ISSN 1751-8229 Volume Five, Number Two

Graduate Special Issue iek & Badiou

Agalma at the void: on the ub!e"t o# an evental 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 materialist dialectical !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 mutual e*clusivity o( the meta!olitical conse'uences o( these authors 1

divided conce!tuali9ations o( the real% : +n light o( "adious and ieks anti humanist 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 egalitarian emanci!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 <natural #ody o( a human individual, and the #ody o( a truth% + aim to demonstrate that what se!arates "adiou and iek amounts to a kind o( <minimal di((erence concerning the !arado*ical status o( Lacans objet a in the incor!oration o( #odies% &hile "adiou and iek #oth (ollow Lacan in asserting the #odys e*timacy with regard to the evental #ecoming Other which marks the #eginning o( a su#jects gri! on an events trace, their di((ering conce!tuali9ations o( the modality o( this e*timacy $ as se'uential and contingent #ecoming (or "adiou8 as structure (or iek $ installs a !aralla* ga! at the heart o( what "adiou calls <the regime o( the cut, the evental u!surge whose trace a((ects a #ody in such a way as to #e the #asis (or a new su#ject% &hat, then, is the <evental su#lime= +n one sense it is a conce!tual (igure that seeks to ena#le one to think within the ga! se!arating anti !hiloso!hy and !hiloso!hy, and to em#race the antinomies that emerge #etween these !ositions, without /it is my ho!e7 #eing led into contradiction% "ut the evental su#lime is also a notion which endeavors to (ormulate a uni'ue and !articularly charged construction o( su#jectivity, !art "adiouvian, !art iekian% "etween the two models, there is a Lacanian su#jectivation that "adiou claims to have sur!assed /citing the limitation o( an indeli#le ske!ticism which restricts truths eternality at the same time that it !revents the creation o( the truly new7, while iek has asserted its (initude with more rigor and #ravado than any com!ara#le thinker% So to #e a #it more s!eci(ic, within what + am calling the evental su#lime + seek a su#jectivation that would harness all the su#tractive !ower o( negativity iek e*tracts (rom the Lacanian construction while avoiding the (initude and ske!ticism that would dis'uali(y it, in "adious system, (rom the active com!osition o( an eternal truth% 0

Agalma at 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. that concludes "ook +8 + have distilled it3 ?our a((ects signal the incor!oration o( a human animal into a su#jective truth !rocess3 )error, the desire (or a @reat Aoint8 an*iety, the desire (or continuity and monotonous shelter8 courage, which a((irms the ine*ora#le discontinuity o( !oints8 justice, where the categories o( the act are su#ordinated to the contingency o( worlds% BCD )o o!!ose the value o( courage and justice to the <Evil o( an*iety and terror is to succum# to mere o!inion% All the a((ects are necessary in order (or the incor!oration o( a human animal to un(old in a su#jective !rocess% 6 /"adiou 01123 F5 FG7 )he immanence o( affect to su#jective incor!oration is one justi(ication (or recourse to the category o( the su#lime as the conce!tual (igure o( a logic that could think the disjunction o( !hiloso!hy and anti !hiloso!hy as !roductive (or answering the 'uestion o( the Su#ject% )he (ollowing is (ound in the section on Lacan in "ook >++3 &hen Lacan says that <the o#ject o( !sychoanalysis is not man, its what he lacks, one will note that he has yet to se!arate this (amous !sychoanalysis (rom !hiloso!hy, since #y <eternal truths we too understand what is missing in the man o( democratic materialism, and what can only #e accessed #y incor!orating onesel( into the Other #ody $ which Lacan too #ears witness to%"ut when he adds <not a#solute lack, #ut the lack o( an o#ject, he takes a ste! too (ar in the direction o( (initude, which de !hiloso!hi9es him% /"adiou 01123 HF:7 &hen this second !assage is read ne*t to the (irst, with an eye (or the register o( the su#lime, a striking relation emerges% +n Iants Critique of Judgment the a((ects o( terror and an*iety are #ound together in the dialectic that com!oses )he Analytic o( the Su#lime% )o recogni9e the immanence o( a lacking o#ject to this dialectic, however, is more di((icult% "adiou characteri9es anti !hiloso!hy as the de a#soluti9ation o( lack as the lack o( an o#ject% &e know that (or Lacan the (ormula (or the lack o( an o#ject is objet petit a% "ut how does "adiou understand the category o( O#ject= Je conceives o( it in the same way as Iant, as -the !oint o( undecida#ility #etween the em!irical and the transcendental, #etween rece!tivity

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 <o#ject in general /or in Iants voca#ulary, the -transcendental o#ject.7 and the !henomenal a!!earance o( any o#ject whatsoever, given in intuition% ?or "adiou, this reversi#ility designates the o#ject as a conjunction #etween the ontology o( #eing /as !ure indi((erent multi!licity7 and the logic o( #eing as #eing there /a!!earing in a world7% )he o#ject, then, is situated at the edge o( the void o( any situation8 it is what allows a situations governing transcendental to inde* the invariance o( the multi!le /or void7 to the intensities in which any given o#ject a!!ears in a world in relation to other given o#jects% Or also, the category o( O#ject designates the logical (orm o( the o#jectivity o( a!!earing that sutures the consistency o( worldly !henomena to their multi!le #eing% "adious notion that a situation /or world7 is constructed around what does not a!!ear or is void in that situation is akin to the Lacanian theory that a sym#olic order is structured around an im!asse o( the real 'ua im!ossi#ility% )here(ore, the o#ject can also #e said to indicate the general (orm o( the !assage, or the !oint o( undecida#ility and reversi#ility, (rom the real to the sym#olic% )hus, it is !ossi#le to !roceed in two directions% +( we stay with "adiou, we will (ind that he stri!s (rom the Iantian conce!tion o( the o#ject all residues o( a su#jective ca!acity% )he unity o( sel( consciousness that Iant attri#utes to an act o( transcendental a!!erce!tion $ the liaising o( the void o( the su#ject as an em!ty <+ think< with the void o( the em!ty (orm o( the o#ject in general $ is instead -the structural unity o( the transcendental o( a world%. Synthetic unity, which de!ends on the <(aculties o( human consciousness, is instead the -!ostulate o( the real one o( atoms. /"adiou 01123 0667% H )his is in kee!ing with the initiative, (irst (ound in "adious Theory of the Subject, to develo! a <(inally o#jectless su#ject8 here, there is an a!!arently su#jectless o#ject% )he im!ortant !oint is to sei9e the am#iguity o( the theory o( the o#jects undecida#ility% As "adiou demonstrates, this am#iguity circles around the <other o( the transcendental3 the o#ject is the reversi#ility #etween the transcendental and the em!irical /(or Iant7, and #etween the transcendental and ontological #eing 'ua #eing /(or "adiou7 /"adiou 01123 06H7% And neither o( these two domains im!lies, (or "adiou o( course, a su#ject% )hat the o#ject lacks a su#ject is crucial in "adious system, and it leads him to develo! a com!letely novel inter!retation o( the Iantian <(aculties, where <intuition in !articular receives a radical overhaul% ?urther along in this !a!er, + will have occasion to return to "adious conce!tion o( Iantian intuition% ?or now, however, + will traverse the other !ath, 4

