German Philosophy: A Dialogue: Volume 11 (Untimely Meditations)

In this book, Alain Badiou and Jean-Luc Nancy, the two most important living philosophers in France, discuss German philosophy from a French perspective. Written in the form of a dialogue, and revised and expanded from a 2016 conversation between the two philosophers at the Universitt der Knste Berlin, the book offers not only Badiou's and Nancy's reinterpretations of German philosophers and philosophical concepts, but also an accessible introduction to the greatest thinkers of German philosophy. Badiou and Nancy discuss and debate such topics as the legacies of Kant, Hegel, and Marx, as well as Nietzsche, Adorno, Fichte, Schelling, and the unavoidable problem of Heidegger and Nazism. The dialogue is contentious, friendly, and often quotable, with strongat times passionatepositions taken by both Badiou and Nancy, who find themselves disagreeing over Kant, for example, and in unexpected agreement on Marx, for another. What does it mean, then, to conduct a dialogue on German philosophy from a French perspective? As volume editor Jan Vlker observes, "German philosophy and "French philosophy describe complex constellations that, despite the reference to nation-states and languages, above all encompass shared concepts and problemsalthough these take a range of forms. Perhaps they can reveal their essential import only in translation. Alain Badiou is a French philosopher and Rene Descartes Chair and Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School, Switzerland. Jean-Luc Nancy is a French philosopher and the Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Chair and Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School.