Illegible Salvation: The Authority of Language in The Concept of Anxiety

This essay examines the analysis of language in The Concept of Anxiety and argues that language ultimately reveals itself as both dangerous and salvific. The pseudonymous author, Vigilius Haufniensis, is suspicious of language, for it divides the individual from herself and thereby makes possible the self-forgetfulness of objective chatter. Indeed, this warning (which commenters have tended to follow uncritically) is a legitimate one – yet it fails to grasp that by rendering the self other than itself, language constitutes the self. In other words, the individual’s very existence depends on language. Moreover, the attempt to establish oneself as absolutely self-identical is precisely sin. Language opens us to alterity, and for this reason the demonic cannot endure it and seeks to control it. Language is uncontrollable, however, to the point that no sign permits us to be certain that we have rightly distinguished good from evil, the salvific from the demonic – and salvation can come only if we renounce the attempt to establish distinctions that are beyond our power. By employing a pseudonymous figure who views language with suspicion, Kierkegaard shows that language is dangerous, even deadly, but also allows us to realize that language is the condition of possibility for salvation

Serial Killers? Investigating some Modernist myths about decoration, pattern and ornament through workplace interventions

What is it about ornament that made it so contentious for influential Modernist thinkers and practitioners such as Adolf Loos and le Corbusier? According to Loos (1908) it was a sign of degeneracy, for le Corbusier best suited to ‘simple races, peasants and savages’ (1925). By championing the use of ornament as a vital tool for ‘resistance’ in the sense that Michel de Certeau used the word (1984; 1998) the practice-led research featured in this article seeks to interrogate some of these myths. Rather than being a passive adornment to an environment the visual artworks presented here tested the potential of decoration and ornament to offer a resistive, critical interruption to everyday spaces. The particular space addressed was that of the workplace, with bespoke artworks being made for three different work-related locations

The Hermeneutics of Givenness by Jean-Luc Marion

Translation (French to English) of Jean-Luc Marion's "La donation en son herméneutique," originally published (in French) as chapter II of Reprise du donné (Paris: PUF, 2016)

Philosophy and Theology: New Boundaries by Emmanuel Falque

Translation (French to English) of "Philosophie et théologie : nouvelles frontières" by Emmanuel Falque

Dreams and Visions as Divine Revelation

As a Christian, one might wonder, What happens to those who have never heard the gospel?\u27 Answers and speculations abound, espoused in theories like exclusivism, inclusivism, and postmortem evangelism. But what if these are not the only possible answers? Although dreams and visions could potentially be the answer to a much broader category of questions than the one above, this is the discussion that gave birth to my thesis. I would posit that dreams and visions represent to the Christian community one valid means of receiving divine revelation

Solidarity and the Absurd in Kamel Daoud's Meursault, contre-enquête

This article examines Kamel Daoud’s treatment of solidarity and the absurd in Meursault, contre-enquête and posits that the question of how to live in solidarity with others is central to the novel, although the word ‘solidarity’ never appears in it. After recalling Camus’s discussion of the absurd in Le Mythe de Sisyphe and of solidarity in L’Homme révolté, the article examines the manner in which Haroun, Daoud’s narrator and the brother of the Arab Meursault killed in L’Étranger, reveals his own failures of solidarity. He justly criticizes Meursault for privileging his confrontation with the absurd over the death of the Arab he did not even name, but Haroun too has killed. Haroun has, however, a greater understanding of solidarity than his fellows: he at least recognizes that murder is significant. He thus joins Meursault as an unworthy prophet who proclaims the absurd while surrounded by people who flee from it—and proclaiming the absurd can be a gesture of solidarity when one speaks for others, as Haroun speaks for his brother Moussa. Daoud’s novel reminds us that there are no final answers telling us how to live in solidarity with others and that we must do so all the same