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ISSN 1751-8229Volume Five, Number Two

Graduate Special Issue iek & Badiou

Agalmaat the void: on the ub!e"t o# anevental ublime

Adam Drury, Oregon State University

Over the last two decades, Slavoj ieks Lacanian anti!hiloso!hy and Alain "adious

materialist dialectic !hiloso!hy can #e seen to have a!!roached each other asym!totically

$ intentionally, and also inevita#ly so% &ithout 'uestion, the convergence o( their

res!ective movements o( thought makes (or a !otent and indis!ensa#le critical war

machine% And es!ecially so (or those to whom !sychoanalysis and materialistdialectical

!hiloso!hy re!resent, in the !resent, a long tradition o( intellectual resistance to ca!italism

and the theoretical destruction o( the demokratic materialism that under!ins its glo#al

regime% )hat is to say, when we are s!eaking o( "adiou and iek in the conte*t o( the

!olitical, we are s!eaking o( the +dea o( ommunism, and nothing else%

So when Alain "adiou writes, tucked away in a short note in the #ack o( Logics of

Worlds, that -we make u! a !olit#uro o( two which decides who will #e the (irst to shoot the

other,. /"adiou 01123 4567 he shares with us more than just some !lay(ul hy!er#ole

concerning his relationshi! with iek8 instead, the jokes Stalinist (ramework reveals an

a!!arently #rutal mutuale*clusivity o( the meta!olitical conse'uences o( these authors

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divided conce!tuali9ations o( the real%:+n light o( "adious and ieks antihumanist

advocacy (or the return to the +dea o( ommunism, their de#ate concerning the real

ac'uires critical urgency, since what is ultimately at stake is a theori9ation o( the

egalitarianemanci!atory su#ject%

+ will address this de#ate #y analy9ing what + take to #e its two main com!onents%)here is, !rimarily, the 'uestion o( structure, which is to say the 'uestion o( #odies% ;ore

!recisely, the 'uestion involves the theory o( incor!oration o( two #odies $ in this case, the

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Agalmaat the void

+ take as a !oint o( de!arture the ju*ta!osition o( two ostensi#ly disconnected !assages

(rom Alain "adious Logics of Worlds% )he (irst, which is actually a se'uence o( two theses,

a!!ears in the scholium -A ;usical >ariant o( the ;eta!hysics o( the Su#ject. thatconcludes "ook +8 + have distilled it3

?our a((ects signal the incor!oration o( a human animal into a su#jectivetruth!rocess3 )error, the desire (or a @reat oint8 an*iety, the desire (orcontinuity and monotonous shelter8 courage, which a((irms the ine*ora#lediscontinuity o( !oints8 justice, where the categories o( the act aresu#ordinated to the contingency o( worlds% BC )o o!!ose the value o(courage and justice to the ++3

&hen Lacan says that

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and s!ontaneity and #etween o#jective and su#jective. /"adiou 01123 06:07% )his

undecida#ility announces itsel( in the (orm o( a reversi#ility #etween the !ure or em!ty

(orm o( the

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which makes o( the undecida#ility o( the o#ject as logical (orm without content the !rinci!le

o( the Lacanian su#jecte((ect%

)his other !ath is the one taken #y the Slovenian Lacanians, nota#ly Alenka

Ku!ani and Slavoj iek, who !ersuasively argue that Lacans objet ais Iants

transcendental o#ject in disguise% +t is through the collective (orce o( their arguments thatthe constellation o( o#jecta((ectsu#ject emerges in an alignment that serves as a !artial

(oundation (or the idea o( the evental su#lime% )hese arguments are, !recisely3 ieks

delineation o( the relationshi! #etween objet aand the real, through a recognition o( the

shi(t in @erman +dealism (rom the su#ject o( transcendental a!!erce!tion /Iant7 to the

su#ject as crack in universal Su#stance /Jegel78 and Ku!anis e*!osure o( anxietyas

the category o( a((ect lying in the heart o( a su#jective !ro*imity to objet a%4+n (act, it is

