Some remarks on the philosophy of

Alain Badiou:
Mathematics, Ontology, Politics

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead

Oliver Kullmann
Computer Science Department
Swansea University
O.Kullmann@Swansea.ac.uk
http://cs.swan.ac.uk/~csoliver/

Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Sun Yat-sen University

Institute of Logic & Cognition
April 19, 2011

On Alain Badiou
Alain Badiou is considered by many as one of the most
important contemporary philosophers.
Born 1937 in Rabat, Morocco.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead

French philosopher: Paris VIII, then EGS (European

University for Interdisciplinary Studies).

Ontology

Published many books and essays, and some novels

and theatre plays.

Truth as a generic
set

Intense political engagement: Maoist UCFml (Union

des communistes de France marxiste-lniniste),
LOrganisation Politique.

Logic

He has built up a systematic philosophy.

Mathematics is a
thought

Platonism

Topos theory
Conclusion

On Alain Badious philosophy

Philosophers (and anti-philosophers) most
important to him are Plato, Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant,
Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, Althusser, Lacan, Deleuze.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

With all engaged in intensive investigations, at a

critical distance.

Prologue: God is
dead

Important enemies are Nietzsche and Wittgenstein

(and also Aristotle).

Mathematics is a
thought

Rigorous foundation of his philosophy on ontology

via set theory, and logic via topos theory.
The notions of

Ontology

Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory

Being, Truth, Subject, Event, World (situation)

are perhaps most fundamental for him.
Derives from these foundations clear theories and
judgements regarding ethics and politics (generic
communism).

Conclusion

Aims of this talk

For me, Alain Badiou is the most interesting
contemporary philosopher, and his new approach,
towards a mathematically-based thinking of Being,
Subjects, and the good life, I regard as potentially
ground-breaking.
So my main goal of this talk is to raise interest in Alain
Badious work.
I hope it creates the desire to read more from him.
I will concentrate on the systematic, mathematical
aspects (they are crucial).
His two major works are Being and Event I + II
([Badiou, 2006b, Badiou, 2009]).
I will take Briefings on Existence ([Badiou, 2006c]) as
the guideline of this talk.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Outline
1

Introduction

Prologue: God is dead

Ontology

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology

Mathematics is a thought

Mathematics is a
thought

Truth as a generic set

Truth as a generic
set

Platonism

Logic

Platonism

Topos theory

Conclusion

Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The One is Not

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead

A core issue for Badiou is that at the same time

we need to think totality, the absolute,
and we must abstain from all external powers or
principles, from the One (these are false solutions).

Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism

The One comes in various guises as God.

Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The living god of religion I

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

If God is dead is asserted, it is because the

God spoken of was alive and belonged to the
dimension of life.
...
The Subject must deal with Him as with an
experienced power in the present. He must be
encountered, and encountered on ones own.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The living god of religion II

I take the formula God is dead literally. It has
happened. Or, as Rimbaud said, it has passed.
God is finished. And religion is finished, too. As
Jean-Luc Nancy has strongly stated, there is
something irreversible here. What is ultimately
import in this is to figure out the subjective
mechanism explaining how people can so easily
believe that is is nothing of the sort and that
religion prospers; or even, as it is so often said
at this time, that religion returns. Admittedly,
nothing returns, and we do not have to believe in
specters. The Deceased drifts away solitary and
forgotten in His anonymous, stateless tomb.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The god of metaphysics I

It is one of the numerous merits of Quentin
Meillassouxs recent thesis to have ascertained
in a powerfully original ontological and ethical
aim the God of metaphysics to have always
been the central gun in the rationalist war
machine against the living God of religion.
...
The great metaphysical work of the mortification
of God begins with a blast as early as the
Greeks.
...
In this respect, Aristotles God is exemplary.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The god of metaphysics II

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

The word God names these operations of

completion.
...
Let it be said then that the God of metaphysics
makes sense of existing according to a proof,
while the God of religion makes sense of living
according to an encounter.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The god(s) of poets I

