Transparent Democracy? Phenomenology of the (In)Visible in the Public Sphere

The problem of modes of visibility in political space is a relevant and developing area of research in modern political theory, which, on the one hand, ethically and epistemologically conceptualizes modes of vision, and on the other hand, studies the dispositions of public spaces organized by these modes of vision.

This article is an attempt to outline the phenomenology of the (in)visible in the public sphere. Hannah Arendt’s concept of a common world is used as a starting point, in which the distinction between different significant others is a prerequisite for the establishment of the public sphere and the organization of the political space. It is shown how this basic ontological distinction (the presence of many different others) can be deformed through certain strategies of a commanding view, which are problematized in modern criticism of the ocular-centric paradigm, i. e., the paradigm according to which the view (the bearer of the view or one who has the right to a view) has a determining and dominant role in culture. These strategies are as follows: objectification (reduction to an object of existence) by means of a view; deliberate fusion of the boundaries between subjects, creating a zone of indistinguishability; removing subjects into a zone of negative visibility (giving what is visible a negative status). By referring to Bernhard Waldenfels’ responsive phenomenology, a type of rationality is reconstructed that – denying the presence of many different other – produces and destroys its other, remaining indifferent to it at the extreme. The article clarifies the conceptual and methodological foundations and key concepts of Russian and western studies, included in the thematic selection and problematizing various aspects of (in)visibility/(in)distinguishability in the public sphere.

1. Allen W. F. Hannah Arendt: Existential Phenomenology and Political Freedom. Philosophy and Social criticism, 1982, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 170–190.

2. Arendt H. Istoki totalitarizma [The Origins of Totalitarianism], Moscow, Tsentrkom, 1996.

3. Arendt H. The Human Condition, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1973.

4. Arendt H. Vita activa, ili O deyatel’noi zhizni [The Human Condition] (trans. V. Bibikhin), Saint Petersburg, Aleteiya, 2000.

5. Aronson O. Vtorzhenie v Evropu, vtorzhenie v filosofiyu [Invasion of Europe, Invasion of Philosophy]. Index, 2005, no. 22. URL: http://index.org.ru/journal/22/arons22.html

6. Benhabib Sh. The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt, Lanham, AltaMira Press, 2000.

7. Butler M. Promises of Transparency, Promises of Participation: On the Ambivalent Rhetoric of the Occupy-Movement. Contested Transparencies, Social Movements and the Public Sphere. Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives (ed. St. Berger, D. Owetschkin), Springer, 2019, pp. 199–210.

8. Castillo G. Soviet Orientalism: Socialist Realism and Built Tradition. Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, 1997, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 33–47.

9. Contested Transparencies, Social Movements and the Public Sphere. Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives (ed. St. Berger, D. Owetschkin), Springer, 2019.

10. Erren L. Zum Ursprung einiger Besonderheiten der sowjetischen Parteiöffentlichkeit. Der stalinistische Untertan und die Selbstkritik in den dreißigen Jahren. Sphären von Öffentlichkeit in Gesellschaften sowjetischen Typs: Zwischen partei-staatlicher Selbstinszeniurung und kirchlichen Gegenwelten (ed. G. T. Rittersporn, M. Rolf, J. C. Behrends), Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, 2003, S. 146–147.

11. Friesen N. Bernhard Waldenfels’ Responsive Phenomenology of the Alien: An Introduction and Review. Phenomenology & Practice, 2014, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 68–77.

12. Gerasimova E. Public Spaces in the Communal Apartment. Sphären von Öffentlichkeit in Gesellschaften sowjetischen Typs: Zwischen partei-staatlicher Selbstinszeniurung und kirchlichen Gegenwelten (ed. G. T. Rittersporn, M. Rolf, J. C. Behrends), Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang Verlag, 2003, S. 165–195.

13. Graffiti s Naval’nym v Peterburge [Graffiti with Navalny in St. Petersburg]. You-Tube, 28.04.2021. URL: https://youtu.be/NWub2gPujDU.

14. Hill A. M. Hannah Arendt and the Recovery of the Public World, New York, St Martin Press, 1979.

15. Honneth A. Struggle for Recognition. The Moral Grammar of Social Conflict, Cambridge, MA, Polity Press, 1995.

16. Jay M. Downcast Eyes: the Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-Century French Thought, Berkley, University of California Press, 1994.

17. Loidolt S. Phenomenology of Plurality. Hannah Arendt on Political Intersubjectivity, London, Routledge, 2018.

18. Low S. M. Plasa. Politika obshchestvennogo prostranstva i kul’tury [On the Plaza. The Politics of Public Space and Culture], Мoscow, Strelka Press, 2016.

19. Mirzoeff N. The Right to Look. A Counterhistory of Visuality, Durham, London, Duke University Press, 2011.

20. Mitchell W. J. T. Picture Theory: Essays On Verbal and Visual Representation, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1994.

21. Moran D. Hannah Arendt: The Phenomenology of the Public Sphere. Moran D. Introduction to Phenomenology, London, Routledge, 2000, pp. 287–320.

22. Oldenburg R. Tret’e mesto: kafe, kofeini, knizhnye magaziny, bary, salony krasoty i drugie mesta “tusovok” kak fundament soobshchestva [The Third Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Beauty Salons and other places of “Hangouts” as the foundation of the community] (trans. A. Shirokanova), Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2014.

