Social basis of subjectivity: precariousness as an ontological characteristic

Abstract

Uncertainty, lack of confidence in the future, unrecognizance are ontological characteristics of a person's position in the modern world. Vulnerability and instability, caused by social processes, form the essence of the concept of precariousness (J. Butler). The social status of precariousness is its essential feature. The fundamental sociality of a person provides for a significant role of external support to ensure life. Imperfection, incompleteness, ontological fragility of a person is first of all imprinted on his or her body. Concentrated in the social body of the individual, the precariousness is a kind of tattoo, which the power apply to the individual, setting the framework for his or her existence. Understanding the precariousness of a person's life in the world through the constitutive sociality of his or her body calls into question the concept of identity. Personal search for identity is doomed to failure primarily because the individual is not responsible for own existence. Precariousness has the character of universality, it justifies the need to recognize the right of other to life, therefore it is the moral principle that sets the foundation of co-existence.