Sublime experience and politics: Interview with Professor Frank Ankersmit

Abstract

The interview concerns, first, Frank Ankersmit's last book on Sublime Historical Experience and, second, his ideas on political philosophy and his opinions on the current political situation of the European Union. In the first part Ankersmit clarifies several ambiguities concerning his notion of historical experience. How does it relate to the transcendental epistemology? Where does the sublimity of experience come from? What does its relationship with the empiricist model of experience look like? Why is it able to overcome the traditional separation of subject and object? What is the difference between subjective and collective experience? The interviewee also explains the role of historical experience in Western history and historiography. He discusses the positive role it has played and still may play in historical writing, arguing for a more romanticized approach towards the past. Afterwards Ankersmit elucidates his main ideas on political philosophy and the role and nature of political representation, expressing his critical attitude towards ‘scientific’ politics. He speaks about his engagement in Dutch politics, issues concerning the recent privatization of the public sphere, the phenomenon of Quangos and the significance of the state. He also comments on the failed European Constitution and the problems of political responsibility Europe is presently facing. At the end Ankersmit expresses his views on the future of the European Union, pondering several possible solutions to its current predicament.