"Chatter": Language and History in Kierkegaard Stanford
University Press (1993) |Abstract||'Chatter' cannot always be
taken lightly, for its insignificance and insubstantiality
challenge the very notions of substance and significance through
which rational discourses seek justification. This book shows
that in 'chatter' Kierkegaard uncovered a specifically
linguistic mode of negativity. The author examines in detail
those writings of Kierkegaard in which he undertook complex
negotiations with the threat - and also the promise - of
'chatter', which cuts across the distinctions in which the
relation of language to reality - and above all, the reality of
'existence' - is stabilized, and it therefore releases
historical understanding from its established conventions.
Chatter situates as well as takes the measure of the seminal
importance of Kierkegaard for many of today's unresolved debates
about the relation of language and philosophy to history.|
|Keywords||Language and languages Philosophy History Philosophy|