Scan barcode
casparb's review against another edition
4.0
I really adore this exchange. My first dip with Badiou, and it's worked out beautifully. In Praise of Love is not a difficult text but a worthwhile one. We get a little hit of Badiou's concept of the 'event' also, so perhaps it works as an intro- not sure yet. I think of Barthes' A Lover's Discourse, one of my favourite books I read in 2020, and in general. Form distinguishes the two works, but they play off against one another beautifully.
I was also thinking about G Bataille, especially in Eroti(ci)sm, where he works towards the idea of sex (and, perhaps by extension, a form of love?) as one of the two unique events that abolish discontinuity in human beings.
So this is a short piece but one I'd pretty much universally recommend. It's very accessible, and where Badiou dips to the more difficult stuff (Lacan, I look upon thee and shudder), it is entirely forgiving.
I was also thinking about G Bataille, especially in Eroti(ci)sm, where he works towards the idea of sex (and, perhaps by extension, a form of love?) as one of the two unique events that abolish discontinuity in human beings.
So this is a short piece but one I'd pretty much universally recommend. It's very accessible, and where Badiou dips to the more difficult stuff (Lacan, I look upon thee and shudder), it is entirely forgiving.
eliathereader's review against another edition
3.0
Üniversitede derslerde okutulan metinlerden sevdiklerimi hep not etmiştim. Aşka Övgü de bunların içerisinde bulunuyordu. Badiou bu kitabında günümüzde aşkın nasıl düşünüldüğünü ve katıldığı, katılmadığı yönleri ele alıyor. Aşkın yeniden inşa edilmesi gerektiğini, sadece yüzeysel ilişkilerden ibaret görülmemesi gerektiğini ve felsefede önemli bir yer bulunduğunu anlatıyor. 2008’de yaptığı bir konuşma olduğu haliyle kitaplaştırılmış yani söyleşi şeklinde yazılmış. Platon’dan Kierkegaard’a, Lacan’a ve hatta çeşitli edebiyatçıların aşk hakkındaki düşüncelerini de aktararak zengin bir metin oluşturmuş. Bence söylediklerinde de fazlasıyla haklı. Aşkın sadece üremeye indirgenemeyeceğini çünkü bunun en başta kısır veya eşcinsel çiftleri yok saymak olacağını belirtmiş ve çoğu yerde romantik bir gözle konuyu ele almış. Bu kitabı önemli yapan modernleşmeyle basitleştirilmiş ilişkilere bir karşı duruş göstermesi. Güzel bir okuma, özellikle felsefeyle ilgisi olanlara tavsiye ederim. Okunması kolay ve oldukça da kısa bir kitap olduğunu ekleyebilirim.
chloeshawe's review against another edition
hooray for short books that get my goodreads numbers up, boo for philosophy that makes my brain hurt
cryo_guy's review against another edition
5.0
Pretty good stuff. After reading the first chapter, I was worried that the book wouldn't offer as full a treatment of the subject as I'd like or delve as deeply as I liked. However, now having finished the book I can say my worries were gravely unfounded. I'm sad to say this is my first foray into the world of Alain Badiou, whose voice I found pleasant, articulate, and stimulating. I'll certainly be reading more of his works.
This book takes upon itself the mission of reinventing love (qua Rimbaud) in the form of an adapted interview between Badiou and Nicolas Truong. Truong asks the right questions and Badiou gives simple, coherent answers. While such a task could no doubt be left unfinished after 100 books of this size, I think this book well accomplishes what it sets out to do.
Badiou approaches the issue of love from several angles- first attacking the modern capitalist/utilitarian notions of "love without consequences" epitomized by a certain French dating website (no doubt we have American analogues, if not a commonly held analogous sentiment), then moving on to deal with brief historical accounts of love by (a few) philosophers, the construction of love by two parties (Badiou's own formulation he calls a "Two Scene" which is based on the idea that "starting out from something that is simply an encounter, a trifle, you learn that you can experience the world on the basis of difference and not only in terms of identity"--an inspirational basis in itself), the truth in love (the truth of subjectivity), and finishing of with love's relation to politics and the arts.
The last two chapters (politics and arts) were interesting in their own right and useful for casting some of the ideas he posits in more practical realms, but less appealing to me as a person partial to ideas rather than materials. So logically, I preferred the chapters on philosopher's accounts, construction, and truth in/of love. Although Badiou uses some of his technical terms, he always defines them and explains and/or gives examples which make his points rather clear.
I found myself thinking of his perspective as an anti-romantic Romanticism or a pure kind of idealism. I'm not sure if those labels do a disservice to Badiou, but, without describing it as inspirational again, I can't help but characterize his optimistic focus as refreshing and yet familiar. I suppose it's also worth noting his secular lean; he addresses the use of love by Christianity and has a disdain for submitting to a transcendental love. And why not? His project involves firmly rooting love in the immanent (even if that occasionally involves submitting to a loved one). He works in his idea of love via difference into his communist sensibilities which he defines, at one point, so broadly: "by "communist" I understand that which makes the held-in-common prevail over selfishness, the collective achievement over private self-interest." The only confusing part comes with Lacan (and let's be honest when is he not opaque?), but Badiou does a nice job making it make sense while fitting it within his schema.
