ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relation of the postmodern to the modern through a double perspective. In the theoretical sphere, it focuses on the conjoined philosophical legacy of univocity and representation which can be taken as the ultimate presupposition of modern thought. In the practical sphere, the chapter also focuses on the category of 'civil society' which is normally regarded as the core of a secular public space in modern times. 'Postmodern' civility and 'modern' representation therefore continuously spring up together. And they both conform to 'a certain middle ages': a Middle Ages tending to privatise devotion and separate clerical from lay power – thereby immanentising the latter. By comparison, postmodern thought is unable to hold together grace with the via negativa. Characteristically, it seems to search for secular equivalents to theological themes. Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida present us with a secular negative theology; Alain Badiou with a secular account of grace.
