The Weird and Alien

My paper, “The Weird and Alien: an Introduction to Phenomenology,” given at the Sussex Undergraduate Philosophy Society last week, is available to hear here. The overriding theme is something I’ve been thinking through on this blog: phenomenology’s relationship to strangeness and estrangement. I still don’t quite feel as though I’ve got to the core of this matter. All this paper affords is an overview of phenomenology’s privileged role in dislodging habit and sedimented values. My inclusion of Lovecraft points at directions this theme could go in. But the more fruitful direction will likely be mined through working through Husserl’s idea of the alien as “accessibility in genuine inaccessibility, in the mode of incomprehensibility.” Alongside the Husserl, xenoarchaeological work will be required to demonstrate the transformation of the Earth from homeworld to alienworld.

The talk is also interesting for me to hear back, as I was in the midst of a migraine while giving it. Consequently, hearing it back is itself a process of weirdness, as my sense of self-presence was far from intact during the talk. Alongside my usual habit of turning off the halogen lights when either teaching or giving a paper, I have recently got into the habit of opening the windows as far as possible and adjusting the blinds. Alas, on this late afternoon on the Sussex campus, the sun was shining violently and there was no chance of hastening the heat-death of the universe.