Reclaiming the World: Hartmut Rosa's Theory of Resonance

This paper takes Rosa's theory of resonance as a viable alternative to a meaningful and purposive life. The relentless pressures of modern living have led us towards a dissonant existence. Despite the scientific advances and technological innovations, the modern world has provided, life has become too burdensome. The world becomes a silent, cold, and rigid haven where our social relationships are alienated. Alienated relations separate and disconnect us from our everyday affairs, which are supposed to be essential for growth and productivity. We are cut off and unable to use our human powers to connect with the world. Alienation detaches us and our surrounding environment, and thus, it seems that no meaningful experiences can ever be achieved. Hence, in this paper, I offer Rosa's resonance as a point of looking at the world from another angle. I argue with Rosa that only when we are touched and moved by our daily affairs do we become self-efficacious and thus empowered to improve and reclaim a sense of the world. Unlike in alienated experiences, only when we are rooted, affirmed, and validated by our society can we partake and share a segment of the world. The endless social debates that we do remain to be theories unless they touch and move us from within. This is where I think Rosa's version of critical theory emerges to be relevant in our times. What really matters, he says, is what goes on in our daily affairs. In our world of social relations, we either resonate or are alienated by the things surrounding us. As Rosa argues, if we resonate, we allow ourselves to be one with the world, creating harmony and unity, which call us to respond to the call of our times.