Political subjectivation and metaphysical movement

Sandra Lehmann

pp. 97-107

in: Andreas Oberprantacher, Andrei Siclodi (eds), Subjectivation in political theory and contemporary practices, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

In this contribution Lehmann argues for a strong concept of political subjectivation. In doing so, she proposes to develop the thesis that for a complete "thinking" of political subjectivation, a metaphysical dimension must be opened up. However, this metaphysics is not a static one of substance, according to which political subjects would find themselves assigned a specific identity. Rather, it is about inner excess, an inner transcendence of being, which implies that in a positive sense beings are not identical with themselves, i.e., that every being transcends its actual appearance in an open, qualitative sense. The metaphysics that Lehmann conceives pursues this inner transcendence, and is thus dynamic: it is metaphysical movement.