On the Intimate Connivance of Love and Thought
Abstract
The concept of love has historically been somewhat of an embarrassment for Philosophy because it remains relentlessly oblivious to the demands for it to present a critical account of itself. Against the interrogations of critical thought, it has only responded with mute resistance. Indeed, the consensus seems to be that love dwells in the domain beyond the thinkable, and it is ensconced in the Romantic doxa that it is a form of intensity that is not subject to any organizing principle. As Alain Badiou observes, it is “what is subtracted from theory”. In this essay, I oppose such an “anti-philosophical” position, and offer an exploration of love’s kinship with thought and truth. Drawing primarily from the work of Jean-Luc Nancy and Alain Badiou, I explore the relationship of love and thought, for it is an occasion that obligates one to realize the “intimate connivance between love and thinking,” to use the words of Nancy. At a time when love is threatened by accusations of being nothing more than a “cruel optimism”, I suggest that Nancy and Badiou offer a philosophical defense of love by underscoring its kinship to thought and to truth.
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