which makes o( the undecida#ility o( the o#ject as logical (orm without content the !rinci!le o( the Lacanian su#ject e((ect% )his other !ath is the one taken #y the Slovenian Lacanians, nota#ly Alenka Ku!anLiL and Slavoj iek, who !ersuasively argue that Lacans objet a is Iants transcendental o#ject in disguise% +t is through the collective (orce o( their arguments that the constellation o( o#ject a((ect su#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 a and 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!anLiLs e*!osure o( anxiety as 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 its anamor!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 <su#jective $ and also his claim that any <thinking o( the o#ject does not im!ly a su#ject% &hat Ku!anLiL accom!lishes is the anamor!hosis o( an inscri!tion o( the Lacanian theory o( an*iety $ as the <o#jective (eeling o( a subjects nearness to the o#ject /objet a7 $ into Iants theory o( the (eeling o( respect% )he Iantian (eeling o( res!ect a!!ears $ though in a signi(icantly diluted (orm, argues Ku!anLiL $ in section 0G o( the nalytic of the Sublime, which is titled, -Muality o( the delight o( our estimate o( the su#lime%. -)he (eeling o( our inca!acity to attain to an idea that is a la! for us, is NESAE,). /Iant :25:3 :147% "ut this res!ect, that is res!ect (elt as -delight,. as a negative !leasure in the (ace o( an e*!erience o( the su#lime, is only a certain su#re!tion #y which we mistakenly attri#ute to the <su#lime o#ject the truth o( our -!ro!er vocation.3 accordance with the ideas /laws7 o( reason /Iant :25:3 :157% +n short, res!ect (or the su#lime o#ject su#stitutes res!ect (or the -idea o( humanity in our own sel( $ the Su#ject. /Iant :25:3 :157% Oet this <error o( su#re!tion, which nevertheless manages to induce a !leasure (rom dis!leasure, cannot #e e*!lained away /as Iant does7 with a re(erence to sensi#ilitys inade'uacy when overdriven #y a colossal dis!lay o( Patures (orces% &hat Ku!anLiL argues in "thics of the #eal is that (or this su#re!tion to occur at all, <res!ect has to already have #een situated at the level o( a representation, which means :7 that the delight(ul (eeling o( res!ect induced #y the su#lime is $bloss Subje%ti&es' Bmerely su#jectiveD and thus a <!athological (eeling like anything else, and 07 that the moral law or <categorical im!erative, whose seat is the ideas o( reason <intuited #y the 5

su#ject in su#lime e*!erience, must also #e a re!resentation /Ku!anLiL 01113 :H27% 5 And 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 <ga! se!arating !henomena (rom noumenaQ)hings in themselves, which is also the ga! se!arating our intuition (rom the !ure conce!ts o( our understanding%G )his rea((irmation asserts that the <su!rasensi#le +dea /o( the moral law, (or e*am!le7 is neither an inaccessi#le )hing in itsel( /Iants !osition7 nor !resent in the <+ o( transcendental a!!erce!tion8 it is, rather, - nothing but the inherent limitation o( intuition. /iek :2263 627% ?urthermore, argues iek, Jegels move here is immanently Lacanian, (or it accom!lishes with the noumenal )hing /Iants (ing)an)sich7 e*actly what Lacan will accom!lish with the Neal3 the <Neal )hing is de su#stantiali9ed, voided, it has no !ositive #eing $ or, its su#stance is only the retroactive <mirage o( the transcendental o#ject that no given o#ject, not even a <su#lime o#ject, can sensuously (ul(ill% F ?rom this !ers!ective, it is easy to see the s!ecial status o( the su#lime in Iants undertaking3 the su#lime is that which e*!oses (rom within Iantian moral !hiloso!hy the void on which it is (ounded, a void to which Iant may have necessarily #een #lind% +n any case, we are now in a !osition to understand Iants recourse to a su!eregoi9ation o( the moral law% Again, su#re!tion $ the move where#y the su#ject attri#utes to an o#ject the cause o( a feeling of respect that is <really caused #y the awareness o( the su!remacy o( reasons +deas over -the greatest (aculty o( sensi#ility. $ is not some innocent trans(erence% )his (eeling o( res!ect is o( a strictly reactionary nature, whose only aim is to !rotect the su#ject, as it were, (rom the reali9ation that its correlate, i%e% the transcendental o#ject, is a sem#lance, a mere !rojection o( the void o( the )hingQNeal into his (antasy s!ace% )hus the im!ortance (or the trans(erence o( su#re!tion3 it allows the su#lime o#ject to su#stitute in !lace o( the sem#lance o( the transcendental o#ject /'ua (orm o( the a!!earance o( the void7 so that reality retains its consistency /iek :2263 6F7% "ut the consistency o( reality is not the only thing threatened #y the e*!erience o( the su#lime% "ear in mind that Iant attri#utes the unity o( sel( consciousness to an act o( transcendental a!!erce!tion, or the co relation o( two voids3 the em!ty (orms o( the o#ject in general and the su#ject as !ure <+% &hat respect reacts to is the !ossi#ility that, in !erceiving the transcendental o#ject as void, the su#ject might also <come to the void o( his own ground% )he conse'uence o( such a <coming to would amount to nothing less than the annihilation o( #oth the consistency o( the world around me and the consistency o( my 6

