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I will be commenting on a very interesting excerpt from Belhak Kacem's forthcoming book L'effet Meillassoux (The Meillassoux Effect publishe! on the blog "es apports !e Meh!i Belha# Kacem$ Kacem situates %uentin Meillassoux (%M in the context of the post&Ba!iousian generation' that is trying to inherit not only from Ba!iou but also from (eleu)e$ In my language' they are trying to combine elements of a synchronic ontology with those of a !iachronic ontology$ Belha# Kacem* + ,-est une mo!e !es philosophes !e ma g.n.ration' /ui m-a agac. che) beaucoup* comment 0compossibiliser1 (eleu)e et Ba!iou2 3arce /ue son talent est incommensurable 4 la concurrence' %M est all. bien plus loin' et 4 sa lecture on se !it souvent /u-il est bien pr5s !-y parvenir$ Et pourtant 4 la fin non$ "e pr.sent livre vou!rait contribuer' au&!el4 !es criti/ues' 4 ce /u-il r.ussisse quand mme+$ +It's a fashion amongst philosophers of my generation which has annoye! me a lot* how to +compossibilise+ (eleu)e an! Ba!iou2 Because his talent is incommensurable to the competition' %M has gone further than most' an! rea!ing him one ten!s to think that he is very close to succee!ing$ 6n! yet finally he !oesn't$ The present book woul! like to contribute' beyon! its criti/ues' to him succee!ing after all+ (my translation $ 7or Belha# Kacem this opposition of incompossibles an! the attempt to overcome it can be seen in %M's implicit loyalty to (eleu)e in his concept of +super&,haos+ an! his vacillating loyalty to Ba!iou in the notion that +mathematics8ontology+* +9e vais plus loin !ans 0l-hypoth5se !e travail1* %M nous cache et se cache son !eleu)isme foncier par un ba!iousisme schi)ophr.ni/ue+ +I go further in my +working hypothesis+* %M hi!es' from us an! from himself' his basic (eleu)ism un!er a schi)ophrenic Ba!iouism+$ In Belha# Kacem's analysis there is a contra!iction at the heart of Meillassoux's system* %M's super& ,haos is the negation of the factial eternity of logic an! mathematics' an! logic an! mathematics are the +factial negation+ of any form of super&,haos$ Thus Meillassoux is torn between two absolutes' each of which is the negation of the other$
calls his :3yrrhic stroke;' which consists in the bluff that the !emonstration has alrea!y been given$ This bluff allows him to maintain' while !enying it' (eleu)e-s ,haos' an! even to ra!icalise it by subtracting the @ne&6ll that englobe! it$ The bluff allows %M to remain (eleu)ian while preten!ing to be faithful to Ba!iou$