A New Philosophy of Modernity and Sovereignty : Towards Radical Historicisation

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 1 Halftitle page 2 Title page 4 Copyright page 5 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 7 Epigraph 8 Introduction 10 1 The Mirror Star 18 Kant: Stars, the law, and the remainder 18 Modernity’s greatest apocrypha: Hegel’s Berlin address 22 The Polar Star of spirit: Faith and exception 29 Modern sovereignty 35 Sovereignty: The most tempting of possibilities 38 From premodern transcendence to modern sovereignty 40 Proclamation and self-certainty: Taking the sovereign place 42 Modernity’s inner messianism: Reconstructing the universe 45 Why sovereignty needs the law 48 Sovereignty as a mode of governing the apocalyptic tension of modernity 49 Philosophy’s day after, or a failure of modern messianism 55 Stars in modern philosophy: “Us” and solitude on Earth 61 Creation of modern identity: From the Polar Star to the Mirror Star 72 The Mirror Star: Modern universe in motion 76 2 For a Derridean-Copernican Revolution Modernity Before History 78 History as a presupposition of modernity 78 Deconstructing history: Self-differentiation and time 81 Modernity as a proto-historical space 84 Overdetermination of modernity: A trans-epoch 85 3 Modernity as a Construct of Sovereignty 90 Modernity, history, and sovereignty 90 Temporal and spatial aspects of modernity as a trans-epoch 94 Historicizing modernity with the Mirror Star 96 Heidegger’s obscure cult of lasting 103 Modernity and the Mirror Star 106 4 The Unfinished Time of Modernity 108 The spectral democracy of modernity 108 Descartes’ demon of historicity: Is there history outside modernity? 115 5 Sovereign Suspension and Provisionality 124 Kantian sublimity and incommensurability of the modern universe 126 Permanent provisionality: Modernity as a universe of exception 128 Modernity in parable 134 Critique of provisionality 136 6 The Big Bang of Modernity 140 Modernity as an expanding universe 141 Fetishism of modern politics: Lessons from Heidegger 142 Grasping modernity through writing: Mallarmé and the Septentrion 145 Endless life: Why modernity produces biopolitics 147 Marx’s biopolitics 152 Ethical critique of sovereign identity 157 Conclusion 160 Notes 170 Bibliography 212 Index 226 "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 Ži‚zek. 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."-- 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 Zizek. 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