Prof. Dr. Andreas Reckwitz started his lecture "Der Vergleich des Unvergleichlichen. Singularisierungprozesse und Vergleichspraktiken" (Comparing the Incomparable. Processes of singularization and practices of comparing) with a short insight into his theoretical framework and inspiration for his analyses on "The Society of Singularities" (2017). These originate in two logics of the social: the particular and the singular, inspired by Immanuel Kant. A crucial point is that the entities of the social, be it e.g. objects, subjects, units of time or the like, are not particular or singular, but these attributions are being made in practices ('doing singularity', doing 'generality').
A central assumption in relation to the practice of singularization is the establishment of an increased (internal) complexity. Singularized objects, like artworks, or units of time, like certain events, are being percepted as highly different, sometimes incommensurable.

Based on the remarks of the analytical tool, Reckwitz suggested that the juxtaposition of the 'doing generality' and - since the Romantic - the 'doing singularity' could be seen as a mode of the Modernity. The logic of singularization then strongly expanded in the Late Modernity, on fields such as economy, personal relationships or education.

The comparing got called into play via the factor economy and its increasing relevance. In contrast to the supposedly 'easy' and distinct comparable in the logic of the particular, singularity suggests incomparability. In order to being able to compare, you need more than one singular object, e.g. artworks on the art market, where the interest in comparing is especially motivated by economic intentions. Reckwitz then formed a typology out of the comparisons of singularities, from relational and non-competitive to quantitative technologies of comparison, e.g. citation indices.

Photos: Rebecca Moltmann