In Praise of Love

A new century new threats to love ...Love without risks is like war without deaths - but today love is threatened by an alliance of liberalism and hedonism. Caught between consumerism and casual sexual encounters devoid of passion love - without the key ingredient of chance - is in danger of withering on the vine. In In Praise of Love Alain Badiou takes on contemporary 'dating agency' conceptions of love that come complete with zero-risk insurance - like US zero-casualty bombs. He develops a new take on love that sees it as an adventure and an opportunity for re-invention in a constant exploration of otherness and difference that leads the individual out of an obsession with identity and self. Liberal libertine and libertarian reductions of love to instant pleasure and non-commitment bite the dust as Badiou invokes a supporting cast of thinkers from Plato to Lacan via Karl Marx to form a new narrative of romance relationships and sex - a narrative that does not fear love.