Alain Badiou on Europe's intellectual decline

Europe must rethink itself from the bottom up, says French philosopher Alain Badiou in an interview with the Sunday edition of Kathimerini. Only a grand idea can rouse Europe from its lethargy, Badiou believes: "I've never accepted the postmodern idea whereby the mentality of totalitarianism lurks behind every grand idea. For me that is simply a disguised form of ideological capitulation. I'd say that current mentalities also hide something far more widespread: the intellectual obsolescence and demoralisation of Europe. If you look closely you'll see that today's Europe is the most obsolete, weary region in the world. It is a continent where decline - and the acknowledgement of this decline - are omnipresent. ... Against this background the return of a grand idea bespeaks the wish for radical change ... that is necessary to abolish this deathly lassitude and revitalise European culture. Of course that does not mean a return to ideas ... having to do with the transformation of the state."

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