On Topology

Abstract

Recent arguments asserting a topological turn in culture also identify a range of topologically informed interventions in social and cultural theory. Talk of a topological turn evokes both the enduring interest that the field of mathematics presents and the business of analysis in the cultural sphere. This article questions the novelty of this 'becoming topological of culture' and digs into a deeper historicity in order to identify the trends that may be said to support the development of topology in the current situation. It also examines the relationship between mathematics considered ontologically (philosophy of mathematics) and mathematics considered epistemologically (as a methodological practice of knowledge), in order to better grasp the significance of the practical abstractions that mathematics as technics (or cultural topology) manifests. Discussions of Cantor, Russell, Poincaré, Lévi-Strauss, Lacan and others address the background of contemporary mathematical topology. The article goes on to examine Alain Badiou's principle that mathematics is ontology and concludes with a discussion of the mathematics of Martin Heidegger. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.