On the flesh of violence

the (phenomenological) dilemma in researching violence and its transrational transformation

Rebecca Gulowski

pp. 167-191

in: Daniela Ingruber, Norbert Koppensteiner, Josefina Echavarría Alvarez (eds), Transrational resonances, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Abstract

In this chapter, the concept of the paradoxical open gestalt of violence is unfolded by describing an alternative approach to research on violence, which combines the phenomenological ontology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, particularly his notion of the term flesh with the transrational ontology elaborated by Wolfgang Dietrich. The aim is to overcome a Marxist view of emancipatory politics that focuses on the economic base of society and also a postmodern perspective referring to Wittgenstein and understanding the limits of language as the limits of the world. By shifting the locus of authority into the inner self, this contribution is the attempt to integrate an emancipatory aspect into violence research and empower the individual who is the experiencer of violence.

Cited authors

Merleau-Ponty Maurice

Wittgenstein Ludwig

Marx Karl