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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg November 21, 2022

The Theory of Everything: A Sympathetic Critique of Andeas Reckwitz’s The Society of Singularities

  • Patrick Baert EMAIL logo
From the journal Analyse & Kritik

Abstract

After situating Andreas Reckwitz’s The Society of Singularities within the broader context of the tradition of social theory, we discuss in detail the obvious strengths of this book, notably its impressive range and originality. Subsequently, we elaborate on two limitations of Reckwitz’s argument. Firstly, we argue that Reckwitz’s use of categories such as ‘singularity’ and ‘universality’ is too all-embracing, lacking the clarity and focus needed to sustain a productive line of inquiry. Secondly, and related to the previous point, we contend that Reckwitz’s claims about the recent trend towards increasing singularity are so broad that they are difficult to refute empirically. Further, we discuss briefly contemporary political developments to demonstrate why the core societal issues at stake cannot be explained through all-inclusive categories such as singularity. Finally, we maintain that existence theory can provide an alternative fruitful perspective on some of the phenomena discussed in this book.


Corresponding author: Patrick Baert, Professor, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, UK, E-mail:

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Published Online: 2022-11-21
Published in Print: 2022-11-25

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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