A Journey into the Unknown Homeland: Mamardashviliâs Account of the Topological Space

Elisa Pontini

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Chapter 4 A Journey into the Unknown Homeland: Mamardashviliâs Account of the Topological Space

In: Thinking on Unstable Ground: The Topology of Sense in Merab Mamardashvili

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Elisa Pontini

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 87â123

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004758759-006

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Abstract

This chapter offers a systematic account of Mamardashviliâs conception of topological space as an âunknown homeland,â a metaphor that encapsulates both the ontological grounding of reality and its intrinsic unknowability. It argues that topological space cannot be objectified or described in predicational terms, since it functions as a foundational ground only in the moment of its enactment within an individual act of consciousness. After reconstructing the historical debates on reality within Soviet Marxism, the chapter situates Mamardashviliâs position against dialectical materialism and its dogmatic reduction of matter and consciousness.

The analysis develops three interconnected dimensions of unknowability: systemic causality, transverted phenomenality, and ideological interpolation. Drawing on Mamardashviliâs phenomenological reading of Marx, it shows how social interrelations generate transverted forms that condense and conceal the systemic conditions of their emergence, producing a ânaturalizedâ ideological surface. The extension of transversion beyond economics leads to transverted phenomenality as a universal epistemological structure.

The chapter then introduces Mamardashviliâs concept of the continuum being-consciousness to explain how access to topological space is possible without objectification. Consciousness is redefined as a dynamic sphere encompassing both topological and predicational dimensions, activated through symbols understood as embodied transverted forms. Finally, the chapter characterizes Mamardashviliâs position as a form of topological realism: while reality in itself remains âimpossible,â its functioning can be performatively staged in acts of thought, art, and philosophical reflection.

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Thinking on Unstable Ground: The Topology of Sense in Merab Mamardashvili

Series:Â Contemporary Russian Philosophy, Volume: 11

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004758759

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 16 Jun 2026

Subjects
- Philosophy
  - Continental Philosophy
  - Epistemology & Metaphysics

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Chapter 4 A Journey into the Unknown Homeland: Mamardashviliâs Account of the Topological Space

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Thinking on Unstable Ground: The Topology of Sense in Merab Mamardashvili

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Chapter 4 A Journey into the Unknown Homeland: Mamardashviliâs Account of the Topological Space