Texte remanié de: Diss.--Katholisch-theologische Fakultät--Universität Münster, 1993. / Notes bibliogr. Bibliogr. p. 190-228.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Katholisch-theologische Fakultät--Bonn--Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, 1999. / Bibliogr. p. 373-409. Index.

Univ., Diss.--Berlin, 2003. / Literaturverz. S. [409] - 423.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 307-320).

This dissertation reconstructs German philosopher Hans Blumenberg’s theory of language in its intellectual and historical context. It shows how Blumenberg develops an original interpretation of language as a “weak” medium of expression, and offers an approach to Blumenberg’s whole oeuvre by tracing the changes he makes to this conception over the course of his career. In a first phase, Blumenberg develops a notion of language that is based on intersubjective situatedness, which both accounts for the impossibility of language to ever reach full objectivity, as Edmund Husserl set out to do, and language’s function to infer this intersubjectivity as the historical understanding of the reality in which it arose. The systematic investigation of these “concepts of reality” Blumenberg calls “historical phenomenology,” and it informs his thought up to the late nineteen-sixties. In a second phase, Blumenberg turns away from the philosophy of history and toward anthropology; now, intersubjectivity is no longer an exclusively linguistic phenomenon. Language loses its dominant status and is incorporated into a “phenomenological anthropology” that studies all productions of meaning—be they linguistic or otherwise—as “significances.” Here, language is one tool among others for human survival. In tracing these changes, the thesis contextualizes both Blumenberg’s major works and discusses unknown archival material. In addition to a new assessment of Blumenberg’s biographical background, the thesis addresses his metaphorology, his literary theory, and, in particular, his theory of liberalism.

Hauptanliegen der Dissertation ist es, einen Entwurf einer praktischen Ästhetik zu lancieren, der an der Schnittstelle zwischen philosophischer Ästhetik und Kunst – genauer Performancekunst - im Zeichen der Bezugsgrösse der Verletzbarkeit steht. <br><br> In jüngeren Ästhetikansätzen hat sich eine Auffassung herauskristallisiert, die nicht über, sondern mit Kunst reflektiert. Die Pointe im ‚Mit’ liegt darin, dass diese Ästhetiken die Kunst nicht erklären, sie bestimmen und damit ihre Bedeutung festlegen, sondern dass diese entlang der Kunst die Brüche, Widerstände und Zäsuren zwischen Wahrnehmen und Denken markieren und diese als produktiv bewerten. Diese Lesart etabliert ein Denken, das nicht aus der Distanz auf etwas schaut (theoria), sondern ästhetisch-reflektierend (zurückwendend, auch selbstkritisch) mit der Kunst denkt. <br><br> Die Disziplin der Ästhetik - als aisthesis: Lehre der sinnlichen Wahrnehmung - nimmt innerhalb der Philosophie eine besondere Stellung ein, weil sie auf ebendiese Differenz verweist und deshalb sinnliche und nicht nur logisch-argumentatorische Denkfiguren stärkt. Als eine Möglichkeit, die Kluft, das Nicht-Einholbare, die brüchige Unzulänglichkeit des begrifflich Denkenden gegenüber ästhetischer Erfahrung zu stärken, schlage ich die Bezugsgrösse der Verletzbarkeit vor. Eine solche Ästhetik besteht aus dem Kreieren verletzbarer Orte, wobei diese auf zweierlei Weisen umkreist werden: Zum einen aus der Kunstpraxis heraus anhand der ästhetischen Figur des verletzbaren Körpes, wie er sich in der zeitgenössischen Performance zeigt. Zum anderen als ein Kreieren von Begriffen im Bewusstsein ihrer Verletzbarkeit. <br><br> Ausgangspunkte sind die Denkentwürfe von Gilles Deleuze und Hans Blumenberg:<br><br> Die Ästhetik von Gilles Deleuze entwirft eine konkrete Überschneidungsmöglichkeit von Kunst und Philosophie, aus