A VORBI DESPRE CEEA CE SE ÎNTÂMPLĂ: DOUĂ POZIȚII DISCURSIVE

Abstract

In the present paper, I propose a phenomenological approach to several modes of “speaking about what is happening”, a form of activity that is fundamentally constitutive of our way of being. Using the Heideggerian framework of speech as disclosure, I emphasize the role of idle talk – an inauthentic form of speech – in shaping the ways in which we relate to our situation. When what is happening becomes a reason for polarization within the community, based on the “imperative to have an informed position”, the discursive position of the “expert” almost takes the proportions of a savior: the expert, with an assumed background, can speak about something happening without the need of us seeing it for ourselves and making our own minds. Moreover, the expert speaks from their expertise about something happening now – that is, the status of their discourse is not that of research (which might lead to a form of disclosure), but approaches the status of idle talk itself, especially when the expert is increasingly invited to speak without a personal familiarity with the matters they speak about. I contrast this discursive position with that of the witness: a witness, unlike an expert, is legitimized by their presence when something was happening, not by a special training. Moreover, the witness’s testimony does not pretend to “form a clear view about something”, but comes from a being-unsettled, and can be just as unsettling for its addressee.