Aporetic Openings: The Ethics of Uncertainty by Michael Anker.

Abstract: Aporetic Openings: The Ethics of Uncertainty by Michael Anker.
This dissertation attempts to think through the notion of "freedom's actuality" or the "possibility of possibility" (Kierkegaard). It asks, what does it mean to live, act, decide, and respond in the aporia of freedom itself, a freedom which on one hand opens us to the pure opening (Nancy) of possible possibilities, and on the other, leaves us no solidified mark or measure for pre/determined determination? In the aporia of freedom we exist in an indeterminate space of knowing we must make decisions, and yet, at the same time, we cannot call on an absolute authority or measure as a guide. Aporias open us to freedom, the place where, as Derrida has taught us, an ethical decision may occur. Allowing indeterminacy to exist in our becoming allows a continuous coming to be with others — a becoming always open to the "to come" (Derrida) of the future. Aporias draw us toward the possibility of making a decision within indecision, the thus the possibility of ethical becoming.

Initially, the dissertation examines a philosophy of becoming and "being-with," as thought through a Nietzsche-Heidegger-Deleuze trajectory. The dissertation then focuses on how Derrida utilizes aporias in an attempt to think the possibility of an ethics or politics "to come." We then move to the philosophy of Jean-Luc Nancy, which offers us insight into the possibility of thinking within an uncertain and aporetic "sense of the world." For Nancy, the "restlessness" of becoming, or the "being singular plural" of existence offers us the possibility of "transforming" the world in the world, as compared to looking for meaning beyond. The final chapter ends with an analysis of ontological anxiety, uncertainty, nothingness, and "imperceptibility." Here we look again at Nietzsche and Heidegger, but add to our thinking, Kierkegaard's analysis of "the nothing of anxiety," and Schirmacher's philosophy of "homo generator" and "imperceptible fulfillment." Kierkegaard's thinking highlights the importance of anxiety and uncertainty in regards to the aporias we confront, while Schirmacher's insights evoke the possibility of living a fulfilled life. The dissertation in its entirety points us to the possibility of living an "ethical" life in a world without absolute measure — an ethics of uncertainty.

Aporetic Openings: PDF (569kb)