der sich meine These des Mit-Kunst-Denkens entwickeln lässt. Sie kann aus der Grundvoraussetzung des Deleuzeschen Denkens heraus begründet werden, die besagt, dass nicht nur die Kunst, sondern auch die Philosophie eine schöpferische Tätigkeit ist. Beide Disziplinen beruhen auf dem Prinzip der creatio continua, durch welche die Kunst Empfindungen und die Philosophie Begriffe schöpft, wobei eben genau dieser schöpferische Prozess Kunst und Philosophie in ein produktives Verhältnis zueinander treten lässt. Wie Deleuze seine Begriffsarbeit entlang künstlerischer Praxis entwickelt, wird anhand der Analyse des bis heute wenig rezipierten Textes Ein Manifest weniger in Bezug auf das Theater von Carmelo Bene analysiert. <br><br> Eine ganz anderen Zugang zum Entwurf einer praktischen Ästhetik liefert Hans Blumenberg, der eine Theorie der Unbegrifflichkeit in Aussicht stellt. Im Anschluss an seine Forderung, die Metapher wieder vermehrt in die philosophische Denkpraxis zu integrieren, radikalisiert er seine Forderung, auch das Nichtanschauliche zu berücksichtigen, indem er das gänzlich Unbegriffliche an die Seite des Begrifflichen stellt. Definitorische Schwäche zeigt sich als wahrhaftige Stärke, die in der Unbegrifflichkeit ihren Zenit erreicht. Der Schiffbruch wird von mir als zentrale Metapher – gewissermassen als Metapher der Metapher – verstanden, die das Auf-Grund-Laufen des Allwissenden veranschaulicht. Im Schiffbruch wird die produktive Kollision von Theorie und Praxis deutlich. <br><br> Deleuze und Blumenberg zeigen über ‚creatio continua’ und ‚Unbegrifflichkeit’ die Grenzen des Begreifens, indem sie betonen, dass sich Ästhetik nicht nur auf künstlerische Erfahrungen bezieht, sondern selber in das Gegenwärtigmachen von Erfahrungen involviert ist. Daraus folgt, dass ästhetische Reflexion nicht nur begrifflich agieren muss. Die praktische Ästhetik animiert dazu, andere darstellerische Formen (Bilder, Töne, Körper) als differente und ebenbürtige reflexive Modi anzuerkennen und sie als verletzbarmachende Formate der Sprache an die Seite zu stellen. Diese Lesart betont den gestalterischen Aspekt der Ästhetik selber. <br><br> Zur Verdeutlichung dieser Kluft zwischen (Körper-)Bild und Begriff ist der von mir mitgestaltete Film Augen blickeN der Dissertation als Kapitel beigefügt. Dieser Film zeigt Performer und Performerinnen, die sich bewusst entschieden haben, ihren ‚abweichenden’ Körper auf der Bühne zu präsentieren. Das Wort Verletzbarkeit verweist auf die paradoxe Situation, etwas Brüchiges tragfähig zu machen und dadurch auch auf eine besondere Beziehungsform und auf ein existenzielles Aufeinander-Verwiesensein der Menschen. Verletzbarkeit geht alle an, und stiftet deshalb eine Gemeinsamkeit besonderer Art. In diesem Sinne sind verletzbare Orte nicht nur ästhetische, sondern auch ethische Orte, womit die politische Dimension des Vorhabens betont wird. / Vulnerable Places. Outline of a practical aesthetics <br><br> The main thrust of the thesis is to launch the design for a practical aesthetics that would be situated at the interface between philosophical aesthetics and art – performance art, to be specific – with particular reference to the notion of vulnerability. <br><br> In more recent approaches to aesthetics a mode of thinking has emerged that engages in reflection not about art but rather with art. The point is for aesthetics not so much to explain and determine the meaning of art but rather to proceed alongside art in order to mark and appreciate the breaks, resistances and gaps between perception and thought. This way of reading establishes a kind of thinking that engages in aesthetic reflection with art (looking back onto itself, sometimes self-critically) rather than looking at something from a distance (theoria). <br><br> The discipline of aesthetics – in the sense of aisthesis, the theory of sense perception – has a special