Changes

Twenty years ago, [[Alain ]] Badiou’s first ''Manifesto for [[Philosophy]]'' rose up against the all-pervasive proclamation of the “end” of philosophy. In lieu of this problematic of the end, he put forward the watchword: “one more step”.

The [[situation ]] has considerably changed since then. Philosophy was threatened with obliteration at the [[time]], whereas today it finds itself under [[threat ]] for the diametrically opposed [[reason]]: it is endowed with an excessive, artificial [[existence]]. “Philosophy” is everywhere. It serves as a trademark for various [[media ]] pundits. It livens up cafés and health clubs. It has its magazines and its gurus. It is universally called upon, by everything from banks to major [[state ]] commissions, to pronounce on [[ethics]], law and [[duty]]. In [[essence]], “philosophy” has now come to stand for [[nothing ]] [[other ]] than its most ancient [[enemy]]: [[conservative ]] ethics.

Badiou’s second manifesto therefore seeks to demoralize philosophy and to [[separate ]] it from all those “philosophies” that are as servile as they are ubiquitous. It demonstrates the [[power ]] of certain eternal truths to illuminate [[action ]] and, as such, to transport philosophy far beyond the [[figure ]] of “the human” and its “rights”. There, well beyond all moralism, in the clear expanse of the [[idea]], [[life ]] becomes something radically other than survival.