!ossi#le to discern a !aralla* ga! in the conce!t o( an*iety which induces itsanamor!hosis% "adiou lists an*iety as one o( the (our a((ects involved in an individuals

incor!oration into the su#ject#ody o( a truth $ an*iety is here distinctly

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su#ject in su#lime e*!erience, must also #e a re!resentation /Ku!ani 01113 :H27%5And

the name (or the representation of the moral la!is none other than superego%

&hat is the (unction o( this su!eregoic moral law, that is o( the moral law as its

re!resentation in the (ield o( su#jective e*!erience= iek answers3 we #egin with a

Jegelian rea((irmation o( the Iantian

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sel(% +n other words, the !arado* o( the su#lime is that the same e*!erience could lead

either to the elevation o( the sel( over any !ur!oseless monstrosity Pature can throw at it,

or it could lead to the radical evacuation o( the ego, and the total withdrawal o( the su#ject

(rom the world% )he latter !ossi#ility, (amously, is the #asis o( the !sychoanalytic cure%

Since the transcendental o#ject is designated #y Lacan as objet a$ i%e% the secret,innermost !art o( my sel(identity, the agalmawithout which + would lose all consistency o(

the (antasy o( mysel( as an individual

fantasme, involves the su#jects a((irmation o( the agalmaas a sem#lance, whereu!on +

die, yet go on living%

)he !ath o( the cure, o( course, is not at all the !ath taken #y Iant and, one might

add, this is to his great satis(action%2Pevertheless, the !sychic cost o( su#lime

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the su!erego as the !lace o(jouissance/Ku!ani 01113 :4G7% And since the su#ject has

#een (or#idden the !ossi#ility o( a !ure ethical act, he can only a!!roach it ad infinitumin a

series o( attem!ts that will out o( necessity always (all short% Such, argues Ku!ani

/(ollowing Lacans thesis -Iant a&ecSade.7, is the Sadeian !ers!ective o( the su#lime as a

(antasy o( in(inite su((ering, where every o#ject is su#lime inso(ar as it reveals the su#jectsim!otence in (ront o( an a#solute Other% )his, then, #egs the 'uestion o( how it is !ossi#le

(or such a tormenting (antasy to #e sustained, and moreover sustained as relatively

!leasing% Iant himsel( !rovides the answer% +n order (or the entire movement o( the

su#lime to #e set in motion, my actual, !hysical #ody cannot #e in any realdanger% +n the

(ace o( dis!lays o( Patures (erocity, -!rovided our own !osition is secure, their as!ect is all

the more attractive (or its (ear(ulness8 and we readily call these o#jects su#lime. /Iant

:25:3 ::1:7% Jar!ing on the !un o( a

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-foreign to the mode of representation. /Ku!ani 01113 :H07% ?oreignness to

re!resentation means that, although an a((ect,

o#jectively valid is the !roduct o( a (undamental loss, i%e% the )hing in me that thinks% et

the outcome o( Jegels

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su#lime% )he logic o( this

/su#ject7 to the site o( his inscri!tion as !ure su#jectivity, a site whose ontological value is

!recisely &oid%:0+n other words, the !sychoanalytic su#lime is the logical inverse o(the

Iantian su#lime, and is there(ore a#le to articulate an ethical act that Iant ultimately (inds

inaccessi#le%Let us say, then, that it is now !ossi#le to !ro!ose a (ormula (or the eventalsu#lime that draws a shar! distinction (rom its su!eregoic Iantian !redecessor3 the

e&ental sublimeis a su#jects encounter with agalma at the &oid% )he !rinci!le affectthat

signals the evental su#lime is Lacanian anxietyat its !urest% +n what (ollows, + will attem!t

to ground the !redicate e&entalin the (ormula o( the su#lime as agalma at the &oid, in

order to achieve a !ossi#le liaison #etween "adious !hiloso!hy and Lacanian anti

!hiloso!hy%

$n evental ublime ob!e"t%

+nevita#ly, !ro#lems !resent themselves immediately% Neturning to the (irst !assage (rom