place within philosophy because it points towards exactly that difference, which strengthens sensual patterns of thought as opposed to those based on logical argument. I suggest the term vulnerability as a point of reference that will provide an opportunity to intensify the gap, the incommensurability, the fragile insufficiency of conceptual thought vis-à-vis aesthetic experience. Such an aesthetics consists in the creation of vulnerable places, revolving around them in two different circles: on the one hand approaching from the practice of art on the basis of the aesthetic figure of the vulnerable body as manifested in contemporary performance art, and on the other hand as the creation of terms and concepts with an awareness of their vulnerability. <br><br> The conceptual designs of Gilles Deleuze and Hans Blumenberg form points of departure for this argument: <br><br> Gilles Deleuze’ aesthetics outlines a concrete possibility of overlap between art and philosophy, on the basis of which my hypothesis of ‘thinking with art’ can be developed. It can be argued on the basis of the underlying assumptions of Deleuzian thought - the notion that not only art but also philosophy is a creative activity. Both disciplines are based on the principle of a creatio continua through which art creates sensations and philosophy concepts. And it is exactly this creative process that allows art and philosophy to enter into a productive relationship. The way Deleuze develops his conceptual work alongside artistic practice is shown on the basis of an analysis of the little known text Un manifeste de moins with reference to the theatre of Carmelo Bene. <br><br> Hans Blumenberg provides a completely different approach to the design of a practical aesthetics, indicating a theory of in-conceptuality. Following his call for an increased integration of metaphor into the practice of philosophical thought, he takes this further in the more radical call to take into equal consideration the non-sensual by placing the non-conceptual side by side with the conceptual. Weakness in definition emerges as the true strength, which reaches its apogee in its in-conceptuality. I understand the shipwreck as a central metaphor – in a sense as the metaphor of metaphor – that illustrates the grounding and failure of omniscience. The shipwreck illustrates the productive collision between theory and practice. <br><br> Through ‘creatio continua’ and ‘in-conceptuality’, Deleuze and Blumenberg show the limits of understanding by emphasizing that aesthetics not only refers to artistic experiences but is itself involved in the process of making experiences present. That means: Aesthetic reflection must proceed in ways other than just by conceptual means. Practical aesthetics encourages us to recognize other forms of representation (such as images, sounds, bodies) as different reflective modes of equal standing, and to place them side by side with language as forms that make one vulnerable. Such a reading emphasises the creative and design aspect of aesthetics itself. <br><br> The film ‘Point of View’, which I co-produced, forms an additional chapter of the thesis in order to illustrate the gap between (body-)image and concept. The film shows performers who have consciously decided to present their ‘deviant’ bodies on stage. The term vulnerability indicates the paradoxical task to enable something fragile to carry some weight; thus it also points towards a special form of relationship, to the way human beings are existentially dependent on each other. Since vulnerability concerns everyone, it establishes a special kind of community. In that sense, vulnerable places are not just aesthetic but also ethical places, which emphasizes the political dimension of the task.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--New Haven (Conn.)--Yale university. / Bibliogr. p. 253-268. Index.