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

In addition to the historically dead God of

religions and the subsequently deconstructed
metaphysical God, which besides in
post-Cartesian humanism can take on the name
of Man, one ought to propose to thought a third
God or divine principle of an altogether other
order.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The god(s) of poets II

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

This god, or these gods, or the divine principle

do exist. They are the creation of romanticism
and distinctly of the poet Hlderlin. This is why I
name it the God of poets. It is neither the living
Subject of religion, although it is certainly about
living close to Him. Nor is it the Principle of
metaphysics, although it is all about finding in
His proximity the fleeing sense of Totality. It is
that from which, for the poet, there is the
enchantment of the world. As there is also its
loss, which exposes one to idleness.

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The god(s) of poets III

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

The central poetic expression concerning It is as

follows: this God has withdrawn and left the
world as prey to idleness. The question of the
poem is thus that of the retreat of the gods. It
coincides neither with the philosophical question
of God nor the religious one.
...
Strictly speaking, it is a nostalgic relationship. It
melancholically envisages a chance to
re-enchant the world through the gods
improbable return.

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The god(s) of poets IV

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

on earth an obscuring of the world comes forth

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology

(Heidegger, Introduction to Metaphysics)

Nur noch ein Gott kann uns retten.
(Only a god can save us.)

Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism

(interview with Martin Heidegger, Der Spiegel, 1976).

Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Our task I
I call contemporary atheism what breaks with
this disposition. It is about no longer entrusting
the nostalgic God of the return with the joint
balance of the death of the living God and the
deconstruction of the metaphysical God. All in
all, it is about finishing up with promises. ...
It is thus imperative, so as to be serenely
established in the irreversible element of Gods
death, to finish up with the motif of finitude.
Finitude is like the trace of an afterlife in the
movement that entrusts the overcoming of the
religion-God and the metaphysics-God to the
poem-God.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Our task II

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics

Committed to the triple destitution of the

gods, we, inhabitants of the Earths infinite Oliver Kullmann
sojourn, can assert that everything is here, Introduction
always here, and that thoughts reserve lies Prologue: God is
dead
in the thoroughly informed and firmly
Ontology
declared egalitarian plattitude of what
Mathematics is a
thought
befalls upon us here. Here is the place
Truth as a generic
where truths come to be. Here we are
set
infinite. Here nothing is promised to us,
Platonism
only to be faithful to what befalls upon us. Logic
Topos theory

All of the developments to follow, as abstract as

they will often appear, should be conceived as in
a meditation, in the clearing of the Gods death,
of what must be thought in the word: here.

Conclusion

Ontology without One I

The question from which I began speculating
can now be formulated as follows: Can the One
be unsealed from Being? Can the metaphysical
enframing of Being by the One be severed
without in turn becoming involved in the
Heideggerian idea of destiny, or without
entrusting thought to the unfounded promise of
a redemptory returning? For, with Heidegger
himself, the thinking of metaphysics as a history
of Being is bound to an announcement whose
ultimate expression is that only a god can save
us.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Ontology without One II

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

Can thought be saved without having to appeal

to the prophecy of a return of the gods? For that
matter, has thought not always saved itself, by
which I mean: saved itself from the normative
power of the One?

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Five conditions

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

There are five conditions for any ontology of the

multiple to be conceived in its defection from the
Ones power. These conditions also stand for
any ontology that is faithful to the struggle
philosophy has waged against its own
metaphysical tendency.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Preview: Set theory I

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

At this point, enlightened by the Cantorian

grounding of mathematics, we can assert
ontology to be nothing other than mathematics
itself. This has been the case ever since its
Greek origin. However, mathematics has
managed only with considerable difficulty and at
the cost of toil and tiresome recasting to ensure
the free play of its own conditions. Ever since its
Greek inception, ontology has struggled with
itself against the metaphysical temptation.