Logics of Worlds/cited a#ove7, "adiou !rovides a de(inition o( an*iety that is rather (ar

removed (rom Lacans% Jere is the com!lete de(inition3

)he second Ban*iety testi(ies to the (ear o( !oints, the retreat #e(ore the o#scurity o(the discontinuous, o( everything that im!oses a choice without guarantee #etweentwo hy!otheses% )o !ut it otherwise, this a((ect signals the desire for continuity, (or amonotonous shelter% /"adiou 01123 F5, my italics7

+t is im!ossi#le not to notice how similar "adiouvian an*iety is to the reactionary (eeling o(

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integral to the !ossi#ility o( such an act (or Lacan, it is clear that "adiouvian anxiety, a

-retreat.(rom the unknowa#le dimension o( an act, is the o!!osite% )he only other

"adiouvian a((ect that resem#les Lacanian an*iety is terror, inso(ar as it -testi(ies to the

desire (or a @reat oint, a decisi&e discontinuityC. /"adiou 01123 F5, my italics7% "ut the

homology eva!orates as soon as one reads that this desire (or a

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drive is thus a kind o(

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;ar*ism%. &hat is !erha!s most im!ortant to recogni9e (rom the outset is that in this later

article, the em!hasis shi(ts (rom E, death drive= /iek 011G3 :6F7

+n this notsoslighto(hand, iek stacks the deck against "adiou8 this is not just a

re(erence to Lacan, it is a re(erence to the entire !antheon o( thinkers that stand as

"adious most (ormida#le o!!osition $ Jegel, Lacan, %%%and Deleu9e $ and iek does somerely with a clever e*tension o( the !arado*ical status o( objet a% And it is (urthermore no

accident that, having (ound his strictly JegeloLacanian o!!osition to "adiou lacking, iek

su!!lements it with Deleu9e% ?or the event, according to Deleu9e, is nothing other than

sense, which means -to argue that the event #elongs to the register o( sense ti!s it over

entirely onto the side o( language. /"adiou 01123 6F57% +n my view, iek moves too

'uickly with this Deleu9ian su!!lementation% Although the e'uation o( event with sense

may seem to rein(orce the Lacanian element o( ieks criti'ue, inso(ar is it !laces the

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em!hasis entirely on language, it does not acknowledge the re(inements made #y the later

Lacan a!ro!os o( the conce!t o( the matheme% )o wit, the Lacanian Neal is certainly this

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+t is necessary to return to Iant, or rather "adious de!arture (rom Iant, a!ro!os

the conce!t o( the o#ject% + have said that the reverse side o( "adious o#jectless su#ject is

a su#jectless o#ject, or at least an o#ject that does not in the (irst !lace im!ly a su#ject or

su#jective (aculty% + am returning to this terrain #ecause "adious conce!t o( the evental

site is a direct conse'uence o( his reca!itulation sans subjecto( Iantian o#jectivity% +nIant, the o#jective validity o( a given !henomenon de!ends on a schematic relationshi!

#etween the intuition and understanding, intuition $ which concern intensive and e*tensive magnitudes $ where Iant -assumes that

an e*tensive magnitude is one

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su#lime is also divorced (rom its e!istemological enchainment to a technology o( reading

re!resentations o( su#jectiveQindividual e*!erience against each other $ that is, (rom its

de!loyment in deconstructive and Pew Jistoricist critical idioms% +nstead, the e&ental

su#lime would designate the ontological !arado* "adiou calls

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e*istence is crucial% +n the (irst !lace, the evental multi!licity o( the site vanishes8 -all the

events !ower is consumed in the e*istential trans(iguration. /"adiou 01:13 0007% )hus, it is

the a#soluteness o( the new e*istence, its ma*imal intensity in the logic o( a!!earing, that

is -the su#sisting mark, in the world, o( the event itsel(. /"adiou 01:13 0067% "adiou names

this su#sisting mark -trace. BtracT, the !ath or statement that inaugurates an eternal truth%A#ove, + esta#lished the o#jectal com!onent o( the evental su#lime on the #asis o(

