French Literature Reviews - 2026
É. Balibar, Passions du concept. Épistémologie, théologie et politique. Écrits II
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Passions du concept. Épistémologie, théologie et politique.
Écrits II
Étienne BALIBAR
La Découverte, 2020
Series: L'horizon des possibles
Publication date: February 2020
ISBN: 9782348055188
Number of pages: 276
Digital ISBN: 9782348058530
This second volume of Étienne Balibar's Écrits comprises nine philosophical studies focusing on classical and contemporary authors (including Canguilhem, Badiou, Pascal, Machiavelli, Marx, Foucault, and Althusser). It explores the intersections of scientific knowledge, political partisanship and its impact on cognition, and the status of theory suspended between theological speculation and the interpretation of current events.
Written between 1994 and 2016, these essays illustrate the author's shift from a historical and critical epistemology—whose central question was the articulation between ideology and science—to a phenomenology of truth-telling. The inherently conflicting nature of this phenomenology, open to the "demands" of the historical conjuncture, implies constant interference between the pursuit of intelligibility, the unavoidable moment of decision, and the reiteration of great speculative traditions. These two seemingly incompatible types of research share a single passion for the concept, common to all the authors discussed here.
Divided into three thematic constellations, the readings presented here revolve around symptomatic formulations whose trajectories from one author to another are carefully traced: the history of truth, the point of heresy, and scientific ideology. They culminate in the outline of a problematic of polemical elevation (as opposed to logicians' "semantic ascent"), which theoretical confrontations give rise to by revealing the principled stakes at play in current events.
View the book on the publisher's website...
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An article on this work can be read on en-attendant-nadeau.fr:
"Balibar, heir to the heirs", by Marc Lebiez (online March 10, 2020)
One of the great pleasures offered by Étienne Balibar—who is publishing two volumes of his texts, Histoire interminable and Passions du concept—is witnessing how rigorous thought can enrich the contemplation of heirs who are themselves capable of independent, rigorous thinking. There is no need to cite or hint at the origins of a given theme for a distinct turn of mind to be recognizable. A case in point is Pascalian charity contrasted with the temptation of metaphysics.
This collection of nine philosophical studies situates itself within the tradition of French epistemology, a field historically concerned with the relationship between scientific knowledge and ideological structures. By engaging with thinkers such as Canguilhem, Foucault, and Althusser, the volume explores the intersections of scientific knowledge, political partisanship, and the status of theory. The essays examine the tension between speculative traditions and the need for intellectual clarity in the face of contemporary events. Readers interested in the history of philosophy and the evolution of critical theory may find these reflections on the nature of truth and polemical thought relevant.
The work explores the trajectory of concepts such as scientific ideology and the point of heresy across various classical and modern texts. By analyzing the work of figures like Machiavelli, Pascal, and Badiou, the author investigates how theoretical confrontations reveal the stakes of political and social life. The text illustrates a shift from a historical and critical epistemology toward a phenomenology of truth-telling, where the act of thinking is linked to the demands of a historical conjuncture. This approach emphasizes the passionate engagement with the concept that characterizes the authors discussed in Passions du concept.