Strange Forms of Argumentation: On Meillassoux's Definition of Philosophy

Abstract

Even though Quentin Meillassoux's philosophy is still in the making, to use Graham Harman's (2015) expression, it has garnered sufficient attention to become the topic of an ever-growing body of specialized literature. Here we wish to make a contribution in that direction. We offer an examination of Meillassoux's definition of philosophy as "the invention of strange forms of argumentation”. We compare and contrast this definition to the one that has been offered by Deleuze & Guattari in What is Philosophy?

We then provide an example of his metaphilosophy by evaluating his potential to become a philosophical heir to Alain Badiou. We explain why this may be the case, highlighting features of a situation that we will name "the Continental Expectation”, and then linking that situation to the contents of Meillassoux's philosophy.