"adious classi(ication o( an eventsite as an o#ject whose autoa!!earance attains a

ma*imal intensity% + then demonstrated this classi(ications conce!tual link to the Iantian

classi(ication o( su#lime o#jects% ?urthermore, the logical relationshi! #etween the

ma*imally true im!lication o( an event, the ma*imality o( its antecedent /the site7, and the

a#soluteness o( its conse'uent, allows (or the assertion o( the su#limity o( the event as

transitive $ it is a 'uality o( #oth the eventsites a!!earanceQdisa!!earance andthe traceo( the event% ;ore s!eci(ically, the evental su#limity o( a trace consists in the a#soluteness

o( its e*istence%

As an /evental su#lime7 o#ject, the a#soluteness o( the trace necessitates a violent

torsion o( worldly a!!earing, -a mutation o( its logic,. a wholly new transcendental

evaluation o( the situation8 and yet, -worldly order cannot #e su#verted to the !oint o(

#eing a#le to re'uire the a#olition o( a logical law o( situations. /"adiou 01:13 0067%

onse'uently, the intensi(ication o( the o#jects e*istence (rom nil to a#solute necessitates

the destruction o( another element% "ut what is striking is the voca#ulary "adiou uses to

descri#e this destruction3

Every situation has at least one !ro!er ine*istent as!ect, and i( this as!ectha!!ens to #e sublimatedinto a#solute e*istence, another element o( thesite must cease to e*ist, there#y kee!ing the law intact and ultimatelypreser&ing the coherence of appearing/"adiou 01:13 00H, my italics7%

)his voca#ulary is striking #ecause o( its similarity to Lacans demonstration, in The "thicsof -sychoanalysis, that the Iantian notion o( the su#lime is in line with the ?reudian notion

o( su#limation% Jere,

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su#limated to the order o( the Neal)hing to stand in (or its lack% "ut i( one grants

!recedence to the ontology of the e&ent)site, as does "adiou, the su#lime o#ject is the

trace whose su#limation does not (ill in some ga! in a!!earing $ in truth, it !asthis

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transcendental laws o( a!!earing and, on the other, the !resent engendered#y a su#jectivi9a#le #ody, a !resent that initiates an eternal truth% )his is alsothe ga! #etween the multi!le#ody o( the human animal and its su#jectiveincor!oration% /"adiou 01123 HF:7

et in -)he +dea o( ommunism,. "adiou (ormali9es the o!eration o( the +dea in the

register o( Lacans three orders o( the su#ject%06Jere, the real, the imaginary, and the

sym#olic corres!ond to the a#stract totali9ation o( an +deas three #asic elements3 -a truth

!rocedure Breal, a #elonging to history Bsym#olic, and an individual su#jectivation

Bimaginary. /"adiou 01:13 0647% ?ocusing on the element o( an individual su#jectivation in

the conte*t o( the +dea o( ommunism, we see that it involves an imaginary o!eration that

!rojects a (ragment o( the !olitical real $ in this case, emanci!atory !olitics $ into the

sym#olic narrative o( a Jistory /"adiou 01:13 0627% ?or the ommunards o( :FG:, this

su#jectivation meant the decision, !rojecting the real o( an emanci!atory !olitics into the

narrative o( universal history, to #reak with the le(t and to #uild a new world u!on the

!rinci!le o( the a#solute !olitical ca!acity o( the !roletariat% )he trace o( this event,

ca!tured in the ommittees declaration on ;arch :2, e*ists always% )hus "adiou

!ro!oses the (ollowing task to thought3 to #ring a#out the !olitical visi#ility o( that

declaration in such a way as to reactivate the ma*imal intensity o( its e*istence $ that is, to

make the trace o( the ommune event the o#ject o( a su#jectivating decision (or

individuals today% +t is im!ortant to notice, however, that with the assertion o( the

a#soluteness o( the trace, "adiou can descri#e the o!eration o( the +dea through Lacans

(ormalism o( the Su#ject without the inter(erence o( his criti'ue o( Lacans theory o(

incor!oration% "ut how $ what has ha!!ened to his situating the singularity o( a human

individual one notch (urther than that theory, to o#serving the ga! #etween human animal

and su#jectivation= +n -)he +dea o( ommunism,. although that criti'ue may not #e

!resent, the conse'uence o( it is3 (rom as early as Th*orie du Sujet/:2F07, "adious

theory o( incor!oration has included the idea that a !erson, -while remaining the individualthat he or she is, can also #ecome an active !art o( a new Su#ject. /"adiou 01:13 06H7% +n

other words, "adiouvian su#jectivation does not include or re'uire the act o( the

