Gutschmidt, Rico
Junior Fellow: March–August 2017
Research Project: The Philosophical Significance of Negative Theology
Philosophical scepticism and negative theology are both concerned with the limits of language and thought. Particularly, in their deepest and historically most influential forms, both traditions are best understood not as a species of philosophical thesis, but rather as something that enables a particular form of experience and self-transformation with respect to these limits. According to Pyrrhonism, sceptical disturbances lead to the attitude of ataraxia, or tranquility. A similar therapeutic understanding of scepticism can be found, for example, in the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Thompson Clarke, and Stanley Cavell. On the other hand, negative theology is traditionally understood as a via negativa, a way to a deeper form of faith. This can be found in the writings of the main representatives of negative theology as Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita, Maimonides or Nicholas of Cusa. By means of a comparison of scepticism and negative theology, this project investigates the respective strategies of a non-theoretical, performative representation of the limits of language and thought. This will contribute to a better understanding of these limits and, thus, demonstrate the philosophical significance of negative theology.
Rico Gutschmidt received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Bonn in 2009. In 2016, he worked as a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago on a research project on scepticism.