

This extraordinary debate ultimately leads to new areas of interrogation and shows that there is no better remedy for the crushing [[power ]] of [[media]]-influenced [[thinking ]] than the revival of the great disputes of the [[mind]].----Alain Badiou was [[Chair ]] of the Department of Philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and is one of the most widely read and influential [[philosophers ]] [[writing ]] today.

Jean-Claude Milner is Professor Emeritus of [[Linguistics ]] at the Université de Paris-VII, and a former director of the Collège Internationale de [[Philosophie ]] (1998-2001).