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 agalma without which + would lose all consistency o( the (antasy o( mysel( as an individual <!erson $ the act o( the cure, la tra&ers*e du fantasme, involves the su#jects a((irmation o( the agalma as 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%2 Pevertheless, the !sychic cost o( su#lime <elevation B"rhabeneD, though an acce!ta#le loss (or Iant, may not #e so (or us, i( what were a(ter is an incor!oration o( an individual into the su#ject #ody o( a truth !rocess% &hat, then, is the e*act nature o( this cost= iek descri#es it as -an a#solute !ressure e*erted on me #y the su!erego, which humiliates me and com!els me to act against my (undamental interests. /iek :2263 HG7% +t is hard to com!rehend how such an e*!erience could #e descri#ed as a -delight., or even a -negative !leasure%. As such, #oth o( these conse'uences o( the su!eregos a#solute !ressure $ humiliation and acting against ones <(undamental interests $ re'uire e*amination in turn% Alenka Ku!anLiL has linked the (eeling o( humiliation to the representation o( the (eeling o( res!ect already discussed% :1 Jere, humiliation and the su!erego a!!ear locked in what has #een called a Sadeian dialectic% Ku!anLiL keenly o#serves that Iants su!eregoi9ation o( the /moral7 Law involves its su!!lementation with a &oice and a ga+e, -a manoeuvre which aims to (ill a hole in the Other /the Law7 #y means o( su!!lementing the Other #y the o#ject that it lacks. /Ku!anLiL 01113 :HG7% +( the ethic o( !sychoanalysis, which culminates in the autonomous act o( the su#jects crossing his (undamental (antasy, de!ends on an inconsistency or lack in the Other 'ua sym#olic law, it is !ossi#le to see again how humiliation /as a (orm o( res!ect7 is a reactionary a((ect which aims at (orever !rohi#itingQde(erring the act% Still, this !icture is too sim!le8 what needs to #e taken into account is that the su!eregoic !rohi#ition o( the act necessitates that everything else is !ermitted, with the tormenting caveat that it will never #e ,t, that nothing will ever satis(y the su!erego% )his claim is (ounded on the metonymy o( su#re!tion3 a judgment o( the su#lime designates the o#ject as the !lace where Pature, in a monstrous dis!lay o( (orces without !ur!ose or end, enjoys8 yet what the su#ject is <really e*!eriencing is the enjoyment o( the su!erego, or 7

the su!erego as the !lace o( jouissance /Ku!anLiL 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 infinitum in a series o( attem!ts that will out o( necessity always (all short% Such, argues Ku!anLiL /(ollowing Lacans thesis -Iant a&ec Sade.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#jects im!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 real danger% +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 <real danger, it is im!ossi#le to resist a Lacanian trans!osition o( Iants statement3 the humiliation + endure in the (ace o( a raging su!erego is a !leasure so long as + am not really <there, in the place o( this o#scene jouissance whose other name is the Lacanian Neal% Nather, + o#serve mysel( as (undamentally a!art, !rojecting my animality <down there while my ego remains sa(ely e*em!ted, elevated even, and ultimately indifferent to the (ate o( my #ody% +t is !ossi#le, there(ore, to endure in(inite su((ering at the hands o( the su!eregoic /moral7 Law only i( the su#ject remains essentially <detached, a spectator o( his own torment% Ku!anLiL identi(ies this <detachment as Iants -<(undamental (antasy $ the pathos of apathy, which is the reverse side o( the autonomous and active su#ject, and in which the su#ject is entirely !assive, an inert matter given over to the enjoyment o( the Law. /Ku!anLiL 01113 :4F7% +t is easy to see how "adiou would harshly reject such a mode o( su#jectivity8 he everywhere maintains that we can call su#ject only that which is an acti&e com!osition o( a truth !rocess, and it would not #e !ossi#le (or the su#ject or ego or individual as articulated in the Iantian su#lime to make the su#jectivating decision o( incor!oration% &e will have to look elsewhere, that is, in Ku!anLiLs argument according to which the theory o( the su#lime merely rein(orces a shi(t already at work in Iants !hiloso!hy a!ro!os o( the (eeling o( res!ect%:: According to this line o( argument, the /ethical7 su#ject and the moral law intersect at the level o( affect, which Iant calls <res!ect, as + have already shown% "ut the a((ect o( res!ect that a!!ears in The Critique of -ractical #eason, argues Ku!anLiL, is (undamentally o!!osed to the one we e*!erience in the su#lime, and this is #ecause, in his earlier !hiloso!hy, Iant endeavored to articulate a causality (or res!ect that would #e 8

-foreign to the mode of representation . /Ku!anLiL 01113 :H07% ?oreignness to re!resentation means that, although an a((ect, <res!ect designates a non !athological (eeling $ or it is -the irreduci#le <'uantum o( a((ect that emerges on the !art o( the su#ject3 it is nothing #ut the (inal residue o( the !athological which, in (act, is no longer <!athological in the strict sense o( the word. /Ku!anLiL 01113 :H67% As such, respect descri#es only the dri&e o( !ure !ractical reason, that is, the conversion o( the (orm o( the law into a drive% So i( res!ect is the mark o( how the su#ject e*!eriences the drive, it is also the mark o( how he e*!eriences a lack o( re!resentation% &e know (rom Iants criti'ue o( the cogito that the su#ject who !ossesses the ca!acity to re!resent reality as o#jectively valid is the !roduct o( a (undamental loss, i%e% the )hing in me that thinks% Oet the outcome o( Jegels <return to Iant, which Lacan will later sei9e u!on with his notion o( the Neal, is the reali9ation that this )hing has no su#stance o( its own <outside o( the s!ace o( desire, o( /sym#olic7 re!resentation% )his means that res!ect is not <just a (eeling o( a lack o( re!resentation, it is also the (eeling o( the lack or loss that is constituti&e of the subject of representation, i%e% the su#ject who is conscious o( himsel( as a thinking #eing% )he (ormula o( respect, in this case, is thus the (eeling or a((ect o( a lack that comes to a lack, which as Ku!anLiL !oints out ha!!ens to #e the !recise (ormula o( Lacanian anxiety3 le manque &ient . manquer/ &hat is not to #e missed is that the <lack that comes to lack is what Iant could have seen, or rather !ould have seen in his Analytic o( the Su#lime were it not (or his su#stantiali9ation o( the noumenal )hing, which (orces him into a necessary #lind s!ot% As a result, the (ailure o( re!resentation in the su#lime !rovokes the dis!lacement o( the drive onto the su!erego, which, !recisely as an <agent o( re!resentation /desire7, distorts the Law into an o#scene jouissance whose conse'uences (or the ego + have touched u!on a#ove% Arior to this shi(t, however, Iantian respect and Lacanian anxiety are #oth <o#jective, non !athological (eelings, affects that indicate + have <come to the e*timate !lace o( my jouissance in the (orm o( an o#ject drive, the <o#ject cause o( my desire, my agalma, whose Lacanian name is objet petit a% )his is how one might read Lacans (amous ma*im ne pas c*der sur son d*sir3 <Do not give u! on your desire is at once an injunction to (ollow your desire through to its <real in the drive /i%e% jouissance7 and to not make the Other the e*clusive site o( your desire% )he (irst is what the ethicalQ!sychoanalytic act consists o(, while the second ensures that such an act remains !ossi#le% )hus, we can argue the logic of the psychoanalytic act is a sublime logic that overcomes the reactionary se'uence $ i%e%, desire (or the consistency o( the ego $ that com!oses the Iantian 9

