Merleau-Ponty, Lefort e a Modernidade como problema filosófico

Abstract

In the first part of this paper, I will briefly present what Robert Pippin conceives Modernity to be, and why he thinks it is a philosophical problem. I will show how a number of philosophers have conceptualized it, most notably Kant and then I will turn to Hegel, whose position, in a radically deflationary version, Pippin himself supports. In the second part, I will turn to aspects of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy that contest the spontaneity of consciousness, which is central to Pippin’s Hegelianism. In the third part, I will conclude by turning to the work of Lefort, his practice of hyper-reflection, and his own theory of Democracy and Totalitarianism. I contend that the ontology of Merleau-Ponty and the political philosophy of Lefort are more capable of thinking Modernity outside of any teleological or theological framework