Modes of Margin in Philosophy

Abstract

Marginality in philosophy can be active or reactive. Marginality is reactive when it is a reaction to domination, imposed by force, and resented. Reactive marginality chases the legitimacy of the center. It would happily reconstitute as a tolerated specialization. Active marginality flees normalization. When a paradigm approaches, it moves elsewhere. Active marginality colonizes the margins, which for it are a position of strength or at least creativity. The author suggests that philosophers disabuse themselves of the notion that there is a special work of theirs where knowledge is difficult but of inestimable value. Our best work is on the margins of sense. This conclusion is elaborated with a look at recent work in “philosophical anthropology” and “anthropological philosophy” associated with the so-called ontological turn in anthropology.