Always to be passed along : aporias of Wagner, Heidegger, and #MeToo

Abstract

Aporetic – the undecidable, undecided, that which collapses identity, that which denounces representation, clear perception, and straightforward reception. Stemming from the Greek mythos of Poros, Penia, and Eros, discussed by Plato in The Symposium, the concept has found new importance in post-structuralist thought as one of the constituents of Jacques Derrida's deconstruction. Yet its application does not remain in the past. This paper presents a concise introduction to aporia from the original mythos to its application in post-structuralist thought. This paper then applies the concept in the investigation of the issue of the division between artists and their work, from "celebrities" of various strata throughout Western culture such as Richard Wagner or Martin Heidegger, to the culprits of the recent campaign #MeToo. The article discusses aporia, and our awareness of it, as something which does not bow down before decisive ideological and moral constructions and, instead, engenders the endlessly productive processes of debating, discussing, or simply thinking.