The ordinary: The new metaphysical authority of critique
The ordinary: The new metaphysical authority of critique

Summary/Abstract: This paper traces two versions of the ‘ordinary’ as it functions within radical social critique and within pragmatistically reinterpreted critique, both of them suspending the privileged status of theorizing, though the former not yet abandoning it. Radical critique refers to the ordinary in the sense of undefined, attributeless, unarticulated suffering. Thus the ordinary turns out to be equivalent to the figure of desire that should remain erotically unarticulated if it is to be an authentic source of resistance free of power relations. Pragmatist social critique, on the other hand, diagnoses the blindness of radical critique to the critical activities of the ordinary itself but runs the risk of uncritically reaffirming its claims. Why this is untenable is briefly demonstrated by reference to what the author calls ‘everyday nationalism’, which serves as a ‘critical moment’ in present-day Bulgarian society. The paper draws upon Stanley Cavell and Luc Boltanski.

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