Negative faith: the heretical writings of Valéry, Bataille and Laruelle

The aim of this thesis is to outline a new concept: negative faith. Negative faith is an unsayable, unknowable faith without an object, a form of energeia that explains the existence of what can be called impossible texts. Negative theology, Valéry’s Cahiers, Bataille’s more mystical works and Laruelle’s non-philosophy all revolve around non-referents such as God, the One or the Real. Nothing can be said or known about these non-referents, and yet this corpus is written almost exclusively around them, creating a seemingly unsolvable paradox. This thesis argues these texts are completely empty in an epistemological sense, but that their essence resides beyond the words themselves, the texts undergoing a form of self-destruction upon being read. They are radical heresies that disregard the traditional framework of reason, logic and scientific positivism to explore what in humans does not belong to the World. Taking root in both theological and philosophical traditions, from Pseudo Denys to Meister Eckhart, from Plotinus to Derrida, this thesis attempts to translate into academic terms the mystical and unfathomable role of this negative faith that unites these authors in what can be called an idempotent, immanent community.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Le Gargasson, Mathias

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• James, Ian

• Negative theology
• Philosophy
• Laruelle
• Bataille
• Valéry
• Heresy
• Metaphysics
• Pseudo Dionysius
• Meister Eckhart

Licence

• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.91093

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/343668