French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Badiou, Pocket Pantheon.
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Alain Badiou

Pocket Pantheon

Published on: 01/02/2008

Publisher: LA FABRIQUE

ISBN: 978-2-913372-71-9 / EAN 13: 9782913372719

Publisher's price: 10.00 €

177 pp.

"Those who, around 1965, were between twenty and thirty years old encountered an exceptional number of masters in the field of philosophy.

"The elders, such as Sartre, Lacan, or Canguilhem, were still fully active; those slightly younger, like Althusser, were developing their work; and an entire generation—Deleuze, Foucault, Derrida—was entering the arena. Today, all these masters are dead. The philosophical scene, now largely populated by impostors, is completely different, drawing its substance only from those, young and old alike, who, by reformulating them in their own language, know how to remain faithful to the questions that animated us forty years ago.

"I think it only right to gather the analyses and tributes that, over the years, as they passed away, I dedicated to those to whom I owe the meaning of the word 'philosophy'—a meaning always as inhuman as it is noble and combative. My relationships with these major contemporaries were not always simple and serene: philosophy, as Kant said, is a battlefield. But, looking today at the countless media 'philosophers,' I can say that I love all those I speak of in this book.

"Yes, I love them all."

Alain Badiou.

Contents

Jacques Lacan (1901-1981)
Georges Canguilhem (1904-1995) and Jean Cavaillès (1903-1944)
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
Jean Hyppolite (1907-1968)
Louis Althusser (1918-1990)
Jean-François Lyotard (1924-1998)
Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995)
Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)
Jean Borreil (1938-1992)
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe (1940-2007)
Gilles Châtelet (1945-1999)
Françoise Proust (1947-1998)

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A review of this book can be read on the nonfiction.fr website:

In Pocket Pantheon, Alain Badiou reflects on a golden age of French philosophy that spanned the latter half of the twentieth century. This period was marked by intense intellectual debates surrounding existentialism, structuralism, psychoanalysis, and Marxist theory. By paying tribute to figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida, Badiou situates his own work within a rich lineage of combative, rigorous thought. These essays serve as both a personal memoir of his intellectual development and a critical engagement with the diverse philosophical movements that shaped contemporary European ideas.

This volume is highly valuable for students and scholars of continental philosophy, French intellectual history, and critical theory. It helps readers understand how seemingly disparate thinkers—from the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan to the epistemologist Georges Canguilhem—shared a common commitment to challenging established truths. By exploring these relationships, the book addresses fundamental questions about the role of the intellectual in society and the enduring purpose of philosophical inquiry. It offers an accessible yet profound entry point into the complex network of ideas that continue to influence modern humanities.

"The Past, the Recent Past, and the Present," by J.-B. Fournier.