Suspension of Suspension: Notes on the Hybrid

Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos
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Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos: University of Westminster

Chapter 1 in Hybrid Forms of Governance, 2012, pp 12-29 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Unlike mere humans, angels manage to avoid the temptation of drawing too sharp a distinction. According to Rilke, the angels’ ignorance of which side of a distinction they might be treading on is tempered by an infinite knowledge bestowed upon them by the ‘eternal current’. Angels tread the absolute paradox of knowledge and ignorance, transgressing the very notion of distinction. It is therefore interesting to see that, nowadays, the angelic privilege is claimed by a form of crosstreading, indeed an all-knowledgeable ignorance that spans both sides of the paradox. Hybrids attempt to occupy the space that angels used to inhabit, taking up the angelic functions of ‘announcing’ (angel from Greek ‘aggelos’ — άγγελoς — meaning ‘messenger’, announcer) the advent of a new era, and of mediating between humans and a better reality vaguely situated somewhere overhead. What one forgets, however, in the febrile hubris of desire to transgress oneself is that the sides remain separate for us mortals. Our ‘first distinction’ (Spencer Brown 1969) is Rilke’s mortal ‘error’, following us ever since.

Keywords: Hybrid Form; Autopoietic System; Bare Life; Actual Hybrid; Continuous Repetition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-36300-7_2

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230363007_2

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