A New Philosophy of Modernity and Sovereignty: Towards Radical Historicisation

Description

Tackling important philosophical questions on modernity – what it is, where it begins and when it ends – Przemyslaw Tacik challenges the idea that modernity marks a particular epoch, and historicises its conception to offer a radical critique of it. His deconstruction-informed critique collects and assesses reflections on modernity from major philosophers including Hegel, Heidegger, Lacan, Arendt, Agamben, and Žižek. This analysis progresses a new understanding of modernity intrinsically connected to the growth of sovereignty as an organising principle of contemporary life. He argues that it is the idea of 'modernity', as a taken-for-granted era, which is positioned as the essential condition for making linear history possible, when it should instead be history, in and of itself, which dictates the existence of a particular period. Using Hegel's notion of 'spirit' to trace the importance of sovereignty to the conception of the modern epoch within German idealism, Tacik traces Hegel's influence on Heidegger through reference to the 'star' in his late philosophy which represents the hope of overcoming the metaphysical poverty of modernity. This line of thought reveals the necessity of a paradigm shift in our understanding of modernity that speaks to contemporary continental philosophy, theories of modernity, political theory, and critical re-assessments of Marxism. Cover page Halftitle page Title page Copyright page Contents Acknowledgments Epigraph Introduction 1 The Mirror Star Kant: Stars, the law, and the remainder Modernity’s greatest apocrypha: Hegel’s Berlin address The Polar Star of spirit: Faith and exception Modern sovereignty Sovereignty: The most tempting of possibilities From premodern transcendence to modern sovereignty Proclamation and self-certainty: Taking the sovereign place Modernity’s inner messianism: Reconstructing the universe Why sovereignty needs the law Sovereignty as a mode of governing the apocalyptic tension of modernity Philosophy’s day after, or a failure of modern messianism Stars in modern philosophy: “Us” and solitude on Earth Creation of modern identity: From the Polar Star to the Mirror Star The Mirror Star: Modern universe in motion 2 For a Derridean-Copernican Revolution Modernity Before History History as a presupposition of modernity Deconstructing history: Self-differentiation and time Modernity as a proto-historical space Overdetermination of modernity: A trans-epoch 3 Modernity as a Construct of Sovereignty Modernity, history, and sovereignty Temporal and spatial aspects of modernity as a trans-epoch Historicizing modernity with the Mirror Star Heidegger’s obscure cult of lasting Modernity and the Mirror Star 4 The Unfinished Time of Modernity The spectral democracy of modernity Descartes’ demon of historicity: Is there history outside modernity? 5 Sovereign Suspension and Provisionality Kantian sublimity and incommensurability of the modern universe Permanent provisionality: Modernity as a universe of exception Modernity in parable Critique of provisionality 6 The Big Bang of Modernity Modernity as an expanding universe Fetishism of modern politics: Lessons from Heidegger Grasping modernity through writing: Mallarmé and the Septentrion Endless life: Why modernity produces biopolitics Marx’s biopolitics Ethical critique of sovereign identity Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index