Description
This paper explores existentialist contributions to ontological security studies. Existentialist philosophy underpins much of the psychological and sociological resources for ontological security as it has been used in International Relations, but only recently have ontological security scholars appreciated and reappraised this influence. Our paper argues that this appreciation needs to be foregrounded considering depth and breadth at which a global ‘critical situation’ like the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has called into question more than just daily routines but meaningful existences. The paper provides a quick inventory of existentialist treatments and influences on ontological security studies, and then suggests a way forward for ontological security studies with the concept of ‘work on myth’ as outlined by Blumenberg and popularized by Chiara Bottici. This can be situated as another ‘post-Giddensian’ account of ontological security, to go alongside but also separate from the Lacanian turn of recent years. The paper seeks to provide a necessarily deeper but also broader account of ontological security studies going forward.
