Alain Badiou takes phone call during Žižek's lecture
anecdote · personal/autobiographical ·
retold in 4 talks
At a talk, Žižek had lent his phone to Badiou; the phone rang mid-lecture, Badiou answered and even asked Žižek to speak more quietly. Žižek's comment: 'You can do this only to someone who is a real friend.'
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 3
“he even asked me could I talk a little bit less loudly so that he can. I told him immediately: 'You can do this only to someone who is a real friend.'”
“He asked me if I can talk a little bit with a lower voice so that I don't disturb him. No problem for me, this is what friends are doing.”
“Slavoj, please could you talk a little bit lower, I cannot hear Badiou.”
Its cast and sources
populated by
Massimo Cacciari1Ivan Böszörményi-Nagy1Kenneth Reinhard1Serge Leclaire1Gerald Cohen1Tom Tykwer1Pierre Macherey1Peter Sellars1
alongside works
Every retelling 3
At a talk, Žižek had lent his phone to Badiou; the phone rang mid-lecture, Badiou answered and even asked Žižek to speak more quietly. Žižek's comment: 'You can do this only to someone who is a real friend.', illustrating friendship and transgression,meta-rules of belonging
Badiou asked to use Žižek's phone while expecting an important call; when it rang during Žižek's lecture, Badiou asked Žižek to speak more quietly so as not to disturb him., illustrating friendship with Badiou,intellectual community
While Žižek was giving a talk, Alain Badiou (who had borrowed his phone) not only took the call in the room but asked Žižek to speak more quietly so he could hear Badiou on the phone. Žižek cites this as the definition of absolute friendship., illustrating friendship,philosophical comradeship