ARTICOLI / 1 / Gerry Coulter /
As we mark the tenth anniversary of the passing of Jean Baudrillard it is worthwhile to reflect on the lasting relevance of his ideas. Will Baudrillard be read in the foreseeable and even in the distant future the way Plato, Pico, or Shakespeare are today? In an attempt to answer this question the essay points to six original contributions from Baudrillard’s thought that are likely to contribute to the last relevance of his works: 1) the relationship he pointed to between philosophy and literature, 2) his embrace of ‘emptiness’, 3) his thought concerning the poetic resolution of the world, 4) his writings on reversibility, 5) the critique of Marx, and 6) his work on simulation. These aspects of his work, among others, may well see Baudrillard’s work stand the rigors of the test of time.