Annotation
In this seminar we want to deal with the resurrection of metaphysical and ontological questions in philosophy, which had never completely disappeared from the scene, but since the so-called "linguistic turn" seemed to be displaced from the philosophical scope and disputes. We will address both the apparently legitimate reasons for this resurrection and the justified criticism and aporias that metaphysical and ontological
(anti-)/realisms have to face in the 21st century. After a walk through classical metaphysics up to Kant's critical turn, as well as its idealist and vitalist actualizations, we turn to New Realism in the plural to get a picture of the spectrum of new approaches. In addition to New Realism as it is often understood from an analytical perspective, we turn our attention to Speculative Realism as well as explicitly materialist, feminist, and phenomenological positions, concluding with Slavoj Žižek's Dialectical Materialism. Because this is a seminar that is primarily intended to provide a broad overview of the discussion, a horizontal differentiation of concepts will precede a vertical examination in depth; although the amount of reading is high, it is very diverse and thus "superficial". Thus, the immersion in individual areas and questions is up to you and thematically very free; from pedagogy to art and cultural theory to quantum physics, you are allowed all kinds of diversions. - Please note in connection with this seminar that in the module "Phenomenology Uebung" I will provide a reading seminar, wherein we will read Slavoj
Žižek's dialectical-materialist magnum opus: "Sex and the failed absolute" in its entirety. Both seminars thus refer to each other, but do not have to be taken together.