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the problem just sketched would evaporate. Yet this does not count as
an objection, and for two reasons. In the first place, at the beginning
of this essay I claimed that I wanted to show how there is a tension
between the theoretical framework on which Laclau and Mouffe base
their claims and the particular claim they make for a politics of hope, a
point that was just demonstrated. But, in the second place, this point
corresponds to a problem that largely exceeds a discussion within
Laclau and Mouffe. When Laclau states in the very first line of New
Reflections on the Revolution of our Time, ‘Every age adopts an image of
itself’, this also holds for his own philosophy. [18] The political ontology
of Laclau and Mouffe is a conceptual image of a time in which nihilism
is a fact. Every transcendent order has indeed disappeared: there are
no grand ideologies or Great Stories anymore. We can be sad about
that, but have no other choice than to acknowledge it. It is in this way
that Mouffe and Laclau bring us into confrontation with a problem
that exceeds their own philosophy: the fact of nihilism.
The central issue we will deal with in the next part of this paper
is the question of how this nihilism can be overcome. I will specify
the question by considering how to localize hope within the politicalontological
framework sketched above, but I also aim to say something
more general about hope within a democratic context. My answer to
these questions, however, should be considered as an experiment in
two ways. Firstly, I cannot claim to solve the problem in this short
essay. The only thing I can do is give a direction as to where hope can
be localized. Secondly, my answer will be an experiment because I
make use of an analogy to give this direction: namely, the analogy of
the writer’s writing.
99
DEMOCRACY, HOPE
AND NIHILISM
Thomas Decreus
The Writer’s Writing
The most central idea in the political ontology of Laclau and Mouffe
is that of the impossible possibility of every order, which has as its
consequence the unavoidability of antagonism. The latter results in
the difficulty of making a place for hope. To show that hope is still
18
Laclau (1990) 3.