Apophaticism in Contemporary Philosophy

Abstract This chapter focuses on apophaticism in contemporary postmodern philosophy—yet, not on the contemporary philosophical reception of apophaticism in general but on thinkers that develop apophatic impulses into wider schemata that go beyond God and lay claim to core areas of philosophy. It explores contemporary philosophical receptions of (patristic) apophaticism that articulate it as something considerably more widely encompassing than a mere method, a language, a stance, or a via negativa for describing the Godhead. The chapter focuses on two examples and “case studies” from the Christian West and the Christian East respectively, the academic philosophers Jean-Luc Marion and Christos Yannaras, who both elevate apophaticism into a core element of their respective philosophies. It could be said that Marion formulates an apophaticism that constitutes a (non-ontotheological) phenomenological ontology, while Yannaras argues for an apophatic philosophical epistemology. In both these undertakings, an apophaticism that is presented as not being different from that of the patristic era is nevertheless “updated,” brought into dialogue with modern and contemporary philosophy and brought forth in order to address (some of) the problems of philosophy.