!sychoanalytic cure,la tra&ers*e du fantasme8 at the level o( my individuality, my

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se!aration, alienation, and -total mo#ili9ation. /Vnger7% Schi9oanalysis, (rom a di((erent

angle, argues that the sei9ure o( desire #y the ca!italist mode o( desiring!roduction (orms

the real #asis o( the activity o( individuals as economic su#jects% Even more (orce(ully,

there e*ists a #ody o( te*ts, !u#lished anonymously under the name Tiqqun, which have

!ut (orward an e*treme radicali9ation o( what is already !ointed to within the two majorstrategies o( the work o( ?oucault, i%e% the su#stitution o( a historical analysis o( the

micro!hysics o( governmentality (or the history o( sovereignty, and the su#stitution o( a

historical analysis o( su#jectivation and !ractices o( the sel( (or the history o( theories o(

the su#ject%0Het whereas with ?oucault these two analyses remain correlative, in the

Tiqqunte*ts they (ind a !oint o( junction% )oday, a!!aratuses o( governance and

!rocesses o( su#jectivation (ully coincide with one another, such that -a theory o( the

su#ject is no longer !ossi#le e*ce!t as a theory o( a!!aratuses%.

04

"adious a!!roach iscom!letely di((erent% &hile Tiqqunacknowledges the colla!se o( the su#ject and attem!ts

to rethink !olitical action without the anthro!ological re(erence to a su#ject, "adiou

eschews the anthro!ological re(erence #y asserting a ga! #etween a human individual

and her su#jective incor!oration% )he evental su#lime, however, casts some dou#t onto

the tena#ility o( "adious assertion%

Lacans ethics o( !sychoanalysis and "adiouvian ethics #oth culminate in the act o(

a decision to incor!orate ones individual #ody into an Other #ody, the Su#ject#ody o( a

truth% &hat divides Lacan and "adiou concerns the Neal% One on side, the Lacanian real is

the a#sense o( sense, and its truths can only ever #e !rojected into the sym#olic

negatively, destructively $ they !uncture language, says "adiou, #ut their real is too

!unctual% On the other, the "adiouvian real o( a truth!rocedure, #orn o( the void, is

!rojected into a sym#olic narrative in the a#solute !ositivity o( a trace $ its e*istence in the

world is in(inite% "oth o( these !rojections /o( the real o( a truth into the sym#olic7 are made

!ossi#le #y the act o( a decision, the imaginaryo!eration o( a su#jective incor!oration%

And in #oth Lacan and "adiou, the s!ace (or this decision is o!ened u! #y an encounter

with an o#ject, either objet aor a trace% &hat + have called the evental su#lime reveals

how #oth o( these o#jects share a conce!tual link with the Iantian su#lime $ the Analytic

o( the Su#lime is their !hiloso!hical heritage% Lacan derives his conce!t o( objet a(rom the

Iantian transcendental o#ject which, via su#re!tion, is encountered as a dynamically

su#lime o#ject% "adiou arrives at his conce!t o( the eventtrace through his #reak with

Iantian o#jectivity, #ut it is a conce!t derived (rom the a#solute magnitude o(

mathematically su#lime o#jects% )he evental su#lime thus suggests how, at least in the

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case o( the o!eration o( the +dea o( ommunism, the ga! #etween the individual and her

incor!oration into an emanci!atory !olitical truth is colla!sed8 the decision concerns at

once my individuality andmy #ecoming !art o( the Su#ject o( an emanci!atory !olitics%

)o decide to #e a militant o( the +dea o( ommunism means the simultaneous acts

o( (reeing onesel( (rom the constraints o( a !olitical su#jugation located at the level o(desire, o( a((irming objet aas a sem#lance devoid o( any real su!!ort, ando( determining

the !lace o( the +deas truth in relation to ones sel( and to the world in which that sel(

thinks and acts% et to do so, it is !recisely this sel( that cannot #e the same as it was !rior

to the decision% Su#jectivation is o( the order o( the imaginary, and as no real can #e

sym#oli9ed as such, it is the sine 'ua non o( the o!eration o( the +dea% As the imaginary

