Accepting the Exceptional?

Abstract

AbstractThis commentary attempts to contribute to a further elucidation of Dominic Smith’s call for a rehabilitation of the transcendental in philosophy of technology. On the one hand, it focuses on why such a rehabilitation is deemed necessary, particularly in light of Smith’s diagnosis of a contemporary tendency towards reification and presentism. Postphenomenology is discussed as a challenge and invitation to further clarify the stakes. On the other hand, this commentary inquires into how Smith envisages the achievement of a rehabilitation of the transcendental. Further attention is given to Smith’s idea of a renewed sense of the transcendental. Following his own cues and situating this renewal in the philosophical tradition, the question whether the involved philosophical praxis should be primarily understood as political is brought to the fore. In so doing, Smith’s reading and extension of Luciano Floridi’s attempts to move beyond Kant receive special attention, since the transcendental is here understood in terms of conditions of feasibility. The challenge put to Smith is to contrast this approach with social-constructivist approaches on the one hand, and Stiegler’s thought regarding technics and the transcendental on the other. Finally, Smith’s commitment to taking exception is analyzed to ask how and which logic is at play there.