L’œuvre de Hans Blumenberg, reçue d’abord pour son apport au débat sur la sécularisation et sa proposition d’une « métaphorologie », trouve son centre de gravité dans une anthropologie philosophique originale et complexe. C’est à celle-ci que notre thèse se consacre, en prenant acte du fait qu’« anthropologie » et « homme » sont les noms de deux problèmes avant d’être ceux d’un champ de savoir et de son objet. Si la pensée de Blumenberg s’élabore en premier lieu dans un dialogue critique avec la phénoménologie, ce n’est pas pour lui adjoindre le chapitre anthropologique qu’elle aurait omis, mais pour réformer de fond en comble ses thèses, sa méthode et ses principes implicites. Il ne s’agit pas non plus de retourner simplement aux questions et réponses traditionnelles que la philosophie a formulées à propos de l’homme. S’interrogeant, dans la lignée de l’anthropologie philosophique allemande, sur la possibilité de l’homme, Blumenberg oriente sa réflexion dans une voie « négative », dont notre travail s’attache à rendre raison autant qu’à interroger les limites. Avec l’image d’un homme fondamentalement « démuni », un être lacunaire, que les descriptions et narrations de l’auteur mettent en scène, ne retrouve-t-on pas une conception « prométhéenne », qui reconduit les présupposés qu’elle critiquait pourtant ? Notre interprétation vise, dans une analyse des procédures discursives que l’auteur met en œuvre et une discussion des thèses qu’il propose, à faire valoir leurs ambivalences, tout autant que leur fécondité. Ce qui est à lire, en dernière instance, dans l’œuvre de l’auteur, c’est un ensemble d’approches historiques et philosophiques de la « seconde nature » de l’homme, qui décrit les inquiétudes inhérentes à sa condition culturelle, autant que les intermittences du sujet. / First appreciated for the contribution made to the ‘Secularisation’ debate, along with its conception of ‘Metaphorology’, the work of Hans Blumenberg represents a complex and original philosophical anthropology, the core reflections of which form the central focus of this dissertation. We begin from a point of questioning whether “anthropology” and “man” are not simply terms used to describe a field of academic practice and it’s topic of study, but rather two distinct issues to be examined. The dominant motive of Blumenberg’s thought is to be found in a critical dialogue with phenomenology, but he is not interested in simply contributing an anthropological ‘chapter’ to the field, rather he works to criticise and seek a total reform of the theses, methodology and implicit principles therein. He similarly refuses to rerun the familiar philosophical debates regarding man, instead questioning the possibility of man, inspired by the German philosophical tradition. This thesis will assess and critically consider this ‘negative’ turn in Blumenberg’s thought. Do his descriptions and narrative conveying the human as a fundamentally lacking being not tend to invoke a ‘promethean’ conception of man, the very assumptions of which they seek to criticise?Through analysis of Blumenberg’s discursive procedures and consideration of his theses, our interpretation intends to demonstrate their sense of ambivalence as well as their considered abundance. Ultimately, what is to be found in the work of this author is a collection of approaches to the ‘second nature’ of man which together describe the unease inherent in the cultural condition, as well as the intermittencies of the subject.

[pt] Frequentemente os termos morte de Deus, fim da poética e dessacralização são associados à ideia de Modernidade que constrói uma nova explicação do mundo e, a seu turno, porta ideia de superação de um tempo mítico. Com efeito, a relação entre poética ficcional e secularização é ambígua e ambivalente. Se a secularização opera uma aparente marginalização do poético e do mito-teológico (por julgar sua capacidade de enunciação provisória), ela também pode ser concebida como um modo de apropriação de ambos na tentativa de sanear e superar suas deficiências enunciativas. O projeto cartesiano excluía a provisionalidade da linguagem metafórica enquanto construtora de uma imagem de mundo para pôr em seu lugar a inequivocidade de uma linguagem instrumental. Se tal projeto de superação caminhou em direção à sua concretização, em que consistira, contemporaneamente, a reflexão de Heidegger ao se apropriar da poesia de Holderlin: para quê poetas?. A sua conclusão requer uma indissolubilidade entre o poético e o teológico enquanto agentes não capturados pela razão técnico-científica. Pode a poética, enquanto linguagem metafórica, dizer algo sobre o humano ou sobre Deus? Ela possui ferramentas propícias para sustentação de uma imagem de mundo? Aqui, emerge a problemática da Teopoética, seja vista como apropriação ficcional do conceito de Deus, seja concebida como uma potência narrativa criadora do divino, como possibilidade de superar a hiperespecialização tão comum na Modernidade. As tentativas de refletir sobre o humano e seu lugar no mundo, muitas vezes