su#lime% )he logic o( this <!sychoanalytic su#lime involves the su#traction o( the individual /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 evental su#lime that draws a shar! distinction (rom its su!eregoic Iantian !redecessor3 the e&ental sublime is a su#jects encounter with agalma at the &oid% )he !rinci!le affect that signals the evental su#lime is Lacanian anxiety at its !urest% +n what (ollows, + will attem!t to ground the !redicate e&ental in 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*ietyD 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 #etween two hy!otheses% )o !ut it otherwise, this a((ect signals the desire for continuity, (or a monotonous 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( <res!ect Ku!anLiL and iek identi(y as the mark o( a su!eregoi9ation o( the moral law in the Iantian su#lime% +s this su!eregoi9ation not the e*act conse'uence o( the su#jects desire (or continuity= "adious own ethical theory testi(ies to the authenticity o( an ethics only inso(ar as it involves a decision /or act7 #ased on the un)%no!n /the negative (ormula (or truth7 and as such carries no <guarantee that it will succeed /in the com!osition o( a truth !rocess7%:6 )hus, argues Ku!anLiL, it is !ossi#le to detect a convergence #etween Iant, Lacan, and "adiou around this (igure o( ethics% Since the moral law has the structure o( an enigma or o( an un%no!n $ the Other is not <a#solute and there(ore does not know !hat it wants, #ut is sim!ly the site where the 'uestion o( the su#jects desire emerges $ the ethical act involves the retroactive <creation o( what the Other will have wanted8 the su#ject will -write the destiny o( his desire. /Ku!anLiL 01113 :5H G7% "ut whereas anxiety is 10

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 Aoint, a decisi&e discontinuityC. /"adiou 01123 F5, my italics7% "ut the homology eva!orates as soon as one reads that this desire (or a <decisive discontinuity is also the desire to institute -the new world in a single #low. /"adiou 01123 F57% As iek e*!lains, it is indeed tem!ting to risk a "adiouanQAauline reading o( the end o( !sychoanalysis $ which is to say, a Pew "eginning or sym#olic -re#irth. $ with the analysands su#jectivity radically restructured such that the vicious cycle o( the su!erego is sus!ended, le(t #ehind% Pevertheless, Lacans way is not that o( Aaul or "adiou3 !sychoanalysis is not -!sycho synthesis.3 it does not posit a -new harmony,. a new )ruth Event, #ut merely wi!es the slate clean (or it% /iek :22F3 0407 )he de#ate #etween iek and "adiou crystalli9es around the <end o( !sychoanalysis and the category o( anxiety is what strikes this de#ates dominant chord% "adiou has said in a num#er o( his writings that the !sychoanalytic act in which the su#ject <identi(ies with his jouissance as the o#ject cause o( desire is a <mor#id (ascination, and that the ?reudian Lacanian death drive is sim!ly the name (or an o#scure desire (or catastro!he, (or nothingness% )he general content o( ieks criti'ue o( "adious !osition a!ro!os o( the death drive is that "adiou uncritically con(lates the t!o divisions o( the su#ject in Lacanian theory, and as such remains <?reudian in his conce!tion% +n the (irst division, the su#ject is tra!!ed in the Sadeian dialectic o( the su!erego, which is the !erverse <truth o( the Iantian moral Law, and which can #e witnessed at work in the Iantian su#lime% +n the second, radical division /which Lacan attri#utes to the (act the we inha#it language7, the su#ject is the <s!lit #etween the entire su!erego dialectic o( the Law and the direct em#odiment o( the traumatic drive, the ontological void o( an <undead lamella, which Lacan designates with the matheme 0 12 a% A true Lacanian, argues iek, insists on the constitutive necessity o( a traumatic encounter with the <immortality o( the drive as the #ackground (or any !ositive act o( su#jectivation /in "adious sense o( the word73 +n Lacan, act is a !urely negati&e category, which /in "adious terms7 stands (or the gesture o( #reaking out o( the constraints o( "eing, (or the re(erence to the >oid at its core, prior to the filling in of this &oid/ C)he Lacanian death

11

drive is thus a kind o( <vanishing mediator #etween "eing and Event% /iek :22F3 04G7 )he Jegelian re(erence to the death drive as a <vanishing mediator is key, and hel!s to resolve some o( the inconsistencies in ieks own argument3 namely, that the negative gesture o( the act is #oth what <wi!es the slate (or an event while #eing at the same time -sutured to its arrival., and what evacuates the su#ject while at the same time o!ening the !assage to /"adiouvian7 su#jectivation /iek :22F3 046 G7% +n other words, it allows iek to make the distinction #etween on the one hand, the Lacanian su#ject o( the drive, and on the other the "adiouvian su#ject as the conse'uence o( an individual incor!oration% &e are indeed dealing with two di((erent su#jects here, #ut ieks Jegelian counter argument is that one is the constitutive o#verse o( the other, that they are locked in the circularity o( a mR#ius stri! /the Jegelo Lacanian to!ology par excellence7% Jowever, ieks to!ological circularity o( the su#ject leads him to make some strikingly anti "adiouvian claims% ?or one, without the negative act o( su#jectivity there is no way to di((erentiate #etween an <authentic /!olitical7 event /e%g% the Aaris ,ommune7 and its sem#lance /e%g% Pa9ism78 (or another, the catastro!hes o( the twentieth century are not to #e attri#uted to a mor#id o#session with the death drive $ as "adiou has suggested :H $ #ut are rather the result o( a (ailure to con(ront it (ully% /iek :22F3 04F7 "adiou would argue, however, that an event !ill al!ays ha&e been <authentic, inso(ar as the su#ject remains (aith(ul to its trace, and inaugurates a !resent /truth event7 !rocess that interrogates the world !oint #y !oint, (rom the !ers!ective o( the event trace% +n other words, there can #e no <sem#lance o( an event, only its reactive negation /a staunch conservatism a l3 contem!orary li#eral democracy7 or its o#scure occultation /(ascism7%:4 ?urthermore, in a move to his own to!ology o( the su#ject s!ace, "adiou admits the !redicate <su#ject even to those reactionary and o#scure #odies that would res!ectively deny or occult an events trace% So while ieks argument in -Asychoanalysis and !ost ;ar*ism. may #e convincing in its own right, it #reaks down the moment one attem!ts to trans!ose it into a "adiouvian key, and there(ore #rings us no closer to a conce!tuali9ation o( the e&ental su#lime whose underlying register is the Lacanian su#ject 'ua agalma at the &oid% Pevertheless, iek attem!ts to esta#lish a dialectical link #etween Lacanian su#jectivity and "adiou, and it would thus #e wise to e*amine his argument more care(ully #e(ore a#andoning it% +n the essay -?rom objet a to Su#traction., iek !rovides a more su#stantial version o( the JegelianQLacanian argument he (orwarded in -Asychoanalysis and !ost 12

