Badiou’s encounter with art: a condition or a latent philosophy?!

This article, after explaining Alain Badiou’s views on the position of art as one of the ‘conditions’ of philosophy, aims to assess the particular relationship of his philosophy with art. Analysing his encounters with works of art (specifically poetry) raises doubts about his purported claim that art is an indelible ‘condition’ the ‘truth’ of which philosophy is supposed to name, while not dictating to the conditions, what their truths should be. By scrutinising a wide range of Badiou’s texts on this topic, this article presents some evidence that indicates his ontological investigations into art never go beyond the level of manifesting a latent philosophy whereby his own predefined concepts correspond to some artistic works. Badiou’s philosophy presumes that it allows art to speak for itself and derives concepts from it; however, the role of art in the formation of this philosophy bears no resemblance to what Badiou names a ‘condition’.