Between nihilism and the legitimacy of symbolic space: dialogue with Schmitt, Heidegger and Blumenberg

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Victor de Oliveira Pinto Coelho

Abstract

The article aims to expose a critical view about the theory of secularization advocated by Carl Schmitt and also about Martin Heidegger's reflection on metaphysics of the subject. More precisely, our focus rests critically upon the equivalence between nihilism and human self-legislation present in the work of both authors. Our goal is to apprehend such formulations in two imbricated dimensions: one, theoretical and philosophical, and the other historical. Then, we seek to put both in a critical perspective, in special the reflection developed by Hans Blumenberg and some of his commentators. We intend to make the counterposition between (i) the notion of human self-legislation as nihilism and (ii) the legitimacy of the symbolic space. Without denying the critique of the limiting rationalism, which includes the overcoming the Cartesian subject, the approach we advocate legitimates the dimension of mediation between life-time and world-time, mediation that can occur either by scientific elaboration or by philosophical or religious thought. Finally, we seek to point out the relationship between the symbolic space and the overcoming on the notion of mimesis as an imitation or a mere adequacy.

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How to Cite
COELHO, Victor de Oliveira Pinto. Between nihilism and the legitimacy of symbolic space: dialogue with Schmitt, Heidegger and Blumenberg. HORIZONTE - Journal of Studies in Theology and Religious Sciences, Belo Horizonte, v. 12, n. 33, p. 183–210, 2014. DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2014v12n33p183-210. Disponível em: https://periodicos.pucminas.br/horizonte/article/view/P.2175-5841.2014v12n33p183. Acesso em: 14 aug. 2025.
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Artigos/Articles: Temática Livre/Free subject
Author Biography

Victor de Oliveira Pinto Coelho

Graduado em História - UFMG

Mestre em História e Culturas Políticas - UFMG

Doutor em História Social da Cultura - PUC-Rio