FROM A PROHIBITION OF IMAGES TO THE ABYSS OF NOTHINGNESS. CIORAN AND ROSENZWEIG ON HOPE


Sneller R.
July-December 2021Publishing House of the Romanian Academy

Revue Roumaine de Philosophie
2021#65Issue 2251 - 259 pp.

This article examines the concept of ‘hope’. It departs from Rosenzweig’s intuition that hope “is ever childlike”. It will appear that this childlikeness applies in more than only one way. Among other things, it creates a permanent starting point for our entire thinking and acting. Next, the article discusses the concept of ‘despair’. This concept is central to the writings of Emil Cioran (1911-1995). It is of note that despair while being a paralysing force, is not a principle for Cioran. This would have been impossible since despair can do no more than obscure hope, not eradicate it (which would be a condition for despair to be raised as a principle). At the end, and in line with some curious historical remarks and references in both Rosenzweig and Cioran, the article hypothesises about ‘Russians’ and ‘Jews’ as bearers and keepers of hope.

Cioran , Hope , Messianism , Rosenzweig , Russian orthodoxy , Youth experience

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Mandeville Institute for Highly Gifted Students, Jungian Institute, Netherlands
Al Farabi University Almaty, Kazakhstan

Mandeville Institute for Highly Gifted Students
Al Farabi University Almaty

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