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Linie 4: Is our time out of joint? Derrida, 1989 and the present



(Photo: Marcus Wystub)

Climate disaster, loss of democracy, economic crisis: at present, the image of a world going badly seems almost natural. So is our time out of joint? In his lecture "Is our time out of joint? Derrida, 1989 and the present", Marcus Wystub addresses the question of the extent to which talk of a supposedly 'correct' path of history encourages such crisis narratives. Following the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, he takes the example of the thesis of the 'end of history' and communism after 1989. And he shows that the ideal of the liberal-democratic state, which is just waiting to be realised, is problematic. For it rules out failure. By contrast, a historiography that critically examines this narrative of progress can make the possibility of failure visible. The lecture is part of the public lecture series "Linie 4 - Neues aus der sozialwissenschaftlichen und historischen Forschung", organised by the BGHS in cooperation with the VHS Bielefeld.

Marcus Wystub holds a scholarship of the Gerda Henkel Foundation. He has been doing his doctorate at the BGHS since 2023 on Jacques Derrida's hantology and its shifts in meaning within historical-theoretical and historical-philosophical research.

The lecture will take place (in German) on Wednesday, 10 June 2026 at 6.15 pm in room 240 at the vhs Bielefeld, Ravensberger Park 1.