Perfectionist returns to the ordinary

The article starts from a consideration of the first season of the TV series “The Leftovers” in order to explore several issues concerning the notion of the ordinary and crisis as they find a place within Stanley Cavell’s writings. The notion of a dramatic crisis may be called for in order to explore the vulnerability of ordinary lives. Early Nietzsche and Wittgenstein’s Tractatus are prominent examples of this sort of need whereas the later Nietzsche and the later Wittgenstein wish to show what is wrong in the need for drama and tragedy. On the other hand, the notion of crisis reveals the vulnerability of ordinary life to rupture, loss, and trauma. Crises may be little and repetitive or they may be disruptive of a whole form of life. Wittgenstein and Cavell’s philosophies are brought into contact with this latter issue as well.