Conclusion

Focusing on the work of Hartmut Rosa, the preceding inquiry has sought to provide an in-depth account of the extent to which we, as humans, are obliged to face up to the uncontrollability [Unverfügbarkeit] of the world. Rosa is widely regarded as one of the most original contemporary European social theorists—and rightly so. Yet, while his writings on the concept of resonance have received a considerable amount of attention, his engagement with the concept of uncontrollability has been largely ignored in Anglophone circles. As the previous study has aimed to demonstrate, the latter is as central to Rosa’s oeuvre as the former. Indeed, along with the concepts of ‘acceleration’, ‘alienation’, and ‘resonance’, the notion of ‘uncontrollability’ ranks among the most important reference points in Rosa’s critical theory, especially in his recent work. Following his extensive inquiries into ‘acceleration’ and ‘alienation’ in the context of ‘late modernity’ and the publication of his magnum opus on ‘resonance’, Rosa has developed a relatively short, but thorough, outline of the place occupied by the concept of ‘uncontrollability’ in his critical theory. The foregoing investigation has attempted to illustrate the significance of this approach (in the first half) and to shed light on its main weaknesses and limitations (in the second half).