Abstract

In times of an omnipresent interest in Hans Blumenberg’s work, this essay investigates motives of a type of philosophy which, in tracing metaphor, myth, rhetoric, and technology, apparently follows one goal: to keep reality at a distance. With a particular eye on a peculiarly forced reading of Kafka, which can be found in Blumenberg’s posthumous convolute about ›Die nackte Wahrheit‹, some contradictions however become apparent which may not only be of theoretical nature but may also be related to the institutional conditions of philosophy in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, namely that philosophy can ›afford‹ to discuss the matters of truth and reality, as if they were problems by which we are only affected distantly. In the light of war and hunger, which today have become part of our historical present, this essay works towards a very brief critique of Blumenberg as well as of the current interest in his works.