;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 <event and <su#ject to objet a% Jow so= iek #egins with a more radical a((irmation o( the !urely (ormal character o( objet a $ whose !redecessor is the Iantian transcendental o#ject $ as not sim!ly the element o( a logical consistency #ut as the &irtual #eal in the (ield o( the sym#olic itsel(% O( course, the re(erence to the <virtual< cannot #ut reveal the Deleu9ian trajectory iek is em#arking on% +n (act, iek takes the logic o( the irreduci#le circularity o( the drive around objet a to its Deleu9ian e*treme, and in the !rocess colla!ses the entire distinction he had !reviously made #etween the su!eregoic cycle o( the LawQtransgression and the domain o( the drive <#eyond that mor#id dialectic3 -"oth as!ects Bo( objet a in its rei(ied material reality /su!erego7, and objet a in its virtuality /organ without #ody7D dis!lay the same sel( !ro!elling twisted structure o( a loo!3 the more the su#ject o#eys the su!erego, the more he is guilty, caught in the re!etitive movement !hich is formally the same as that of the dri&e circulating around its object. /iek 011G3 :6G, my italics7% ?rom here, it takes less than a !age (or the attack on "adiou to materiali9e% And does not the same shi(t determine also the status o( the "adiouian Event BsicD with regard to how it relates to the order o( "eing= An Event inscri#es itsel( into the order o( "eing, leaving its traces in it, -or rather. an Event is PO)J+P@ "U) a certain distortionQtwist in the order o( "eing% C ;ay#e this re(erence to Lacan also ena#les us to (ormulate the moment that is missing in "adious scheme3 is it not !ossi#le to think this distortion o( "eing inde!endently o( /or as !rior to7 the Event, so that -Event. ultimately names a minimal -(etishi9ation. o( the immanent distortion o( the te*ture o( "eing into its virtual o#ject cause= And is the ?reudo Lacanian name o( this distortion not DN+>E, death drive= /iek 011G3 :6F7 +n this not so slight o( 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 so merely with a clever e*tension o( the !arado*ical status o( objet a% And it is (urthermore no accident that, having (ound his strictly Jegelo Lacanian 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 13

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 <distortionQtwist in the Sym#olic /or order o( "eing7, #ut the Neal is also senseless, or more !recisely the ab)sense of sense%:5 As such, the Neals -only relationshi! to language is to make a hole in it. /"adiou 01123 6F57% Ultimately, to say that "adious event is the <(etishi9ation o( Deleu9es event is theoretically 'uestiona#le, and does violence to #oth the so!histication o( Lacanian anti !hiloso!hy and to the rigorous distinction "adiou makes #etween his theory o( the event and Deleu9es% +ndeed, there is no greater di((erence #etween "adiou and Deleu9e than in their res!ective understandings o( the event%:G Deleu9e asserts the monadological, virtual One, whose e*!ression is the vital continuity o( unlimited #ecoming% :F Jere, there is only one Event, that o( Li(e, o( which all other events are sim!ly various e*hi#itions3 B)he eventD is the immanent mark o( the One result o( all #ecomings% +n the multi!le that #ecomes, in the in #etween o( those multi!les which are active multi!licities, the event is the (ate o( the One% /"adiou 01123 6FH7 "y com!letely invertingQnegating the Deleu9ian conce!tion o( the event, we o#tain "adious3 %%%a site which, having a!!eared according to the ma*imal intensity, is e'ually ca!a#le o( a#soluti9ing in a!!earing what hitherto was its own !ro!er ine*istent% CBEventD is a !ure cut in #ecoming made #y an o#ject o( the world, through that o#jects auto a!!earance8 #ut it is also the su!!lementing o( a!!earing through the u!surge o( a trace8 the old ine*istent which has #ecome an intense e*istence% /"adiou 01123 6FH7 As "adiou a!tly o#serves, #etween the two conce!ts is an authentic di((erend% )here is, + #elieve, a way around this deadlock8 the task is to esta#lish the o#jectal com!onent o( the evental su#lime% )he whole !oint will #e to argue the evental su#limity o( a trace% )he (irst ste! is to o#serve a common ground #etween "adiou and iek a&ec Jegel Deleu9e Lacan, (or which there is a concise (ormula3 the conjunction of a lac% and an excess% )his conjunction emerges at the !oint o( ieks argument in -?rom objet a to Su#traction. when he makes an e*!licit re(erence to Deleu9e3 -+n his Logic of Sense, Deleu9e !rovided a #etter model when he develo!ed how the two series /o( the signi(ier and the signi(ied7 always contain a !arado*ical entity that is <dou#ly inscri#ed /i%e%, that is simultaneously sur!lus and lack7. /iek 011G3 :657% iek immediately trans!oses this 14

