Laboratory
Dr. Kerstin Andermann:
Invective potentiality. Power and affect as elements of invective socialization
Invectivity is not only of a disruptive and dissociative character. The term describes the negative phenomena of debasement and degradation, as well as the affirmative and associative effects often inherent in their negative influence. This indicates the potentiality of invectives and shows their significance for the integration of society.
The aim of the planned research project is to reflect on central aspects of invectivity from a philosophical perspective. By taking into consideration a certain line of spinozistic thinking, the project assumes the idea of an immanent causality in the constitutional relations of the social, thus enabling us to describe the differential mode of operation in which invectivity occurs.
Two theoretical concepts are essential for such a determination of invectivity: firstly, a conception of affect which allows invective affections to be identified as immanent causal effects that modulate the activity and passivity of the individual. And secondly, a conception of power which recognizes the potential of these affections to increase or decrease the individual’s ability to act.
This results in a theoretical perspective on the inner differences of the social and its acts. Invectivity might possibly be identified as a force of differential integration within society, hence paradoxically as a force that connects the social through its division and its disruption.
© Kerstin Andermann
Laboratorium, Arbeitsbereich Philosophie
NameDr. habil. Kerstin Andermann