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Politicising the Epokhé: Bernard Stiegler and the Politics of Epochal Suspension

Turner, Ben (2020) Politicising the Epokhé: Bernard Stiegler and the Politics of Epochal Suspension. In: Apostolescu, Iulian, ed. The Subject(s) of Phenomenology: Rereading Husserl. Springer, pp. 341-354. E-ISBN 978-3-030-29357-4. (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-29357-4_19) (KAR id:75660)

Abstract

For Husserl, the phenomenological epoché is primarily methodological, allowing access to the structures of transcendental consciousness by way of suspending worldly influence. This chapter will demonstrate how this methodological principle is rethought as political in the work of Bernard Stiegler. For Stiegler the epokhé is both the suspension of existing social systems, and a moment of critical redoubling, where the source of disruption is integrated into a new ‘epoch’. In particular it will be shown how Stiegler develops this double understanding of the epokhé through his reading of retentionality as found in the lectures On the Consciousness of Internal Time to develop an understanding of the epochal framing of temporality by technics. By drawing connections between this version of retentionality and the pharmacological character of technics, as simultaneously poisonous and curative, the political stakes of the epokhé lie in the need to fight the poisonous aspects of epochal suspension.

Item Type: Book section
DOI/Identification number: 10.1007/978-3-030-29357-4_19
Uncontrolled keywords: Bernard Stiegler; Edmund Husserl; Epokhé; Retentions; Technics; Pharmakon
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
J Political Science > JC Political theory
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Politics and International Relations
Depositing User: Ben Turner
Date Deposited: 02 Aug 2019 08:10 UTC
Last Modified: 19 Dec 2021 00:00 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/75660 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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