Hegel in France: hallucination or essential influence? Badiou's controversial take.

Alain Badiou presents a controversial view of Hegel's influence in France, arguing that it is neither a pure hallucination nor a wholly positive force, but rather a complex and divided legacy that demands critical engagement. He contends that French philosophy's relationship with Hegel has been marked by noisy breaks and strategic manipulations, obscuring both its connection to Marxism and the potential for a renewed understanding of the dialectic's rational kernel.

Badiou critiques the Althusserian approach, which sought to discredit idealized Marxism by positioning Hegel as its absolute foil. While acknowledging the positive effects of this cleanup project in its time, Badiou argues that it ultimately foreclosed both Marx and Hegel, preventing a nuanced understanding of their relationship. He asserts, "Marx is neither the Other of Hegel nor his Same. Marx is the divider of Hegel," suggesting that Marx simultaneously validates the dialectic's rational kernel while exposing the falsity of Hegel's idealist system.

Furthermore, Badiou criticizes the manipulation of Hegel to denounce Marxism, stating, "against the grain of the process started in the 1930s, this time it is in order to de-acclimate ourselves from Marxism, and in order to have us confess its horror, that once more that sphinx of our central philosophical tradition of thought is manipulated." He emphasizes the need to restore the "essential Hegel," the one studied by Lenin and deemed necessary for understanding Capital, namely, the Hegel of the Science of Logic.

Ultimately, Badiou advocates for a divided Hegel, one that acknowledges both the validity and the falsity of his system. This division, he believes, is crucial for preventing both idealist-romantic and scientistic-academic deviations in thinking about the relationship between Marx and Hegel, as well as for countering the bourgeois philosophies that seek to neutralize Marxism. Badiou's controversial take, therefore, positions Hegel as a stake in an ongoing conflict, demanding a critical and nuanced engagement with his divided legacy.