Overview

Difficult Atheism shows how contemporary French philosophy is rethinking the legacy of the death of God in ways that take the debate beyond the narrow confines of atheism into the much broader domain of post-theological thinking. Christopher Watkin argues that Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy and Quentin Meillassoux each elaborate a distinctive approach to the post-theological, but that each approach still struggles to do justice to the death of God.

Full Product Details

Author:   Christopher Watkin
Publisher:   Edinburgh University Press
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.605kg
ISBN:  

9780748640577

ISBN 10:   0748640576
Pages:   296
Publication Date:   16 May 2011
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Abbreviations Badiou Meillassoux Nancy Introduction: Atheisms Today The Old Game: Imitative and Residual Atheisms The New Game: Post-theological Integration Chapter 1: The God of Metaphysics 1.1 The Death of the God of Metaphysics 1.1.1 THE BIRTH OF PHILOSOPHY 1.1.2 THE MULTIPLE AND THE INFINITE 1.2 The Metaphysics of the Death of God 1.2.1 THE 'DEATH' OF GOD AND THE 'END' OF METAPHYSICS 1.2.2 THE DECONSTRUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY Conclusion Chapter Two: The God of the Poets 2.1 The Death of the God of Presence 2.1.1 THE OPEN, THE INFINITE AND THE ART OF THE IDEA 2.1.2 PRESENCE, INCARNATION AND IDEA 2.2 The Presence of the Death of God 2.2.1 THE OPEN, THE FINITE AND THE ART OF SPACING 2.2.2 PRESENCE, INCARNATION AND SPACING Conclusion Chapter 3: Difficult Atheism THINKING WITHOUT GOD? 3.1 Badiou's Axiomatic Atheism 3.1.1 EVENT AND MIRACLE 3.1.2 BEING AND AXIOMS 3.1.3 AXIOMS, CONDITIONALITY AND THE GOOD 3.2 Nancy's Atheology 3.2.1 A/THEISME AND ABSENTHEISME 3.2.2 ATHEOLOGIE 3.2.3 ATHEOLOGIE AND ATHEISME Conclusion Chapter 4: Beyond A/theism? Quentin Meillassoux 4.1 Theism, Atheism and Philosophy 4.1.1 METAPHYSICS, NECESSITY AND INACCESSIBILITY 4.1.2 CONTINGENCY AND THE PRINCIPLE OF FACTIALITY 4.2 Believing in God Because he Does not Exist 4.2.1 HUME'S PROBLEM 4.2.2 FAITH, AXIOM, DEMONSTRATION AND INTUITION Conclusion Chapter 5: Politics of the Post-Religious I: Justifying the Political 5.1 Meillassoux: Faith, Value and Hyperchaos 5.2 Nancy: Ethos and Call 5.2.1 ETHOS 5.2.2 THE CALL 5.3 Badiou: Subtraction and Wager 5.3.1 POLITICS OF THE EVENT, POLITICS OF THE REAL 5.3.2 THE DECISION Conclusion Chapter 6: The Politics of the Post-Theological 2: Justice 6.1 Meillassoux: Universal Justice and Resurrection 6.1.1 THE PHILOSOPHICAL DIVINE 6.1.2 THE ETHICAL JOLT 6.2 Nancy: Universal Demand for Justice 6.2.1 CAPITAL 6.2.2 ONTOLOGICAL COMMUNISM 6.3 Badiou: Justice Open to All 6.3.1 CAPITAL 6.3.2 COMMUNISM Conclusion: Justice beyond Atheism General Conclusion: How to Follow an 'Atheism' That Never Was Bibliography

Reviews

This book is a brilliant presentation of debates between key figures in the recent turn to religion (even in the shape of an insistent atheism or a-theism) in continental philosophy. Chris Watkins positions his work very precisely between philosophies of the finite (Nancy) and of the infinite (Badiou). The author could not have his finger more firmly on the pulse of contemporary discussion of these matters. I cannot think of a book on such difficult material written with more sparkle or clarity. -- David Wood, Centennial Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University This book is a brilliant presentation of debates between key figures in the recent turn to religion (even in the shape of an insistent atheism or a-theism) in continental philosophy. Chris Watkins positions his work very precisely between philosophies of the finite (Nancy) and of the infinite (Badiou). The author could not have his finger more firmly on the pulse of contemporary discussion of these matters. I cannot think of a book on such difficult material written with more sparkle or clarity.

This book is a brilliant presentation of debates between key figures in the recent turn to religion (even in the shape of an insistent atheism or a-theism) in continental philosophy. Chris Watkins positions his work very precisely between philosophies of the finite (Nancy) and of the infinite (Badiou). The author could not have his finger more firmly on the pulse of contemporary discussion of these matters. I cannot think of a book on such difficult material written with more sparkle or clarity. -- David Wood, Centennial Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University This book is a brilliant presentation of debates between key figures in the recent turn to religion (even in the shape of an insistent atheism or a-theism) in continental philosophy. Chris Watkins positions his work very precisely between philosophies of the finite (Nancy) and of the infinite (Badiou). The author could not have his finger more firmly on the pulse of contemporary discussion of these matters. I cannot think of a book on such difficult material written with more sparkle or clarity.

Author Information

Christopher Watkin is Senior Lecturer in the Department of French at Monash University. In 2009 he published Phenomenology or Deconstruction? The Question of Ontology in Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Paul RicA""ur and Jean-Luc Nancy with Edinburgh University Press. His next project will consider the notion of equality in contemporary French thought.

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