Conference | Paper

It often is understood that Modern Philosophy--the means of developing logical distinctions and arguments in a clear way--often runs counter to Religious experiences - - the enchanting, shocking, and "eventful" nature of revelation beyond epistemological conditions. Yet in many ways, these two tendencies are quite similar, as both focus upon, and seek to unfurl "the apparent" and what shines with brilliance; the eventful and the spectacular. As Guy Debord once critiqued, western societies are obsessed with spectacles, and this goes hand in hand with certain theological and philosophical presuppositions. It is not without some bit of irony, then, that it is possible to define the word "inconspicuous", or that which is non-apparent (Unscheinbar), according to its etymological basis as "counterspectacular" (spek). This presentation locates and describes particular aspects of the emphases upon a "spectacular phenomenality", then develops as a response a "phenomenology of the inconspicuous." After (1) locating a particularly paradigmatic debate that reflects these tensions within the pejoratively named "Theological turn in French Phenomenology" and the work of Dominique Janicaud), I then (2) introduce Heidegger's notion of a "phenomenology of the inconspicuous" in order to demonstrate three reasons why "inconspicuousness" may be used to overcome this particular, aforementioned problem of both (a) the philosophical focus upon clarity/appearance and (b) the emphasis upon "religious experience" as a spectacle.