The Terror of Evidence

Description

Meditations, maxims, aphorisms, notes, and comments address topics that range from pathos and genius to careerism and club sandwiches. Marcus Steinweg's capacity to implicate the other is beautiful, bright, precise, and logical, grounded in everyday questions, which to him are always big questions. —from the foreword by Thomas Hirschhorn The houses of philosophy need not be palaces. —Marcus Steinweg, “House,” The Terror of Evidence This is the first book by the prolific German philosopher Marcus Steinweg to be available in English translation. The Terror of Evidence offers meditations, maxims, aphorisms, notes, and comments—191 texts ranging in length from three words to three pages—the deceptive simplicity of which challenges the reader to think. “Thinking means getting lost again and again,” Steinweg observes. Reality is the ever-broken promise of consistency; “the terror of evidence” arises from the inconsistency before our eyes. Thinking is a means of coping with that inconsistency. Steinweg is known for his collaborations with Thomas Hirschhorn and the lectures and texts he has provided for many of Hirschhorn's projects. This translation of The Terror of Evidence includes a foreword by Hirschhorn written especially for the MIT Press edition. The subjects of these short texts vary widely. (“The table of contents is in itself excessive and ambitious,” writes Hirschhorn.) They include pathos, passivity, genius, resentment, love, horror, catastrophe, and racism. And club sandwiches (specifically, Foucault's love for this American specialty), blow jobs, and dance. Also: “Two Kinds of Obscurantism,” “Putting Words in Spinoza's Mouth,” “Note on Rorty,” and “Doubting Doubt.” The Terror of Evidence can be considered a guidebook to thinking: the daily journey of exploration, the incessant questioning of reality that Steinweg sees as the task of philosophy. CONTENTS FOREWORD: MARCUS STEINWEG’S HARDCORE THINKING—WITH A LIGHT HEART 1 OWL 2 PATHOS 3 PHILOSOPHY 4 HOUSE 5 COURBET 6 CLUB SANDWICH 7 TRAP 8 ESCAPE 9 SOAP BUBBLES 10 RESSENTIMENT 11 CONFINEMENT 12 MORTGAGE 13 LOYALTY THROUGH BETRAYAL 14 HEBBEL WITH WITTGENSTEIN 15 REASON AS EXCESS 16 PLAY 17 SELF-TRANSCENDENCE 18 THOUGHT IN LOVE 19 EYE 20 NAIVET 21 BALANCE 22 GOD 23 NIGHT 24 FACT WORSHIP 25 SPLINTER 26 ERROR PREVENTION 27 UNREAL 28 ELEGANCE 29 HOLE 30 STINGING EYES 31 SUN 32 DICTATE 33 KAFKA 34 EXILE 35 IMPROVISATION 36 FEAR 37 READING 38 BELIEF 39 KITTLER WITH LACAN 40 SCRAPHEAP 41 HUMOR 42 HALLUCINATIONS 43 SUBJECT 44 VISION 45 JAPAN 46 CATASTROPHE 47 HAPPINESS 48 METRON 49 KNOTS 50 MARKET 51 BECKETT 52 GENIUS 53 UNPRECEDENTED 54 SELF-CONFINEMENT 55 PAYING 56 BLINDERS 57 ENLIGHTENMENT 58 TWO KINDS OF OBSCURANTISM 59 BREAK 60 FLYING 61 GOOD 62 SOUL 63 SPOILSPORT 64 EMPTINESS 65 OFFENDED 66 TREE 67 MAD 68 STRUCTURAL HOMOLOGY 69 YES 70 PRECARITY 71 TREMENDOUS 72 HEGEL 73 TASTE 74 POLIT-HYSTERIA 75 TEARS 76 ETERNAL CHILD 77 DREAMING 78 VANISHING POINT 79 PUTTING WORDS IN SPINOZA’S MOUTH 80 PERSISTENCE 81 FRENZY 82 ROMANTICISM 83 LANGUAGE 84 THIEF 85 HORROR 86 GUTTER 87 A MINUTE TOO MANY 88 JOURNEY 89 LOVE 90 CATHOLIC 91 ASH 92 BRILLIANT 93 IDOLS 94 COMPLICATED 95 EXHALE 96 HEIDEGGER 97 PRECISION 98 FANATICISM 99 UNRECONCILED 100 RESURRECTION 101 PRISON 102 NAKED 103 PUTTING WORDS IN NIETZSCHE’S MOUTH 104 SUGGESTION 105 MISUNDERSTANDING 106 UNDER SUSPICION 107 LOGOS 108 TWO KINDS OF INNOCENCE 109 UNTIMELY 110 DRUGS 111 CARICATURE 112 SEX AND POLITICS 113 WASTELAND 114 ALLURE 115 EMOTIONAL ATHEISM 116 TEACHING 117 BLOW JOB 118 PARAPHRASE 119 RUIN 120 PASSIVITY 121 VULNERABILITY 122 BONHEUR 123 APORETIC PRAYER 124 CIRCUS ACT 125 CALL 126 BODY ESOTERICISM 127 HEART 128 NOTE ON ODRADEK 129 RUSSELL 130 UNSETTLING YOURSELF 131 CAREERISM ON THE LEFT 132 WRITING 133 REDUCTION 134 ENERGY 135 THRESHOLD 136 PREY 137 NOTE ON RORTY 138 RIFT 139 FINANCE IDIOCY 140 THEATER 141 REASONABLE 142 DIALECTIC 143 SUCCESS 144 BOREDOM 145 CIRCLE 146 PERFECTIONISM 147 EXCESSES OF REASON 148 EVENT 149 MANET 150 CRISIS 151 FEELING 152 UNSPECTACULAR 153 BACHMANN WITH MÜLLER 154 TRUTH 155 WHY ALEXANDER KLUGE 156 TROPICS 157 NOTE ON SARTRE 158 DOUBTING DOUBT 159 RIVALRY 160 EVERY WHICH WAY 161 BODY 162 NOTE ON NIETZSCHE 163 METHOD OF IMMANENCE 164 SECOND-ORDER ILLUSION 165 FOR NO REASON 166 WINDOW 167 DEPTH 168 LEFT 169 LOVE’S LIE 170 NOTE ON RACISM 171 CREATIO 172 COURAGE 173 WAR IN PEACE 174 READY FOR FLIGHT 175 TOTALLY 176 BIRTH 177 RELIGION OF REASON 178 CLICHE VERSUS IMAGINATION 179 BREAKING AWAY 180 WITTGENSTEIN 181 DEPRESSION 182 DANCE 183 ALEATORY 184 THINKING 185 DIALOGUE 186 DEFINITION 187 SHOCK 188 ESCAPE 189 THINK AGAIN 190 SECOND THOUGHTS 191 FLIES NOTES