Nihilismus als operativer Begriff

Abstract

Nihilism as an Operative Concept - At the famous colloquium in Royaumont 1957, which was dedicated to Husserl’s phenomenology, Eugen Fink spoke about the difference between the thematic and the operative concepts. In contrast with the great philosophical themes, the operative concepts represent the source, from which they emerge. Operative concepts are a kind of thought shadows, the invisible that does not appear within the thematization. The contribution seeks to establish the concept of nihilism as an operative concept of modernity. At the same time, it emphasizes Fink’s idea of ontology as an attempt, not at accepting the idea of nothing, but at its expulsion from the field of philosophical sight. Therefore, nihilism can be considered, on the one hand, as a contemporary phenomenon, but also, on the other hand, as timeless, since ontology itself seems to be, from its beginning onwards, a form of nihilism.

Keywords

• eugen fink
• phenomenology
• nihilism
• ontology
• modernity