Trauma & Philosophy

Philosopher Frank Seeburger's reflections on trauma as it relates to contemporary philosophical issues, especially those of truth, temporality, sovereignty, representation, politics, and the nature of philosophy itself.

In Defense of Apathy (2)

April 16, 2018 Frank Seeburger

The mere labeling of all non-voters as apathetic—in its dominant contemporary meaning of indolent, lazy, or just not caring—already reinforces the idea that one is doing something important by voting, and acting irresponsibly by not doing so. However, more than one author has cogently argued that encouraging the public to think in such an automatic pro-voting way actually supports a power system that has rigged the outcome of any election in advance.

Waiting for Politics to Begin Again (5)

June 26, 2017 Frank Seeburger

In The Need for Roots, written in London for the Free French in 1943, Simone Weil argues in detail for just what the title indicates, namely, that there is a fundamental human need to send down roots—what we might call a root human need for rooting.

Waiting for Politics to Begin Again (4)

June 19, 2017 Frank Seeburger

Individuals or nations who are sure of who they are, rooted deeply in their own native identities, are secure in their own boundaries. That security does not close them off from others. Rather, it first makes possible a true and genuine interchange with others, who are respected in their very difference, for who they are.

Waiting for Politics to Begin Again (2)

June 5, 2017 Frank Seeburger

Politics as Hitler and the Nazis practiced it by no means came to an end with the end of the Nazis, nor did it start with them. It was practiced in nation-states well before the rise of Hitler, and it continues to be all too operative in nation-states down to the present day. Indeed, in one form or another it is actually constitutive of what passes for politics under the dominance of the nation-state in general.