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UNFOLDED BEINGS AND A GLIMPSE OF NOTHING: A PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION OF MARC RICHIR’S ARTICLE “THE FOLDED NOTHING”

Abstract
This article serves as a preface to the translation of Marc Riсhir’s work “The Folded Nothing” (1970) and explores its significance for the formation of Riсhir’s phenomenology. The author aims to prepare the reader for engaging with Riсhir’s complex text by situating “The Folded Nothing” both within the context of the philosopher’s other works and within the broader intellectual landscape shaped by thinkers who influenced Riсhir’s philosophy. Emphasizing the importance of “The Folded Nothing” for the French phenomenologist’s thought, the author traces how this work: 1) shapes the key “figures” of Riсhir’s early philosophical thinking; 2) establishes Riсhir’s stance toward traditional metaphysics; 3) introduces and develops the problem of theoretical language. To help the reader navigate Riсhir’s unconventional imagery, the author reconstructs the figure of double movement, providing explanatory commentary. Furthermore, the author highlights how the figure described in Riсhir’s text is also embodied in his writing/narration practice. Author also emphasizes the question of the role of the subject in the figure of phenomenalization, offering an original interpretation that accounts for the absence of such subject in Riсhir’s figure of phenomenalization. Additionally, author identifies and conceptualizes the key innovations of “The Folded Nothing”: 1) the “unfolding” of beings as a consequence of Riсhir’s figure of phenomenalization; 2) Riсhir’s construction of narrative as a de-transcendentalized phenomenological description. Finally, the author traces how the notion of “refonte” enters Riсhir’s philosophical vocabulary, a concept he would later use to characterize his phenomenological project in subsequent works.

Keywords
Richir, phenomenology, phenomenalization, metaphysics, refonte, nothing.

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