Abstract
This chapter explores the existential themes in Blumenberg’s thought, arguing that they are crucial as a preliminary understanding of how he develops his theory of myth. It begins by discussing the notions of ‘Angst’ and ‘Estrangement’ in existential philosophy, and how this mode of thought influenced at least indirectly. It moves on to outline Blumenberg’s well-known concept of the ‘absolutism of reality’, a condition in which the whole, raw, totality of the world threatened to overwhelm us. As fundamentally changeable and adaptable animals, we do not have a naturally instinctively given home, or grounding in the world. We need to find significance (Bedeutsamkeit) in order to mediate the absolutism of reality. This, as we will later see, has consequences for how Blumenberg views ‘myth.’
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Blumenberg, Hans. “Anthropologische Annäherung an Die Aktualität Der Rhetorik.” In Wirklichkeiten in Denen Wir Leben: Aufsätze Und Eine Rede, 104–36. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1986.
Blumenberg, Hans. Arbeit Am Mythos. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2006.
Blumenberg, Hans. Beschreibung Des Menschen. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2014. 2006.
Blumenberg, Hans. Work on Myth. Translated by Robert M. Wallace. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1985. 1974.
Bottici, Chiara. A Philosophy of Political Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Cooper, David E. “Existentialism as a Philosophical Movement.” In The Cambridge Companion to Existentialism, edited by Steven Crowell, 27–49. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Crowell, Steven. “Existentialism and Its Legacy.” In The Cambridge Companion to Existentialism, edited by Steven Crowell, 3–24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Gehlen, Arnold. Man, His Nature and His Place in the World. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. 1940.
Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1962. 1927.
Heidegger, Martin. Sein Und Zeit. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1967.
Heidenreich, Felix. “Political Aspects in Hans Blumenberg’s Philosophy.” Aurora 27, no. 41 (2015): 523–39.
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1984.
Kierkegaard, Søren. The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Oriented Deliberation in View of the Dogmatic Problem of Hereditary Sin. New York: Liverlight, 2014.
Kierkegaard, Søren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragements. Translated by Howard Vincent Hong and Edna Haltestad Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Kierkegaard, Søren. The Sickness Unto Death. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968. 1849.
Kirke, Xander. “Political Myth and the Need for Significance: Finding Ontological Security During Times of Terror.” Newcastle University, 2017.
Paveisch, Vida. “Hans Blumenberg’s Philosophical Anthropology: After Heidegger and Cassirer.” Journal of the History of Philosophy 46, no. 3 (2008): 421–48.
Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2003.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. Being and Nothingness. Translated by Hazel E. Barnes. London: Routledge, 2003.
Scheler, Max. Die Stellung Des Menschen Im Kosmos. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 2018. 1928.
Watts, Michael. The Philosophy of Heidegger. Durham: Acumen, 2011.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kirke, X. (2019). Anxiety and the Absolutism of Reality. In: Hans Blumenberg. Global Political Thinkers. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02532-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02532-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02531-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02532-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)