Chora Beyond Metaphysics: Derrida’s Concept and His Opponents

The concept of primordial emptiness, in which the transition from being to non-being takes place, appeared in Plato's dialogue ‘Timaeus’. Transcending the assumption of the existence or non-existence of being proved to be important for contemporary philosophy critical of traditional metaphysics and was taken up in the philosophy of Jacques Derrida. The philosophy assuming the possibility of an active space between being and non-being was supposed to be deeply atheological, but contemporary religious thinkers such as John D. Caputo, Richard Kearney and Archimandrite John Pantaleimon Manoussakis, argued that the philosophy of the ‘chōra’ (also ‘khôra’) has themes similar to the philosophy of God typical of apophatic theology. During the discussion, it was recalled that the identity of the ‘chōra’ and Christ or Mary was assumed by the Byzantine theology of Gregory of Nazianzus and St. Nicephorus. Regardless of whether it is decided that the chōra is a space preceding divinity or a means of manifesting primordial holiness, she can be considered an area where existence manifests itself. This approach allows for the interpretation of empty spaces in architecture and urban planning concepts as well. At the time when Derrida was developing his version of the philosophy of the ‘chōra’ he collaborated with a group of architects designing a park on the outskirts of Paris. In Bernard Tschumi's theories, the park was to be freed from representing existing ideas and open up to new possibilities for the development of democracy and political community. The authors of philosophical commentaries on the newly created park reinforced these interpretations, which made the park a place of worship for new social possibilities, even a cathedral of new political metaphysics.