<dou#le inscri!tion into Lacans (ormula o( the (undamental (antasy, 0 12 a, where 0 is o( course the s!lit su#ject 'ua em!ty !lace is the signi(ying chain $ the lack $ while a is -an e*cessive o#ject. /iek 011G3 :657% )he Deleu9ian ri(( on the conjunction o( 0 and objet a is what leads iek to his critical !osition on the "adiouvian event% +n "adiou, on the other hand, this conjunction emerges in the (irst o( his negations o( Deleu9e3 &ith regard to the continuum in the #ecomings o( the world, there is #oth a lack /im!ossi#ility o( auto a!!earance without interru!ting the authority o( the mathematical laws o( #eing and the logical laws o( a!!earing7 and an e*cess /im!ossi#ility o( the u!surge o( a ma*imal intensity o( e*istence7% <Event names the conjunction o( this lack and this e*cess% /"adiou 01123 6FH7 Signi(icantly, the elements o( "adious system which corres!ond to auto a!!earance and to a ma*imal intensity o( e*istence are res!ectively the o#ject and the trace% ?urthermore, the !recise word (or an o#ject a((ected #y auto a!!earing $ which means that -in #eing. it -#elongs to itsel(,. and that -in a!!earing. it -(alls under its own transcendental inde*ing. $ is site, or -the testimony o( the intrusion o( #eing as such into a!!earing. /"adiou 01123 42H7% ?inally, a site #ecomes an event, or evental site, when it attains a trace3 -we call trace o( an event, or e&ental trace, Cthe !rior ine*istent which, under the e((ect o( the site, has taken the maximal value. /"adiou 01123 4257% )aken together, + will call the evanescent se'uence o( intensi(ication that #egins with the o#ject site and culminates in an event that o#tains to a trace, e&ental objecti&ity% Another im!ortant element to mention here concerns the <situation $ in #oth senses o( the term $ o( the site itsel(% A site is a multi!le that is -(oundational. in the sense that -sites found the situation #ecause they are the !rimary terms therein8. hence the (oundational cut o( the site, its auto a!!earing and sel( #elonging3 (rom the !ers!ective o( the situation itsel(, the multi!le o( the site is -made u! e*clusively o( non !resented multi!les. /"adiou 01143 :G6 G7% :2 And it is #ecause o( its value as <non !resented that "adiou situates the site - on the edge of the &oid. /"adiou 01143 :GH7% Since the void o( a situation is the suture to its #eing, it is !ossi#le to make sense o( the site as <the testimony o( the intrusion o( #eing as such into a!!earing% +( in the (irst !art o( this essay + endeavored to con(igure the <su#ject element o( the evental su#lime as agalma at the &oid, what + have attem!ted to do su#se'uently is develo! an evental o#jectivity that convenes in the same !lace, <at /the edge o(7 the void% )he elements are in !lace8 now to e((ect their !ossi#le relation%

15

+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 subject o( Iantian o#jectivity% +n Iant, the o#jective validity o( a given !henomenon de!ends on a schematic relationshi! #etween the intuition and understanding, <mediated #y the transcendental imagination $ su#jective ca!acities which Iant calls <(aculties% >ia "adiou, intuition and understanding are recast into -the s!ace o( a!!earing as such. and into the -transcendental o!erations. which govern a!!earances through -the (ormal regulation o( identities,. res!ectively /"adiou 01123 06H 47% "y <identities, "adiou means the -degree or intensity o( the di((erences o( what comes to a!!ear in the world8. setting this degree is the essential o!eration o( a transcendental /"adiou 01123 0647% Des!ite the correlations, however, "adiou !oints out that Iant does not have a very remarka#le conce!tion o( the degree, identi(ying Iants -mathematical childishness. as the cause /"adiou 01123 0657% As evidence o( this, "adiou cites Iants <!roo( o( the a*ioms o( intuition $ which concern intensive and e*tensive magnitudes $ where Iant -assumes that an e*tensive magnitude is one <in which the re!resentation o( !arts makes !ossi#le the re!resentation o( the whole%. +( this were true, e*!lains "adiou, -whole num#ers wouldnt constitute an e*tensive (ield at allS. /"adiou 01123 06G7% &hy !ro#e this seemingly minuscule criticism= "ecause what Iant calls the <mathematical su#lime is !recisely a #reakdown in the a*ioms o( intuition% ;ore !recisely, Iant attri#utes an <a#solute magnitude to /mathematically su#lime7 o#jects that do not allow the re!resentation o( !arts $ via the imaginations (aculty o( apprehension, which can !roceed ad infinitum $ to achieve a re!resentation o( the whole $ via imaginations comprehension /Iant :25:3 2F :147%01 )hus (or Iant, a#solute magnitude designates the greatest !ossi#le magnitude that can #e given in intuition% So i( <intuition is (or "adiou sim!ly the !lace o( a!!earing as such, and i( Iantian <magnitude /intensive or e*tensive7 is (or "adiou the degree or intensity o( what a!!ears, then there is a necessary correlation #etween a mathematically su#lime o#jects -absolute magnitude. and a site o#jects -maximal degree o( a!!earing%. Oet there is more here than a sim!le correlation #etween the terms o( these two systems8 "adious #reak with Iantian o#jectivity carries !ro(ound conse'uences (or the history o( the idea o( the su#lime% +n the (irst !lace, the su#lime is dissociated (rom the !lay o( the ego, its <elevation or individuation $ that is, (rom its Nomantic inter!retation% And the 16

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 <event, it would mark the ma*imal intensity o( the intrusion o( #eing into a!!earing, and it is (rom this !oint that a reactivation o( the revolutionary emanci!atory ca!acity o( the su#lime can #e asserted% )he 'uestion to #e asked is thus3 Jow can the conce!t o( the evental su#lime hel! to illuminate the !ath o( an emanci!atory !olitics, that is the !ath o( the ,ommunist +dea, today= +n -)he Aaris ,ommune3 A Aolitical Declaration on Aolitics,. "adiou argues that the (ate o( the +dea lies in our a#ility to return to $ to make visi#le to !olitical thought $ the event o( ;arch :F, :FG:, the worker insurrection that created the im!ossi#le3 the Aaris ,ommune%0: &hy there, and not, (or e*am!le, Octo#er :2:G, the ,ultural Nevolution, or ;ay 5F= )he answer un(olds as a series o( three theses3 :7 )he le(t, -the esta#lished orders sole recourse during movements o( great magnitude,. has only ever meant the o!!ortunistic e*!loitation o( the ga! #etween !olitics and state /"adiou 01:13 :2F78 07 today, true !olitical ru!ture always means a ru!ture with the le(t, with the re!resentative (orm o( democracy, and a total su#traction (rom the state /"adiou 01:13 00G78 67 the declaration o( the ,entral ,ommittee on ;arch :2, :FG: is (or the (irst and only time - a declaration to brea% !ith the left,. to organi9e a !olitics solely through the resources o( the !roletarian movement itsel( /"adiou 01:13 :2F7% O( course, "adious inter!retation o( the Aaris ,ommune and his assertion o( its !olitical signi(icance is itsel( a ru!ture with its le(tist a#sor!tion, where i( it is mentioned at all, it is so through a -commemorative. mode that deactivates the contem!orary value o( the ,ommune3 its rejection o( the !arliamentary destiny o( !o!ular !olitical movements /"adiou 01:13 :257% &hat matters to us here is the o!eration where#y "adiou recovers this value (rom its le(tist, hermeneutical o#(uscation% +n short, the o!eration involves the demonstration that in its ontology $ that is, as a site $ ;arch :F, :FG: creates a conse'uence in the logical domain o( a!!earing that will have con(erred on the site its status as an event% A#stractly, "adiou de(ines such a conse'uence as the coming to e*ist a#solutely o( that which was ine*istent in the situation !rior to the event /"adiou 01:13 00:7% ;ore s!eci(ically, there is a site /;arch :F7 whose intensity o( e*istence is ma*imal /the worker insurrection in Aaris7, and as a conse'uence o( this ma*imally intense e*istence, something whose value o( e*istence was nil comes to e*ist in the situation a#solutely /the !olitical ca!acity o( the !roletariat7% )he e((ect o( this new and a#solute 17