23. Oliver K. Für eine feministische Phänomenologie des Sehens. Feministische Phänomenologie und Hermeneutik (hg. S. Strillerm, V. Vatserling, L. Fischer), Würzburg, Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, 2005. S. 171–191.

24. Pakholova I. V. Opyt “chuzhogo” v responzivnoi fenomenologii B. Val’denfel’sa [The Experience of the “Alien” in the Responsive Phenomenology of B. Waldenfels]. Vestnik Samarskogo Gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Samara State University], 2008, no. 1 (60), pp. 11–19.

25. Parekh S. Hannah Arendt and the Challenge of Modernity: a Phenomenology of Human Rights, New York, Routledge, 2008.

26. Patsyukova Y., Chernyaeva N. “Pravo smotret’” i “pravo byt’ vidimym”: konflikty vizual’nogo [“Right to Look” and “Right to Be Visible”: Conflicts of the Visual]. Izvestiya Ural’skogo federal’nogo universiteta. Seriya 3. Obshchestvennye nauki [Proceedings of the Ural Federal University. Series 3: Social Science], 2016, no. 2 (152), pp. 40–48.

27. Russian Sociological Review. Special issue: Arendt and the Boundaries of the Public Sphere, 2018, vol. 17. no. 4.

28. Trubina E. “Chei ehto gorod?”: vizual’naya ritorika demokratii v predstavleniyakh gorozhan [“Whose City is This?”: Visual Rhetoric of Democracy in Citizens’ Views]. Landshafty: optiki gorodskikh issledovanii [Landscapes: Optics for Urban Studies] (ed. N. Milerius, B. Cope), Vilnius, EGU, 2008, pp. 354–378.

29. Utekhin I. Ocherki kommunal’nogo byta [Essays on Communal Living], Moscow, OGI, 2004.

30. Vogelmann F. Transparency’s Trap: Problems of an Unquestioned Norm. Contested Transparencies, Social Movements and the Public Sphere. Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives (ed. St. Berger, D. Owetschkin), Springer, 2019, pp. 35–54.

31. Waldenfels B. Das Fremde Denken. Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History, 2007, no. 4. S. 361–368.

32. Waldenfels B. Der Stachel des Fremden, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1990.

33. Waldenfels B. Grundmotive einer Phänomenologie des Fremden, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 2006.

34. Waldenfels B. Homeworld and Alienworld. Phenomenology of Interculturality and Life-World (ed. E. W. Orth, Ch. F Cheung), Freiburg, Verlag Karl Alber, 1998, pp. 72–89.

35. Waldenfels B. Order in the Twilight, Athens, Ohio University Press, 1996.

36. Waldenfels B. Ordnung im Zwielicht, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1987.

37. Waldenfels B. Otvet chuzhomu: osnovnye cherty responzivnoi fenomenologii [Response to the Alien: The Main Features of Responsive Phenomenology] (trans. O. Shparaga). Waldenfels B. Motiv chuzhogo. Sbornik perevodov s nemetskogo [The Motive of the Alien. Сollection of Translations from German] (eds A. Mikhailov, T. Shchittsova), Minsk, Propilei, 1999.

38. Waldenfels B. Phenomenology of the Alien. Basic Concepts, Evanston, Northwestern University Press, 2011.

39. Waldenfels B. Threshold Experiences. Between Urban Topographies and Political Spaces. Threshold Experiences (eds A. Nuselovici, M. Ponzi, F. Vighi), Lanham, Lexington Books, 2014.

40. Waldenfels B. Topographie des Fremden: Studien zur Phänomenologie des Fremden, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1997.

41. Waldenfels B. Vozmozhnosti fenomenologii segodnya (fragmenty kruglogo stola) [Possibilities of Phenomenology Today (Fragments of the Round Table)] (trans. S. Logvinov). Waldenfels B. Motiv chuzhogo. Sbornik perevodov s nemetskogo [The Motive of the Alien. Сollection of Translations from German] (eds A. Mikhailov, T. Shchittsova), Minsk, Propilei, 1999.

42. Waldenfels B. “Zhalo Chuzhdogo” (fragment), perevod, predislovie i posleslovie [“The Sting of the Alien” (Fragment), (trans., prefase, afterword by E. Surova). Metafizicheskie issledovaniya. Soznanie [Metaphysical research. Consciousness], 1998, no. 5, S. 161–184.

43. Waldron J. Arendt on the Foundations of Equality. Politics in Dark Times: Encounters with Hannah Arendt (ed. Sh. Benhabib), Cambridge, 2010. pp. 17–38.

44. Weiser T. Audial’naya demokratiya: vklyuchenie neslyshimykh sub”ektov v politicheskoe soobshchestvo [Auditory Democracy: Including Silenced Subjects in the Political Community]. Logos, 2015, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 196–226.

45. Yampolsky M. Park kul’tury. Kul’tura i nasilie v Moskve segodnya [The Culture Park. Power and Violence in Today’s Moscow], Moscow, Novoe izdatel’stvo, 2018.

46. Zhelnina A. “Tusovka”, kreativnost’ i pravo na gorod: gorodskoe publichnoe prostranstvo v Rossii do i posle protestnoi volny 2011–2012 godov [“Hanging out”, Creativity, and Right to the City: Urban Public Space in Russia Before and After the Protest Wave of 2011–12]. Stasis, 2014, no. 1, vol. 2, pp. 260–295.