TRANSCENDENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF J.-L. NANCY-S CONCEPTION OF FREEDOM: DECONSTRUCTIVE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The article undertakes theoretic and historico-philosophical reconstruction of J.-L. Nancy's conception of freedom in the scope of transcendental way of thinking, namely in its deconstructive mode. Examining Nancy-s work "Experience of Freedom", as well as text by J. Derrida "On Touching – Jean-Luc Nancy" the author, by the use of her own methodological approach to transcendental discourse, brings to light a number of transcendental and deconstructive motives, inherent in Nancy-s discourse of freedom. The paper establishes that one of transcendental traits of Nancy's conception is a conferring to the concept of freedom the excessive position in system of philosophical discourse. Accordingly, applicability to freedom (as an idea and a notion) of traditional philosophical operations – such as questioning, reflection etc. is called into doubt. Freedom proves to be condition of possibility of philosophical thinking in general. Also are laid bare such transcendental aspects of idea of freedom, in its Nancian treatment, as: asubstantivity (it causes deconstruction of traditional subject-centric conception of freedom, at the heart of which is understanding of subject as substance); connection with problematic of margin or limit (in particular, freedom is considered as limit boundary of thinking); hyperbolicity (which presupposes "autonomy" and at the same time auto-transcendence of hyperbolized element: this implicates a possible openness to the possible other); careful attention to the problem of experience (which serves as "middle term" between thinking and freedom); thematization of the problem of other (especially of "other" thinking as "burst of freedom"). Author demonstrates that one of the most remarkable transcendental implications in Nancian approach to the question of freedom is importance of the idea of relation (represented in the mode of "share": partage), functioning as characteristic of freedom and also as condition of possibility of its (freedom) constitution. Concept of singularity is analysed, which, after Nancy's conception, underlies thematization of the problem of relation as "partage" and simultaneously is a factor of freedom constitution. Paper designates such transcendentally conditioned topics of Nancy's philosophy of freedom that catch the attention of Derrida. These are: liberation of freedom problematic from the framework of subject-centric attitude, question of the excess, idea of passive decision. Author shows that decostructive interpretation of Nancian philosophy of freedom is based on the idea of "touching", transcendental connotations of which are thought to be caused by link to the problematic of limit.