(oundation (or the !ossi#ility o( a !erson to consist as !art o( a su#ject, su#jectivation is an

ideological commitment% As an ideology, the +dea !rovides a (antasy (rame, and it isthrough this (rame that one recogni9es hersel( as a militant o( the +dea while also e*!osing

-the se'uence Bo( its truth in the sym#olic order o( Jistory. /"adiou 01:13 0627% &hat

makes it !ossi#le to (ind ones sel( within the +deas ideology is, + claim, the (act that the

decisiono( a su#jectivation merges with an acto( la tra&ers*e du fantasme$ that is, o( the

(antasy that had sustained the sel( !rior to its incor!oration into the #ody o( a truth% "y

e*!osing in Lacans and "adious de!artures (rom the Iantian su#lime the common

heritage o( the o!eration o( su#jectivation, the evental su#lime allows us to see the

necessity o( this coincidence o( a decision and an act, o( the !ro(ound individual

trans(iguration that is also a !art o( the #elonging to the Su#ject and historical movement

o( emanci!atory !olitics%

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1The quotation can be found in the Notes, Commentaries, and Digressions section of Logics ofWorlds. One the same page, Badiou admits that his debate with iek concerns the real.According to Badiou, iek has proposed, following Lacan, a conception of the real which is soephemeral, so brutally punctual, that it is impossible to uphold its consequences.2It is inevitable that my desire to retain the radical negativity inherent in Lacans notion of thesubject will betray my privileging, however slightly, that notion. This, however, is no accident. Bycompletely dismissing the negativity of the category of the death-drive from his theory of the

subject, Badiou likewise dismisses Tragedy (in favor of Comedy) as the form of theatre that couldsupport the subject-body of an artistic truth (see his Theses on Theatre in Handbook ofInaesthetics (2005)). In my MA thesis, titled Asynthesis & Act: the evental sublime in Badiou,Byron, and Barker, I posit the evental sublime in defense of the political aesthetics of Tragedy. Fora detailed exposition, Asynthesis & Actcan be found athttp://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/bitstream/1957/12846/1/DruryAdamM2009.pdf3By point Badiou means a point in the transcendental of a world that is the appearance of theinfinite totality of the world before the instance of the decision, that is the duality of yes and no.For a more technical exposition see Logics Of Worlds, pg. 595 and Book VI, Theory of Points.4See the chart of correlations between Badiou and Kant on page 233 of Logics of Worlds.5See S. iek, Tarrying with the Negative (1993) and A. Zupan i , Ethics of the Real (2000)6See especially Ch. 7 of Ethics of the Real, Between Moral Law and Superego, pg. 140-1607It may be useful to recall here that this gap or splitting is what allows Kant, with his provincialreligiosity (to quote Badiou), to open the space for the existence of God, where God is understoodas a being for whom concept and intuition would coincide, in an immediate synthetic unity. Seeiek, Tarrying with the Negative, pg. 36-49.8It is interesting to note apropos of the discussion of the Idea of Communism which opened thisessay that Badiou writes, in The Communist Hypothesis (2010), Slavoj iek is probably the onlythinker today who can simultaneously hew as closely as possible to Lacans contributions andargue steadfastly and vigorously for the Idea of communism. This is because his real master isHegel There are two ways of rescuing the Idea of communism in philosophy today: either byabandoning Hegel [] or by putting forward a different Hegel, an unknown Hegel, and this is whatiek does, based on Lacan (who was a magnificent Hegelian - or so iek would claim - at firstexplicitly and later secretly, all along the way).9Several excellent historicist arguments have been made pointing to the various contemporarypressures that may have caused Kant to shirk from the radical consequences of his Analytic of theSublime. See, for example, Frances Fergusons Solitude and the Sublime (1992), which arguesthat Kant sought to preserve at all costs, against his philosophical rival David Hume, theconsistency of reality and thus an aesthetic regime of individuation. Putting aside the truth of thesefascinating studies, the fact remains that the intrinsic pressure of the substantialization of thenoumenal Thing necessitates a string of perverse consequences that commentators on Kant arestill unraveling today.10See Zupan i , Ethics of the Real, pg.147-149. I follow Zupan i s argument over the next few

