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Suspension of Suspension: Notes on the Hybrid

In: Hybrid Forms of Governance

Author

Listed:
  • Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos

    (University of Westminster
    Westminster International Law and Theory Centre)

Abstract

Unlike mere humans, angels manage to avoid the temptation of drawing too sharp a distinction. According to Rilke, the angels’ ignorance of which side of a distinction they might be treading on is tempered by an infinite knowledge bestowed upon them by the ‘eternal current’. Angels tread the absolute paradox of knowledge and ignorance, transgressing the very notion of distinction. It is therefore interesting to see that, nowadays, the angelic privilege is claimed by a form of crosstreading, indeed an all-knowledgeable ignorance that spans both sides of the paradox. Hybrids attempt to occupy the space that angels used to inhabit, taking up the angelic functions of ‘announcing’ (angel from Greek ‘aggelos’ — άγγελoς — meaning ‘messenger’, announcer) the advent of a new era, and of mediating between humans and a better reality vaguely situated somewhere overhead. What one forgets, however, in the febrile hubris of desire to transgress oneself is that the sides remain separate for us mortals. Our ‘first distinction’ (Spencer Brown 1969) is Rilke’s mortal ‘error’, following us ever since.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, 2012. "Suspension of Suspension: Notes on the Hybrid," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen & Inger-Johanne Sand (ed.), Hybrid Forms of Governance, chapter 1, pages 12-29, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-36300-7_2
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230363007_2
    as

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