em um contexto já de suposta secularidade realizada, choca-se nos próprios limites da razão técnico-científica. Poderia o espaço do poético - e, com ele, do mito-teológico – superar uma normatividade? O que se está em jogo ultrapassa uma mera virtualidade poética para se lançar numa efetividade política. A reflexão heideggeriana fornece novas perspectivas para uma valoração e entendimento substancial do papel heurístico desempenhado pelo universo da ficção. Revigorando, ou restabelecendo, o senso de poiésis, as reflexões de Nietzsche e Heidegger parecem corroborar para definir o espaço que o poeta (ficcionalista) ocupa na sociedade, revertendo o estatuto ético platônico. Ao afirmar que o humano tem o desejo recôndito de fazer da literatura vida (numa espécie de apropriação do Dasein heideggeriano), o escritor José Saramago parece oferecer veredas para um entendimento da poesia não apenas como criadora de novos valores, mas como a própria forma de enunciar o humano como consciência de si e no conhecimento da alteridade. Poetas em tempos indigentes, para além de indicar uma volta aos tempos míticos, fornecem o campo propício para a ruptura da dogmatização que petrifica o mito em términos categoriais e resgata, como afirma Hans Blumenberg, a sua liberalidade metafórica. Permitir a repovoação do mundo pelos deuses faz do poeta o legislador platônico por excelência que, rejeitando o estabelecimento de uma perspectiva totalitária, busca abarcar a existência humana numa profusão de possibilidades e amplia o horizonte do entendimento da poesia/ficção como instrumento heurístico, capaz de pensar soluções e romper com o estatuto da realidade absoluta do qual, inclusive, o conceito de Deus tornou-se refém. / [en] Often the terms death of God, end of poetics and desecration are associated with the idea of Modernity that builds a new explanation of the world and, in turn, bears the idea of overcoming a mythical time. Indeed, the relationship between fictional poetics and secularization is ambiguous and ambivalent. If secularization operates an apparent marginalization of the poetic and the myth-theological (considering its provisional enunciation capacity), it can also be conceived as a way of appropriating both in an attempt to heal and overcome their enunciative deficiencies. The Cartesian project excluded the provisionality of metaphorical language as a constructor of an image of the world in order to put in place the unambiguity of an instrumental language. If such a project of overcoming went towards its realization, what did Heidegger s reflection consist of, contemporarily, appropriating Holderlin s poetry: what are poets for?. Its conclusion requires an indissolubility between the poetic and the theological as agents not captured by technical-scientific reason. Can poetics, as a metaphorical language, say something about the human or about God? Does it have the right tools to support an image of the world? Here, the problematic of Theopoetics emerges, either seen as a fictional appropriation of the concept of God, or conceived as a creative narrative power of the divine, as a possibility to overcome the hyperspecialization so common in Modernity. The attempts to reflect on the human and its place in the world, often in a context of supposedly accomplished secularity, clash with the very limits of technical-scientific reason. Could the space of poetics - and, with it, the myth-theological - overcome a normativity? What is at stake goes beyond a mere poetic virtuality to launch itself into political effectiveness. Heidegger s reflection provides new perspectives for a substantial appreciation and understanding of the heuristic role played by the universe of fiction. Invigorating, or reestablishing, the sense of poiesis, the reflections of Nietzsche and Heidegger seem to corroborate to define the space that the (fictionalist) poet occupies in society, reversing the Platonic ethical status. When affirming that the human has the hidden desire to make life from literature (in a kind of appropriation of Heideggerian Dasein), the writer José Saramago seems to offer paths for an understanding of poetry not only as a creator of new values, but as the very form to enunciate the human as its own self-awareness and in the knowledge of otherness. Poets in destitute times, in addition to indicating a return to mythical times, provide the propitious field for the breakdown of dogmatization that petrifies myth in categorical terms and rescues, as Hans Blumenberg says, its metaphorical liberality. Allowing the repopulation of the world by the gods makes the poet the quintessential Platonic legislator who, rejecting the establishment of a totalitarian perspective, seeks to embrace human existence in a profusion of possibilities and broadens the horizon of understanding poetry / fiction as a heuristic instrument, capable of thinking about solutions and breaking with the absolute reality statute, of which inclusively the concept of God has become hostage.

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