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Preview: Set theory II

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

It can be said that with Cantor we move from

special ontology, which still links the multiple to
the metaphysical theme of representing objects,
numbers and figures, to general ontology,
which sets the free, thoughtful apprehending of
multiplicity as such as the basis and destination
of mathematics. It forever ceases to constraint
the thinkable to the special dimension of
object.

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

I: A multiple is a multiple

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

Ontology is the thought of the inconsistent

manifold, that is, of what is reduced without an
immanent unification to the sole predicate of its
multiplicity.

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought

In Cantors sense, the set has no other essence

than to be a manifold. It has no external
determination since nothing limits the way it
seizes another thing. Nor does it have an
internal determination, for that of which it is the
multiple recollection is itself irrelevant.

Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

II: There are only multiples

The multiple is radically without-One in that it
itself consists only of multiples. What there is, or
the exposure to the thinkable of what there is
under the sole requirement of the there is, are
multiples of multiples.
In Zermelo and Fraenkels stabilized elaboration,
there is no other nondefined primitive term or
value possible for the variables apart from sets.
Hence, every element of a set is itself a set. This
accomplishes the idea that every multiple is a
multiple of multiples, with not reference to units
of any kind.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

III: Infinity without restriction I

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

Granted that no immanent limit related to the

One determines multiplicity as such, there is no
first principle of finitude. The multiple can thus
be considered infinite. Or even, infinity is
another name of multiplicity as such. As no first
principle binds infinity to the One, it ought to be
tenable for there to be an infinite amount of
infinites, an infinite dissemination of infinite
multiplicities.

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

III: Infinity without restriction II

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

Georg Cantor fully recognized not only the

existence of infinite sets, but also the existence
of infinitely many such sets. This infinity is itself
absolutely open-ended. It is sealed only the by
impossible and therefore real point that makes it
inconsistent, namely, knowing the set of all sets
cannot exist. In fact, this accomplishes
Lucretius a-cosmic philosophy.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

IV: Everything out of the mark of nothing

Given that a multiple can [could] be considered
as not being a multiple of multiples, we should
withhold on reintroducing the One here. Instead,
let us consider a multiple to be a multiple of
nothing [finally]. And nothing will be endowed
with a consistency principle, though not
anymore than multiples themselves will.
There does exist a set of nothing, or a set that
has no multiple as an element. This is the empty
set. It is a pure mark from which all multiples of
multiples are woven. The equivalence of Being
and the Letter is thus achieved so long as there
is subtraction from the normative power of the
One.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Interlude: the essence of numbers

The natural numbers can be naturally modelled as sets:

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

0 :=
1 := {0}
2 := {0, 1}
3 := {0, 1, 2}

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought

and so on (in general n := {0, . . . , n 1}).

Truth as a generic
set

Badiou considers these definitions, and more importantly,

the definition of ordinal numbers according to von
Neumann (a transitive set where all elements are also
transitive), as of fundamental ontological importance.

Platonism

He also assigns fundamental philosophical importance to

the concept of surreal number (again, looking closely also
at the set-theoretical definition).

Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

V: No first principles, but decisions

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

Actual ontological presentation is necessarily

axiomatic.
As the core of its presentation, Set Theory is
nothing else than the theorys body of axioms.
The set is not a part of it, let alone is the
definition of that word. The upshot of this is that
the essence of the thought of the pure multiple
does not require a dialectical principle.
Furthermore, the freedom of thinking in harmony
with Being is in the axiomatic decision and
not in the intuition of a norm.

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Remark: sets as count-as-one

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

We need the One, but only as an operation, namely as

the operation of forming a set:
Out of the inconsistent totality of all sets the
mathematical objects are created (perhaps Badiou
would use things here).
This operation allows us to treat something as one
(one set), as an object which we can carry around
(we can do whatever we like with it).
However always an act is needed.

