Resistance of reality. The event as certainty of the being-there of the world

Abstract

The question regarding the existence of the world rests on the assumption that certainty about such existence must be grounded in cognition. But what if this certainty were not secured through knowledge? From a phenomenological perspective, we propose that certainty about reality is rooted in pathos or affectivity. Firstly, we will develop a phenomenological concept of «affectivity», or «pathos», drawing on the notions of «emotionally transcendent acts» (Nicolai Hartmann) and «feeling» (Henri Maldiney). Subsequently, we will demonstrate the extent to which certainty about the beingthere of the world consists in «suffering» the presence of things in an affective encounter. Finally, we argue that events, as experiences that reveal the excess and resistance of reality, constitute genuine testimonies of reality. This approach allows us to delve deeper into existing phenomenological debates surrounding the concept of the event.