Altogether, I would read this book again. Much of his idea of love reminded me of my own musings about intersubjectivity--the necessity of which I used to speak about at length. And I really like the book cover, so I'm happy to find it a spot on my book shelf.
Here are some quotes:
"My own philosophical view is attempting to say that love cannot be reduced to any of these approximations and is a quest for truth. What kind of truth? you will ask. I mean truth in relation to something quite precise: what kind of world does one see when one experiences it from the point of view of two not one? What is the world like when it is experienced, developed and lived from the point of view of difference and not identity? That is what I believe love to be...anything from the moment our lives are challenged by the perspective of difference."
"Love, particularly over time, embraces all the positive aspects of friendship but love relates to the totality of the being of the other, and the surrender of the body becomes the material symbol of that totality. People can say "That's not true! It is desire and desire alone that's at work there." I would maintain that, within the framework of a love that declares itself, this declaration, even if it remains latent, is what produces the effects of desire, and not desire itself...That is why I believe love cannot be and isn't for anyone, apart from the ideologues keen to erase it, a mere cloak for sexual desire, a sophisticated , chimerical ploy to ensure the survival of the species."
"What is universal is that all love suggests a new experience of truth about what it is to be two and not one. That we can encounter and experience the world other than through a solitary consciousness: any love whatsoever gives us new evidence of this."
"I don't at all deny that love is sequential, in other words, that it's not autonomous. There are points, tests, temptations and new appearances, and, each time, you must replay the "Two scene", find the terms for a new declaration. After the initial declaration, love too must also be "re-stated". And that is why love is also the source of violent existential crises. Like all processes involving the search for truth."
This book takes upon itself the mission of reinventing love (qua Rimbaud) in the form of an adapted interview between Badiou and Nicolas Truong. Truong asks the right questions and Badiou gives simple, coherent answers. While such a task could no doubt be left unfinished after 100 books of this size, I think this book well accomplishes what it sets out to do.
Badiou approaches the issue of love from several angles- first attacking the modern capitalist/utilitarian notions of "love without consequences" epitomized by a certain French dating website (no doubt we have American analogues, if not a commonly held analogous sentiment), then moving on to deal with brief historical accounts of love by (a few) philosophers, the construction of love by two parties (Badiou's own formulation he calls a "Two Scene" which is based on the idea that "starting out from something that is simply an encounter, a trifle, you learn that you can experience the world on the basis of difference and not only in terms of identity"--an inspirational basis in itself), the truth in love (the truth of subjectivity), and finishing of with love's relation to politics and the arts.
The last two chapters (politics and arts) were interesting in their own right and useful for casting some of the ideas he posits in more practical realms, but less appealing to me as a person partial to ideas rather than materials. So logically, I preferred the chapters on philosopher's accounts, construction, and truth in/of love. Although Badiou uses some of his technical terms, he always defines them and explains and/or gives examples which make his points rather clear.
I found myself thinking of his perspective as an anti-romantic Romanticism or a pure kind of idealism. I'm not sure if those labels do a disservice to Badiou, but, without describing it as inspirational again, I can't help but characterize his optimistic focus as refreshing and yet familiar. I suppose it's also worth noting his secular lean; he addresses the use of love by Christianity and has a disdain for submitting to a transcendental love. And why not? His project involves firmly rooting love in the immanent (even if that occasionally involves submitting to a loved one). He works in his idea of love via difference into his communist sensibilities which he defines, at one point, so broadly: "by "communist" I understand that which makes the held-in-common prevail over selfishness, the collective achievement over private self-interest." The only confusing part comes with Lacan (and let's be honest when is he not opaque?), but Badiou does a nice job making it make sense while fitting it within his schema.
Altogether, I would read this book again. Much of his idea of love reminded me of my own musings about intersubjectivity--the necessity of which I used to speak about at length. And I really like the book cover, so I'm happy to find it a spot on my book shelf.
Here are some quotes:
"My own philosophical view is attempting to say that love cannot be reduced to any of these approximations and is a quest for truth. What kind of truth? you will ask. I mean truth in relation to something quite precise: what kind of world does one see when one experiences it from the point of view of two not one? What is the world like when it is experienced, developed and lived from the point of view of difference and not identity? That is what I believe love to be...anything from the moment our lives are challenged by the perspective of difference."
"Love, particularly over time, embraces all the positive aspects of friendship but love relates to the totality of the being of the other, and the surrender of the body becomes the material symbol of that totality. People can say "That's not true! It is desire and desire alone that's at work there." I would maintain that, within the framework of a love that declares itself, this declaration, even if it remains latent, is what produces the effects of desire, and not desire itself...That is why I believe love cannot be and isn't for anyone, apart from the ideologues keen to erase it, a mere cloak for sexual desire, a sophisticated , chimerical ploy to ensure the survival of the species."
"What is universal is that all love suggests a new experience of truth about what it is to be two and not one. That we can encounter and experience the world other than through a solitary consciousness: any love whatsoever gives us new evidence of this."
"I don't at all deny that love is sequential, in other words, that it's not autonomous. There are points, tests, temptations and new appearances, and, each time, you must replay the "Two scene", find the terms for a new declaration. After the initial declaration, love too must also be "re-stated". And that is why love is also the source of violent existential crises. Like all processes involving the search for truth."