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

No thought (about something) I

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

With Heidegger and Wittgenstein (the linguistic

turn), mathematics is blind calculation, a language
game.
Already Aristotle said, that since mathematics is only
about quasi-objects, not real objects, it is ultimately
(just) a rigorous aesthetics.
So we have the absence of the category of truth and
the tendency towards relativism (hidden behind the
formula what works).

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

No thought (about something) II

... in its real becoming, philosophy has only had
too great a tendency to claim mathematics does
not accede to the status of genuine thought
despite having had to examine it as admittedly
necessary for its own existence. On this matter
philosophy yielded to the sophistic injunction.
This is partly responsible for the reduction of
mathematics to the simple rank of computation
or technology. It is a ruinous image for
mathematics one to which current opinion
readily reduces it with the aristocratic complicity
of mathematicians themselves. Mathematicians
have willingly settled on believing that common
folks understand nothing on their science.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

When mathematics thinks its own thought

In the section on Platonism the question about what
mathematics thinks (about) will be considered again.
Here we only give three important examples for crisis,
where mathematics was forced to reflect on its own
thoughts that is, on its existential decisions:
1

The diagonal of a square is incommensurable with its

side. (The existence of irrational numbers.)
Freges class theory and its inconsistencies. (The
existence of sets in general.)
The realisation that the axiom of choice was used by
mathematicians who only wanted to admit
constructive means. (The existence of (highly)
inconstructible sets.)

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Orientations

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

I call an orientation in thought that which

regulates the assertions of existence in this
thought. An orientation in thought is either what
formally authorizes the inscription of an
existential quantifier at the head of a formula,
which lays out the properties a region of Being is
assumed to have. Or it is what ontologically sets
up the universe of the pure presentation of the
thinkable.

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Rudiments of situations

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

A situation can (and should) be understood as a

set.

Introduction

The elements of a set are the participants.

Ontology

The subsets are what it accounted for by the state

of the situation (the state does not consider
individuals, but only groups).
Situations are infinite.
Thus(!) the state of a situation typically does not
contain all subsets.

Prologue: God is
dead

Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Rudiments of truths

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

Truth is to be separated from knowledge (ideology).

A truth procedure introduces a new constellation,
which was suppressed before.
This happens by forcing of new subsets to be taken
into account, thereby fundamentally changing the
situation.
The proletarians are nothing. And they will become
everything.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Generic sets
The method of forcing, invented by Cohen to solve the
Continuum Problem, creates generic sets.
Generic sets avoid all existing knowledge.
Thus they can not be taken account by the existing
structure, and something really new is created.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology

This is the role model of truth for Badiou.

Mathematics is a
thought

A(!) truth belongs to a world, and changes it

fundamentally.

Truth as a generic
set

It revolutionises the knowledge in the world.

The random decisions involved in creating the new
truth, the new generic subsets, are made by the
subjects.
It is constitutive for a subject to be a subject for a
truth.

Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The common caricature of Platonism I

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

From [Philosophy of Mathematics; Benaceraff, Putnam]:

Platonists will be those who consider
mathematics to be the discovery of truths about
structures that exist independently of the activity
or thought of mathematicians.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The common caricature of Platonism II

Badiou:
The independent existence of mathematical
structures should be highlighted as something
completely relative for Plato. What the metaphor
of reminiscence refers to is precisely that
thought is not, or indeed is never, confronted to
objectivities from which it would be separate.
The Idea is always already posed, here and
now. It it were not activated in thought, it would
remain unthinkable.
...
Where there a point on which his is Parmenides
son, it would be when asserting, the same is
thinking and Being.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

A better definition

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

From this idea, we can attempt to draft a

definition of the Platonic inscription of the
mathematical condition of philosophizing:
Platonism is the recognition of mathematics as a
thought that is intransitive to sensible and
linguistic experience, and dependent on a
decision that makes space for the undecidable,
while assuming that everything consistent exists.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

