Happiness

'All philosophy is a metaphysics of happiness.or it's not worth an hour of trouble' claims Alain Badiou in this lively intervention into one of the most persistent themes in philosophy: what is happiness? And what do I need to do to be happy? The desire to be happy is one of our most universal goals and yet there doesn't seem to be any easy answers or formulas for achieving happiness. And the concept has become so commodified and corrupted to be almost unrecognizable as something worth pursuing. In light of this, should we just give up the aspiration to be happy altogether? Alain Badiou thinks not. While eschewing futile procedures for magically becoming 'happy', Badiou does passionately maintain that in order to be truly happy we need philosophy. And, bolder still, that a life lived philosophically is the happiest life of all!

Alain Badiou is a world-renowned French philosopher, formerly chair of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France, and founder of the faculty of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII with Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, and Jean-François Lyotard. Badiou has authored multiple major works of philosophy, many of which have been published in English by Bloomsbury, including Being and Event (2005), Logics of Worlds (2009), and The Immanence of Truths (forthcoming, 2021).

Acknowledgements Note on the Text/Translation Translator's Introduction: Happiness is Revolting by A.J. Bartlett and Justin Clemens Introduction: The Metaphysics of Real Happiness I: Philosophy and the Desire of Philosophy II: Philosophy and Antiphilosophy put to the test of happiness III: To be happy, must we change the world? IV: Destination and Affects of Philosophy Conclusion Index