The Place of the Symbolic
brings together Reiner Schürmann's essays on the nexus between art and politics. In keeping with his translation of the destruction of metaphysics into an an-archic philosophy of practice, Schürmann here develops a radically immanent theory of the place of symbols, irreducible to both Idealist theories and structuralist accounts of the symbolic such as Jacques Lacan's. Symbols, Schürmann argues in some of his earliest texts, may provide a bridge between ontological difference and politics. They resist being grasped metaphysically, in terms of representation. Instead their understanding requires a specific way of existence: attending to the coming-to-presence of phenomena. As such, the understanding of symbols discloses a form of praxis that abandons ultimate grounds and opens onto the manifold.
Alongside Schürmann's theory of symbols, the collection includes essays on the interaction of metaphysics, tragedy and technology, on the "there is" in poetry, as well as reflections on judgment. Throughout these characteristically lucid interventions, Schürmann's most urgent concern remains a consideration of singular and finite practices that enact a release from universal principles. Art and politics appear here as the unworking of ultimate grounds; that is, as practices attuned to a truly groundless form of life.
Reviews / Votes
"In this collection, Schürmann compellingly shows how the place of symbols, or what he calls the 'symbolic difference,' is the inaugural and inexhaustible site of the presencing or letting-be of being, the site of possibility (the 'not-yet'). With these essays, Schürmann significantly develops his thinking on how we think and act in our present moment of 'broken bonds.' The volume is beautifully edited by Kieran Aarons and Nicolas Schneider, who provide a nuanced and beautiful concluding essay on Schürmann's thinking of the symbolic difference in the light of his theory of broken hegemonies."
-Peg Birmingham, Professor of Philosophy, DePaul University; author of
Hannah Arendt and Human Rights
(Indiana University Press, 2006)
Series
Language
Place of publication
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 21 cm
Width: 13.5 cm
Weight
ISBN-13
978-3-0358-0434-8 (9783035804348)
Schweitzer Classification
Author
Reiner Schürmann wurde 1941 in Amsterdam geboren und verbrachte seine Kindheit und Jugend in Krefeld. Ab 1960 studierte er Philosophie in München, unterbrochen durch einen Aufenthalt in einem israelischen Kibbuz. 1961 trat er als Novize bei den Dominikanern in Frankreich ein und studierte von 1962-69 Theologie im Saulchoir, Essonne, bei Paris, unterbrochen durch einen Studienaufenthalt in Freiburg i. Br. bei Heidegger. 1970 wurde er zum Dominikanerpriester ordiniert, verließ den Orden 1975 jedoch wieder. Seit den frühen siebziger Jahren lebte Schürmann in den USA und wurde 1975 von Hannah Arendt und Hans Jonas an die New School for Social Research in New York berufen. 1993 starb Reiner Schürmann an Aids. Sein umfangreiches philosophisches Werk verfasste Schürmann in französischer Sprache.
Editor
Nicolas Schneider Nicolas Schneider arbeitet zur Philosophie nach Kant, Kritischen Theorie und Phänomenologie. Im Anschluss an seine Promotion in Philosophie an der Kingston University London, UK, lehrte er an der Humboldt-Universität Berlin. Derzeit ist er wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Universität Lüneburg.
7
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42
Symbolic Difference
(Reiner Schürmann)
43
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76
Symbolic Praxis
(Reiner Schürmann)
77
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104
Situating René Char: Hölderlin, Heidegger, Char and the "There Is"
(Reiner Schürmann)
105
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134
Political Thinking in Heidegger
(Reiner Schürmann)
135
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162
The Ontological Difference and Political Philosophy
(Reiner Schürmann)
163
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186
On Judging and its Issue
(Reiner Schürmann)
187
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212
Technicity, Topology, Tragedy: Heidegger on That Which Saves in the Global Reach
(Reiner Schürmann)
213
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232
Conditions of Evil
(Reiner Schürmann)
235
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242
Interview with Reiner Schürmann in La Croix
(Reiner Schürmann)
243
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256
On the Philosophers' Release from Civil Service
(Reiner Schürmann)
257
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260
Abstraction that Makes the Viewer Think
(Reiner Schürmann)
261
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294
Reiner Schürmann's Philosophy of Broken Bonds
(Kieran Aarons, Nicolas Schneider)
295
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300
Acknowledgments
