UAH Humanities Center welcomes noted French philosopher and Eminent Scholar Dr. Alain Badiou

Noted French philosopher Alain Badiou

Noted French philosopher Alain Badiou will visit The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) as a Humanities Center Eminent Scholar and give a keynote address on Tuesday, Nov. 24. The event will mark Badiou's first formal presentation in the American South.

Badiou's lecture "The Relationship Between Literature and Politics from the Point of View of Philosophy," will culminate a two day event, beginning on Monday, Nov. 23, "The Real Possibilities of Fiction: A Symposium on the Thought of Alain Badiou." The program is sponsored by the UAH Humanities Center. All events are free and open to the public, and will be held in the UAH Wilson Hall and Chan Auditoriums. "Alain Badiou is without question one of the most eminent and significant humanities intellectuals ever to visit our campus. The Humanities Center is pleased to sponsor this rare and exciting event at UAH," said Dr. Eric D. Smith, Associate Professor of English and Director of the UAH Humanities Center.

On Monday, Nov. 23, at 5 p.m., Dr. Susan Spitzer, will give the presentation "Translating Badiou." Spitzer is a frequent translator of Badiou's works. She is currently translating and co-editing (with Dr. Kenneth Reinhard) a 20-volume series of Badiou's lectures for Columbia University Press. Spitzer holds a PhD in Philosophy and French Language and Literature from Brown University. Later in the evening at 6:15 p.m., Dr. Kenneth Reinhard will give the address "Truth, Knowledge, Opinion: From Democratic Materialism of the Materialistic Dialectic." Reinhard is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at The University of California (Los Angeles), and the co-author of The Neighbor: Three Inquiries in Political Theology and After Oedipus: Shakespeare in Psychoanalysis.

On Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 5 p.m., Dr. Phillip E. Wegner, Marston-Milbauer Eminent Scholar and Research Foundation Professor at the University of Florida, will present "I was once cook at the Cafe' Anglais': The Events of Isak Dinesen's 'Babette's Feast." Wegner is author of four books including Periodizing Jameson: Dialectics, the University, and the Desire for Narrative. At 6 p.m., Spitzer, Reinhard and Wegner will participate in a roundtable discussion followed by Badiou's keynote lecture at 7 p.m.

Dr. Alain Badiou is one of the most well-known philosophers of our time. He is the Rene Descartes Chair and Professor of Philosophy at The European Graduate School. Badiou is Professor Emeritus at The École Normale Supérieure, the highest-ranked among the top ten universities in Paris. Additionally, he continues to teach seminars at the Collége International de Philosophia, and is the current president of the Global Center for Advanced Study.

His philosophy seeks to expose and make sense of the potential of radical innovation (revolution, invention transfiguration) in every situation. Trained as a mathematician, he is also a novelist, playwright and political activist. He is the author of numerous books, including his magnum opus Being and Event and its sequel Logics of Worlds. Badiou was one of the principle founders of the L'Organisation Politique, a French watchdog organization known for intervening on a number of political issues, including labor, immigration, and housing. Badiou's most recent publication is entitled Le Second Procés de Socrate.

For more information about Alain Badiou's visit to UAH, please contact Dr. Eric D. Smith, Associate Professor of English and Director of the UAH Humanities Center at eds0001@uah.edu.