The Platonic philosophical orientation

1

Mathematics is a thought.
... There is a regulated movement of thought,
coextensive to the being it embodies, which Plato
named Idea. It is a movement wherein discovery
and invention are strictly indiscernible, in the way the
idea and its ideatum are indiscernible.
Every thought and therefore, mathematics sets
off decision (intuitions) from the standpoint of the
undecidable (of nondeducible inference).
... This is why the Platonist sees nothing to change,
provided the effects of thought be maximal, regarding
free usage of the law of the excluded middle and
consequently of the reductio ad absurdum.
Mathematical questions on existence refer only to
the intelligible consistency of what is thought.
... give precedence to decided consistencies over
controlled constructions.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

What is the truth of logic?

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann

Let me put this more bluntly. If the knot between

thought and Being, which is philosophically
referred to as truth, is not of a grammatical
essence, or if it falls under the condition of the
event, chance, decision, and a-topical fidelity,
and not under the condition of anthropological
rules and logics of language or culture, then we
can ask ourselves what exactly is the ontological
determination of mathematized logic.

Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Six theses on a new logic I

From [Badiou, 2006c]:
1. We have to break with the linguistic turn that has
seized philosophy.
2. Such a break is required because this orientation in
thought ends up with the pure and simple dislocation
of philosophical desire as such. Either we attain the
Anglo-Saxon space in which philosophy has become
a vast scholasticism, a grammar of positions, indeed
a pragmatism of cultures. Or we wind up with the
Heideggerian dependency, in which one has to
entrust the salvation of thought to post-philosophical
operations and a fragmentary archi-aesthetics.
3. At the heart of the conditions of the linguistic turn,
there is the formal identification of logic with
mathematics, authorized in the final analysis by the
mathematization of logic.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Six theses on a new logic II

4. A new thought has to philosophically be produced on
the delimitation between mathematics and logic,
albeit acknowledging that logic has indeed been
mathematized.
5. Mathematics is posited as the science of Being qua
Being, or ontology strictly speaking.
6. That logic is mathematized indicates a correlation
that has yet to be thought between an ontological
decision and a logical form. It is this correlation we
seek to bring about in the shape of an irreducible
gap.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Propositional logic: Boolean Algebras

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

The most fundamental logical structures are boolean

algebras.
They are based on the connectives , , .
Interesting to note that all boolean algebras lead to
the same propositional logic.
Implication is defined in them via a b := a b.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Propositional logic: Heyting Algebras

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

To consider more general logics regarding negation,

it is useful to consider implication as a basic
operation.
Then negation is defined via a := a , using the
constant for false.
Heyting algebras generalise boolean algebras, and
in their generality correspond to intuitionistic logic.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Cartesian closed categories

A fundamental equation of Heyting algebras is
(a b) c = a (b c).

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead

Interpreting as exponentiation, this is another

fundamental law:
c ab = (c b )a .
Exponentiation can be considered for numbers here, but
more fundamental is to consider y x as the set of all maps
(morphisms) from x to y .
The natural universal property of exponentiation then
yields the notion of a cartesian closed category,
generalising Heyting algebras.

Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Topoi
A basic property of sets is that the subsets of a set X
are in 1-1 correspondence to {0, 1}X .
The natural universal property of this
correspondence yields subobject classifiers in
arbitrary categories (where they dont need to exist,
of course).
A topos is a cartesian closed category with a
subobject classifier.
In a topos we have power sets X , where is the
general replacement for {0, 1}.
Thus topoi are structures which can be considered as
generalised universes of set theory.
Inside a topos, the subobject classifier allows to define a
truth object we obtain the internal logic of a topos.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Topoi as the basis for worlds

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction

Topos theory is used by Badiou to define the notion of a

world:
The truth object is taken as the transcendental of
the world.
The beings in a world are set-theoretical objects, but
their logic is regulated by the transcendental.
It seems that different worlds communicate via the
ontological stitching given by their elements.

Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

5 theses on logic I
From [Badiou, 2006c]:
1

Logic is not a formalization, syntax or linguistic

device. It is a mathematical description of possible
mathematical universes beneath the generic concept
of a topos. A mathematical universe, a topos,
localizes its own logic.
A possible mathematical universe lays out its
constraining correlates between certain ontological
features and certain features of its immanent logic.
The study of these correlations comprises the
fundamental content of logic itself.
Mathematics is accomplished by axiomatic decisions
that set up a possible universe as real. The outcome
incurs logical constraints. The latter are logically
thought out by the logic of possible universes. They
are practiced but not thought by real mathematics.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

5 theses on logic II
4

Consequently, the irreducible gap between logic and

mathematics holds by a blind spot to a
thought-decision, which is that every decision of this
kind installs a logic that is practiced as necessary,
although it is a consequence of the decision.
Mathematical logic is a clearing of this blindness, for
it thinks the onto-logical correlation. Yet to do so, it
must regress from the Real to the Possible, as the
Real is only encountered beneath the axiomatic
imperative. The Possible only lends itself to
description provided it occurs through various
regimens of definitions and classifications.
Delivered from its syntactical and linguistic hold, logic
is always geometric logic. In other words, it is also
the (global) logic of (local) logic.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Major research directions

I The mathematics of forcing and the relations to
philosophical interpretations need to be investigated
in full rigour, considering all three methods to solve
CH (forcing, boolean models, topos theory), and
especially taking the distinction between object- and
meta-level into account, and what capabilities
subjects needed to actually carry out a forcing.
II His definition of worlds needs mathematical and
empirical exploration. Can the notion of "worlds" be
connected with empirical worlds?
III How do worlds communicate with each other?
IV Can the notion of event be mathematiced? (Badiou
believes it never can, since the event is not part of
Being.)

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Remarks on the literature

If you really want to know about Alain Badious work,
then [Badiou, 2006b, Badiou, 2009] are mandatory.
For this talk, all quotations are from [Badiou, 2006c],
which is a book between [Badiou, 2006b] and
[Badiou, 2009], giving a summary of the former, and
discussing the path towards the latter.
Another good introduction is the collection of essays
[Badiou, 2006a].
As secondary literature, helping reading
[Badiou, 2006b] (especially regarding the political
and philosophical content), see [Norris, 2009].
A very readable introduction into Badious
non-mathematical thinking (however always in
contact with the foundations) is [Badiou, 2001].

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Bibliography I
Badiou, A. (2001).
Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil.
Wo Es War. Verso.
ISBN 1-85984-297-6; originally published 1998,
translated by Peter Hallward.
Badiou, A. (2006a).
Badiou: Theoretical Writings.
Continuum.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8264-9324-8; edited and translated
by Ray Brassier and Alberto Toscano.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory

Badiou, A. (2006b).
Being and Event.
Continuum.
ISBN-13 978-0-8264-9529-7; translated by Oliver
Feltham; originally published 1988.

Conclusion

Bibliography II
Badiou, A. (2006c).
Briefings on Existence: A Short Treatise on Transitory
Ontology.
State University of New York Press.
ISBN-13 978-0-7914-6804-3; translated, edited, and
with an introduction by Norman Madarasz, orginally
published 1998.
Badiou, A. (2009).
Logics of Worlds: Being and Event II.
Continuum.
ISBN-13 978-0-8264-9470-2; translated by Alberto
Toscano; originally published 2006.

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Bibliography III

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead

Norris, C. (2009).
Badious Being and Event.
Readers Guides. Continuum.
ISBN-13 978-0-8264-9829-8.

Ontology
Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion

Some remarks on
the philosophy of
Alain Badiou:
Mathematics,
Ontology, Politics
Oliver Kullmann
Introduction
Prologue: God is
dead
Ontology

End

Mathematics is a
thought
Truth as a generic
set
Platonism
Logic
Topos theory
Conclusion