The chapter is dedicated to Nancy’s theory of “adoration,” which it compares with the works of two authors contemporary with him: Giorgio Agamben and Vladimir Bibikhin. Adoration is not just the infinite relationship to the Other but also an existential core of affective life seen from its affirmative, jubilant side. Addressed, and jubilant, adoration is a self-reflexive relation that does not have a particular content, a self-affirmation of itself. The three examined philosophers join, independently of one another, to provide an apology of apology (hymn to hymn). The chapter claims that this attitude has a wider historical meaning, the hymnic attitude uniting the Catholic and Orthodox philosophers in their defense against the post-Protestant melancholia.

With this book, we would like to resume the passionate conversation that Jean-Luc Nancy was engaged in throughout his life, with philosophers and artists from all over the world. Now that he has passed away, it is not enough for us to simply reflect on his work: we would like to stay true to the stance to which his thought invites us, in a pluralistic and communal way. Jean-Luc Nancy takes up the old philosophical question of truth as a praxis of a with — understanding truth without any given measure or comparison as an articulation of a with. It is a thinking responsible for the world from within the world, a language that seeks to respond to the ongoing mutation of our civilization.

With contributions by Jean-Christophe Bailly, Rodolphe Burger, Marcia Sá Calvacante Schuback, Marcus Coelen, Alexander García Düttmann, Juan-Manuel Garrido, Martta Heikkilä, Erich Hörl, Valentin Husson, Sandrine Israel-Jost, Ian James, Apostolos Lampropoulos, Nidesh Lawtoo, Jérôme Lèbre, Susanna Lindberg, Michael Marder, Artemy Magun, Boyan Manchev, Dieter Mersch, Hélène Nancy, Jean-Luc Nancy, Aïcha Liviana Messina, Ginette Michaud, Helen Petrovsky, Jacob Rogozinski, Philipp Stoellger, Peter Szendy, Georgios Tsagdis, Marita Tatari, Gert-Jan van der Heiden, Aukje van Rooden.