sentences.11Ibid. 140-146, I follow Zupan i s argument throughout this whole paragraph, but have given page citations for direct quotes.12This is also ieks argument in Psychoanalysis and post-Marxism: the case of Alain Badiou(1998), where he critiques Badiou on the grounds that the latter is unable to think of the voidalsoas subject, since for Badiou such a move would amount to the structuralization of the void, whichis of course impossible when the void is conceived as pure indifferent multiplicity, as being-qua-being devoid of any structure.13See Alain Badiou, Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil (2001)14See Alain Badiou, Of an Obscure Disaster: On the End of the Truth of the State Lacanian ink22(2003)15See Alain Badiou, Logics of Worlds, Book I Formal Theory of the Subject (Meta-Physics) pg.45-78 for a comprehensive discussion of the topology of the subject space.16For a detailed discussion on this Lacanian innovation, see Badious The Formulas of ltourdit,

in Lacanian inkno. 27 (2006).

http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/bitstream/1957/12846/1/DruryAdamM2009.pdfhttp://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/bitstream/1957/12846/1/DruryAdamM2009.pdf

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17cf. Hallward, Badiou: a subject to truth174-180; Badiou, LogicsThe Event According toDeleuze18cf. Deleuze Logic of Sense (1990)19See Badiou, Being and Event (2005), Part IV The Event: History and Ultra-one, especially pg.173-17720See Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment, Analytic of the Sublime, The Mathematical Sublime,

Section 26: The estimation of the magnitude of natural things requisite for the idea of the sublime.pg. 98-10521See Alain Badious chapter on the Paris Commune in TheCommunist Hypothesis,pg. 168-22822cf. Badiou, Logics480-481 It follows from all this that the formal operations of incorporation intothe place of the Other and of splitting of the subject constitute, under the name of Unconscious, theinfrastructure of the human animal and not the occurrence as rare as it may be of the present-process of a truth which a subjectivated body treats point by point.23See Alain Badiou, The Idea of Communism, in The Communist Hypothsis, pg. 229-260. Thedemonstration begins on p. 238.24Tiqqunis the name of a French journal of philosophy written and published anonymously in twovolumes, the first in 1999 and the second in 2001. Various texts from the journal have beenrepublished in French by La Fabrique in Paris and in English by MIT Press. An anonymoustranslator has produced a nearly comprehensive English edition of the two volumes, availableonline at tiqqun.jottit.com.25Quotation taken from A Critical Metaphysics Could Be Born as a Science of Apparatuses, inTiqqun #2, available online at tiqqun.jottit.com. See also Bloom Theory, in Tiqqun #1, available atthe same website.

&e#eren"e

"adiou, A% /011:7 "thics4 n "ssay on the 5nderstanding of "&il, Pew ork3 >erso%

"adiou, A% /01167 -O( an O#scure Disaster3 On the End o( the )ruth o( State,. Lacanianin%, 003 4FF2%

"adiou, A% /01147 6eing and "&ent, Pew ork3 ontinuum%

"adiou, A% /01147 7andboo% of naesthetics, Stan(ord, A3 Stan(ord University ress%

"adiou, A% /01157 -)he ?ormulas o( L*tourdit,. Lacanian in%, 0G3 F124%

"adiou, A% /01127 Logics of Worlds4 6eing and "&ent 8, Pew ork3 ontinuum%

"adiou, A% /01:17 The Communist 7ypothesis, Pew ork3 >erso%

Deleu9e, @% /:2217 The Logic of Sense, Pew ork3 olom#ia University ress

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Jallward, % /01167 6adiou4 a subject to truth, ;innea!olis, ;P3 ;innesota Universityress

Iant, +% /:25:Q:G217 The Critique of Judgement, trans% #y %% ;eredith, O*(ord3larendon ress%

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iek, S% /:2F27 The Sublime ;bject of deology, Pew ork3 >erso%

iek, S% /:2267 Tarrying !ith the erso%