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. BtracTD, 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 event site as an o#ject whose auto a!!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 event sites a!!earanceQdisa!!earance and the trace o( 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!ect ha!!ens to #e sublimated into a#solute e*istence, another element o( the site must cease to e*ist, there#y kee!ing the law intact and ultimately preser&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 "thics of -sychoanalysis, that the Iantian notion o( the su#lime is in line with the ?reudian notion o( su#limation% Jere, <su#lime o#ject is -an em!irical o#ject C elevated to the dignity o( the )hing Bthe NealD3 %%%it holds the !lace o(, stands in (or, what has to #e e*cluded, (oreclosed, i( <reality is to retain its consistency. /iek :2263 6F7% And indeed3 #oth o( these !assages descri#e a su#limation whose e((ect is to !reserve the consistency o( a!!earing $ #ut they do not overla!% +( one grants !recedence to the ontological &oid of the subject, as do Lacan and iek, then the su#lime o#ject is objet a3 a !ure sem#lance 18

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 !as this <em!ty !lace, an as!ect o( the void o( the situation $ #ut instead results in a destructionQe*clusion that !reserves a logical law o( worldly coherence% &hat is at stake in this o#servation is the 'uestion o( a su#jective incor!oration% )he key is to understand the role o( the su#lime o#ject in su#jectivation, and in #oth Lacan and "adiou the !rimary or !rinci!al act o( su#jectivation consists in a decision, a will% )he (irst !art o( this !a!er e*!lored in detail the conse'uences o( the decision directed toward objet a3 it a((irms objet a as a sem#lance, shatters the consistency o( the <+, and there(ore makes !ossi#le the incor!oration o( a new enunciated content that will (orm the o#ject cause o( the su#jects desire% "adiou, however, is critical o( the Lacanian theory o( incor!oration% Although he -unhesitatingly communicates. /"adiou 01123 HF17 with Lacans construction, "adiou identi(ies an am#iguity !ertaining to it, and the inter!retation o( this am#iguity is what ultimately se!arates him (rom Lacan% -Lacan treats what + #elieve to #e a se'uence or contingent #ecoming as a structure. /"adiou 01123 HF17, and as a structure it remains on the hori9on o( (initude $ its truths are restricted to the truths o( structure% 00 &hat !rom!ts this restriction is Lacans anti !hiloso!hy% Even though, as "adiou argues, -this theme Bo( the su#sum!tion o( #odies and languages #y the e*ce!tion o( truthsD re'uires a#ove all the recognition o( the !otential a#soluteness o( a trace,. since Lacan -sees in the a#solute what he does not hesitate to call the <inaugural mistake o( !hiloso!hy. /"adiou 01123 HF1 :7, he will ultimately arrive at a notion o( the real that !roscri#es the <eternality o( its trace% A (ragment o( the Lacanian real, !rojected through an imaginary su#jectivation into the sym#olic te*ture, can only ever make a hole in it% )he conse'uence o( the act o( such a decision could only #e destructive% Such is what + #elieve to #e the content o( "adious criticism that the Lacanian real is -so e!hemeral, so #rutally !unctual, that it is im!ossi#le to u!hold its conse'uences%. O( course, there is also destruction in "adious system, #ut it is the e((ect o( the a#soluteness o( the trace, an a#soluteness which con(ers on it an in(initeQeternal e*istence% Asserting the a#soluteness o( the trace is "adious de(ense against anti !hiloso!hy, and it ena#les him to situate -the singularity o( the human animal one notch (urther,. (or +t is only as a transhuman #ody that a su#ject takes hold o( the divisi#le #ody o( the human animal% C&e o#serve the ga! #etween, on the one hand, the 19

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 also the ga! #etween the multi!le #ody o( the human animal and its su#jective incor!oration% /"adiou 01123 HF:7 Oet in -)he +dea o( ,ommunism,. "adiou (ormali9es the o!eration o( the +dea in the register o( Lacans three orders o( the su#ject% 06 Jere, the real, the imaginary, and the sym#olic corres!ond to the a#stract totali9ation o( an +deas three #asic elements3 -a truth !rocedure BrealD, a #elonging to history Bsym#olicD, and an individual su#jectivation BimaginaryD. /"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 individual that 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 <+, nothing has to change% Oet this #elie( seems to run counter to claims that the commodity domination sustaining Em!ire, named -)he S!ectacle. #y De#ord and -"io!ower. #y ?oucault, re'uires a !olitical su#jugation installed at the level o( the individual, in the (orm o( 20

se!aration, alienation, and -total mo#ili9ation. /UVnger7% 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 major strategies 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%0H Oet whereas with ?oucault these two analyses remain correlative, in the Tiqqun te*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 is com!letely di((erent% &hile Tiqqun acknowledges 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 imaginary o!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 a or 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 event trace 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 21

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 and my #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 a as a sem#lance devoid o( any real su!!ort, and o( determining the !lace o( the +deas truth in relation to ones sel( and to the world in which that sel( thinks and acts% Oet 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 ideo logical commitment% As an ideology, the +dea !rovides a (antasy (rame, and it is through this (rame that one recogni9es hersel( as a militant o( the +dea while also e*!osing -the se'uence Bo( its truthD 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 decision o( a su#jectivation merges with an act o( 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%

