Abstract

The cover art for Maurice Weyembergh's monograph shows an aerial photograph of a man trapped in a giant maze. He tries to see beyond the entrapping walls, but they are too high, and the farther he looks, the darker it gets. Is there a way out? And should one even bother to search for it? This photo by Stewart Sutton perfectly illustrates the issues debated by Weyembergh in his wide-ranging study. The maze represents the path that will lead humans into the future and bears the burden or "the absolutism of reality," as the title states. By evoking the terminology of the German philosopher Hans Blumenberg, Weyembergh analyzes the constraints of reality and humans' efforts to improve their life span and, possibly...