Ecology in Hartmut Rosa's Theory of Resonance: A Four-Level Reconstruction

Abstract

This article discusses Hartmut Rosa's sociological theory of resonance with special emphasis on religion and ecology. In Rosa, resonance experiences refer to (always) participatory and (normally) enlivening world relations. I argue that Rosa's resonance theory is multi-pronged and covers at least three interconnected levels. (1) At the phenomenological level, Rosa points to ever-fleeting experiences of resonance and more long-lived axes of resonance. (2) At the sociological level, he analyzes the structural conditions that either promote or inhibit an openness to resonance among late modern citizens. (3) At the philosophical level, Rosa argues that resonance constitutes basic and primordial ways of being-in-the-world more fundamental than alienation. Adding to Rosa's sociological theory, I propose (4) the level of a pre-cultural world of ‘natural resonance’ ubiquitously ingrained in the more-than-human world. Natural resonance is presented as a prelude to Rosa's sociological theory, which supports his constitutive view of resonance by fueling human existence below the threshold of awareness. In discussion with Bruno Latour, it is argued that Rosa's resonance theory links religion, ecology, and ethics without reducing them to one another.