22

The quotation can be found in the Notes, Commentaries, and Digressions section of Logics of Worlds. 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 so ephemeral, so brutally punctual, that it is impossible to uphold its consequences. 2 It is inevitable that my desire to retain the radical negativity inherent in Lacans notion of the subject will betray my privileging, however slightly, that notion. This, however, is no accident. By completely 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 could support the subject-body of an artistic truth (see his Theses on Theatre in Handbook of Inaesthetics (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. For a detailed exposition, Asynthesis & Act can be found at http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/bitstream/1957/12846/1/DruryAdamM2009.pdf 3 By point Badiou means a point in the transcendental of a world that is the appearance of the infinite 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. 4 See the chart of correlations between Badiou and Kant on page 233 of Logics of Worlds.
5

See S. iek, Tarrying with the Negative (1993) and A. Zupani, Ethics of the Real (2000) See especially Ch. 7 of Ethics of the Real, Between Moral Law and Superego, pg. 140-160

6 7

It may be useful to recall here that this gap or splitting is what allows Kant, with his provincial religiosity (to quote Badiou), to open the space for the existence of God, where God is understood as a being for whom concept and intuition would coincide, in an immediate synthetic unity. See iek, Tarrying with the Negative, pg. 36-49. 8 It is interesting to note apropos of the discussion of the Idea of Communism which opened this essay that Badiou writes, in The Communist Hypothesis (2010), Slavoj iek is probably the only thinker today who can simultaneously hew as closely as possible to Lacans contributions and argue steadfastly and vigorously for the Idea of communism. This is because his real master is Hegel There are two ways of rescuing the Idea of communism in philosophy today: either by abandoning Hegel [] or by putting forward a different Hegel, an unknown Hegel, and this is what iek does, based on Lacan (who was a magnificent Hegelian - or so iek would claim - at first explicitly and later secretly, all along the way). 9 Several excellent historicist arguments have been made pointing to the various contemporary pressures that may have caused Kant to shirk from the radical consequences of his Analytic of the Sublime. See, for example, Frances Fergusons Solitude and the Sublime (1992), which argues that Kant sought to preserve at all costs, against his philosophical rival David Hume, the consistency of reality and thus an aesthetic regime of individuation. Putting aside the truth of these fascinating studies, the fact remains that the intrinsic pressure of the substantialization of the noumenal Thing necessitates a string of perverse consequences that commentators on Kant are still unraveling today. 10 See Zupani, Ethics of the Real, pg.147-149. I follow Zupanis argument over the next few sentences. 11 Ibid. 140-146, I follow Zupanis argument throughout this whole paragraph, but have given page citations for direct quotes. 12 This 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 void also as subject, since for Badiou such a move would amount to the structuralization of the void, which is of course impossible when the void is conceived as pure indifferent multiplicity, as being-quabeing devoid of any structure. 13 See Alain Badiou, Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil (2001)
14

See Alain Badiou, Of an Obscure Disaster: On the End of the Truth of the State Lacanian ink 22 (2003) 15 See 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. 16 For a detailed discussion on this Lacanian innovation, see Badious The Formulas of ltourdit, in Lacanian ink no. 27 (2006).

17

cf. Hallward, Badiou: a subject to truth 174-180; Badiou, Logics The Event According to Deleuze 18 cf. Deleuze Logic of Sense (1990)
19

See Badiou, Being and Event (2005), Part IV The Event: History and Ultra-one, especially pg. 173-177 20 See 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. 98-105 21 See Alain Badious chapter on the Paris Commune in The Communist Hypothesis, pg. 168-228
22

cf. Badiou, Logics 480-481 It follows from all this that the formal operations of incorporation into the place of the Other and of splitting of the subject constitute, under the name of Unconscious, the infrastructure of the human animal and not the occurrence as rare as it may be of the presentprocess of a truth which a subjectivated body treats point by point. 23 See Alain Badiou, The Idea of Communism, in The Communist Hypothsis, pg. 229-260. The demonstration begins on p. 238. 24 Tiqqun is the name of a French journal of philosophy written and published anonymously in two volumes, the first in 1999 and the second in 2001. Various texts from the journal have been republished in French by La Fabrique in Paris and in English by MIT Press. An anonymous translator has produced a nearly comprehensive English edition of the two volumes, available online at tiqqun.jottit.com. 25 Quotation taken from A Critical Metaphysics Could Be Born as a Science of Apparatuses, in Tiqqun #2, available online at tiqqun.jottit.com. See also Bloom Theory, in Tiqqun #1, available at the same website.

&e#eren"e
"adiou, A% /011:7 "thics4 n "ssay on the 5nderstanding of "&il, Pew Oork3 >erso% "adiou, A% /01167 -O( an O#scure Disaster3 On the End o( the )ruth o( State,. Lacanian in%, 003 4F F2% "adiou, A% /01147 6eing and "&ent, Pew Oork3 ,ontinuum% "adiou, A% /01147 7andboo% of ,naesthetics, Stan(ord, ,A3 Stan(ord University Aress% "adiou, A% /01157 -)he ?ormulas o( L*tourdit,. Lacanian in%, 0G3 F1 24% "adiou, A% /01127 Logics of Worlds4 6eing and "&ent 8, Pew Oork3 ,ontinuum% "adiou, A% /01:17 The Communist 7ypothesis, Pew Oork3 >erso% Deleu9e, @% /:2217 The Logic of Sense, Pew Oork3 ,olom#ia University Aress

Jallward, A% /01167 6adiou4 a subject to truth, ;innea!olis, ;P3 ;innesota University Aress Iant, +% /:25:Q:G217 The Critique of Judgement, trans% #y U%,% ;eredith, O*(ord3 ,larendon Aress% Lacan, U% /:2F:Q:2G67 The Seminar of Jacques Lacan 6oo% 9,4 The :our :undamental Concepts of -sychoanalysis, ed% U%A% ;iller, trans% #y A% Sheridan, Pew Oork3 Porton% iek, S% /:2F27 The Sublime ;bject of ,deology, Pew Oork3 >erso% iek, S% /:2267 Tarrying !ith the <egati&e, Durham, P,3 Duke University Aress% iek, S% /:22F7 -Asychoanalysis and !ost ;ar*ism3 the ,ase o( Alain "adiou,. South tlantic =uarterly, 2G30, 064 05 iek, S% /011G7 -?rom objet a to Su#traction,. Lacanian ,n%, 613 :61 :H:% Ku!anLiL, A% /01117 "thics of the #eal, Pew Oork3 >erso%