Aporias, politics of ontology, ethics, and “we”?

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Notes

1. “Figures of reasoning” refer to the patterns that are established as the part of writing. As with the case of figures in figure-skating, figures can be seen as rules or recurring patterns, yet, where recurrence and the overall performance is not determined a priori. Instead, figures exhibit this recurring aspect, as well as a uniqueness to them, as they are combined and arranged in a seemingly infinite number of configurations and performed with what we might call a personal style. I treat figures of reasoning as synonymous to the use of the term logic. To clarify, logics and figures of reasoning do not transcend language, but are always context dependent and vary with the particular language games that are played. Figures of reasoning in this understanding are ontological in the sense that they constitute logics for reasoning.

2. When referring in this rejoinder to the concept of “aporia” I draw on Derrida´s (Lucy, 2004, p. 1) use of the concept. It refers to the blind spots of metaphysical arguments, where these blind spots can be seen to be at play and to lead to paradoxes and experiences of impossibility in the universalizing aspects of arguments. Aporias brush a-side the a-logical in universalizing statements that are arguing for presence.