Event and Method

Abstract

This article will pursue two goals. First, it compares Romano’s notion of the event with Merleau-Ponty’s notion of expression. They can be seen as fulfilling similar functions emphasizing the possibility of unexpected happenings. Both thematize the ability of the transformation that lies at the foundation of the very possibility of experience. Second, the article stresses the difference between these notions, which illustrates a certain methodological difference in Romano’s and Merleau-Ponty’s approaches. The former approach can be loosely described as transcendental, as it seeks to emphasize that events operate as a condition of possibility of experience and, as such, are not explainable by everyday experience. The latter approach relies on emphasizing the circular connection between our everyday experience and an unexpected possibility of reorganizing this experience: according to this strategy, unexpectedness should be seen as a reserve of everydayness, which always carries with itself a tacit possibility of transformation.