Alain Badiou takes on the standard bearer of the linguistic turnA" in modern philosophy, and anatomizes the anti-philosophyA" of Ludwig Wittgenstein, in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Addressing the crucial moment where Wittgenstein argues that much has to be passed over in silence-showing what cannot be said, after accepting the limits of language and meaning-Badiou argues that this mystical act reduces logic to rhetoric, truth to an effect of language games, and philosophy to a series of esoteric aphorisms. In the course of his interrogation of Wittgenstein's anti-philosophy, Badiou sets out and refines his own definitions of the universal truths that condition philosophy. Bruno Bosteels' introduction shows that this encounter with Wittgenstein is central to Badiou's overall project-and that a continuing dialogue with the exemplar of anti-philosophy is crucial for contemporary philosophy.

阿蘭•巴丟（Alain Badiou）,法國當代著名哲學傢、作傢、政治活動傢。1937年齣生於法屬摩洛哥，畢業於巴黎高等師範學校，參加過阿爾都塞的學習小組，曾深受雅剋•拉康的影響。1999年起任教於巴黎高等師範學校，曾擔任哲學學科主席，在邏輯、數學和馬剋思主義等多方麵均有深入研究。巴丟絕非書齋中的哲學傢，有著激進的政治思想，在參與左派政治組織的社會活動方麵不遺餘力。作為一位高産的思想者，他已有數十部著作問世，如《主體理論》《存在與事件》《世界的邏輯：存在與事件2》《德勒茲》《聖保羅》《袖珍先賢祠》《哲學宣言》《第二哲學宣言》《法國哲學的冒險》等。