Description
http://www.egs.edu
Continuing with the question of negativity in Blanchot, this segment of the seminar will address an engagement with the negative on Blanchot’s part that leads him to question the reach of the dialectic with respect to what he understands as a general condition of modern humanity. Following the contribution of Prof. Noys, it will take its departure from what we can glean of Blanchot’s political thought in Political Writings, and then move to Blanchot’s reflection on nihilism in his essay, “Reflections on Hell” (from The Infinite Conversation). In sum, we will see that Blanchot seeks a way of engaging the negative that honors the exigencies to which critical thought must answer, but also opens to what language offers of what he calls “an other relation.” For the ethico-political order, what is at stake is a thought of freedom. For the relation he terms “friendship” there is an opening onto a very radical thought of finitude.