Hostname: page-component-6bb9c88b65-zjgpb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-25T07:10:35.541Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Two of Disjunction or the Two That Makes One? Hegel and Badiou on Love

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2025

Evan Supple Open the ORCID record for Evan Supple [Opens in a new window]
Evan Supple*
Affiliation:
Athabasca University, Canadaesupple1@athabasca.edu
Get access

Abstract

For both Hegel and Badiou, love is one vehicle through which the transition from substance to subject concretely occurs, despite their respective conceptions of this transition differing drastically. Although (amicably) critical of Hegel’s Logic, Badiou—the first systematic continental philosopher since Hegel—never expressly reproaches Hegel’s conception of love, as outlined in both the Logic and the Realphilosophie lectures, but it is not Hegelian love which Badiou champions. His possible criticisms of Hegelian love can only be discerned through his explicit critiques of the Logic, in which he faults Hegel’s denial of absolute difference. Given that Badiouian love is conceived precisely as the subjective experience of absolute difference, his critique of Hegel must play a more significant role in his conceptual rehabilitation of love than is immediately evident. This paper teases out Badiou’s critique of Hegel and examines what it illuminates regarding his conception of love, as well as Hegel’s. I conclude that Badiou’s conception highlights an aspect of Hegelian love which Hegel himself does not sufficiently emphasize, but it remains too one-sided on its own and thus forces one to continue to decide in favour of Hegel.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Hegel Bulletin , First View , pp. 1 - 23
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Hegel Society of Great Britain.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Badiou, A. (2005), Being and Event, trans. Feltham, O.. London and New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Badiou, A. (2006), Theoretical Writings, ed. and trans. Brassier, R. and Toscano, A.. London and New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Badiou, A. (2007), The Century, trans. Toscano, A.. Malden: Polity.Google Scholar
Badiou, A. (2008), Conditions, trans. Corcoran, S.. London and New York: Continuum.10.5040/9781350009066CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Badiou, A. (2009), Logics of Worlds, trans. Toscano, A.. London and New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Badiou, A. and Truong, N. (2012), In Praise of Love, trans. Bush, P.. New York: New Press.Google Scholar
Bosteels, B. (2010), ‘Hegel’, in Bartlett, A. J. and Clemens, J. (eds.), Alain Badiou: Key Concepts. Durham: Acumen.Google Scholar
Clemens, J. and Feltham, O. (2005), ‘An Introduction to Alain Badiou’s Philosophy’ in Clemens, J. and Feltham, O. (eds. and trans.), Infinite Thought. London and New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Hallward, P. (2003), Badiou: A Subject to Truth. Minnesota MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Johnston, A. (2013), Prolegomena to Any Future Materialism, Volume I: The Outcome of Contemporary French Philosophy. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.10.2307/j.ctv47wc3dCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kojève, A. (1969). Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. Nichols, J. H. Jr. Ithaca: Basic Books.Google Scholar
McGowan, T. (2019), Emancipation After Hegel: Achieving A Contradictory Revolution. New York: Columbia University Press.10.7312/mcgo19270CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nancy, J. (2002), The Restlessness of the Negative, trans. Miller, S. and Smith, J.. Minneapolis MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Nicolacopoulous, T. and Vassilacopoulous, G. (2011). Hegel and the Logical Structure of Love. Melbourne: re.press.Google Scholar
Pippin, R. (2008), Hegel’s Practical Philosophy: Rational Agency as Ethical Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511808005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riera, G. (2015), ‘The Question of Art: Badiou and Hegel’, in Vernon, J. and Calcagno, A. (eds.), Hegel and Badiou: Infinity, Dialectics, Subjectivity. Lanham: Lexington.Google Scholar
Rose, G. (2017), Judaism and Modernity: Philosophical Essays. New York and London: Verso.Google Scholar
Ruda, F. (2015), For Badiou: Idealism Without Idealism. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.10.2307/j.ctv4cbgs9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vernon, J. (2015), ‘Badiou and Hegel on Love and the Family,’ in Vernon, J. and Calcagno, A. (eds.), Hegel and Badiou: Infinity, Dialectics, Subjectivity. Lanham: Lexington.10.5771/9780739199909CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zambrana, R. (2015), Hegel’s Theory of Intelligibility. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226280257.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Žižek, S. (2012), Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism. New York: Verso.Google Scholar