This article examines Schürmann’s oeuvre in light of his reflections on language. Schürmann’s meditations raise the question whether language is capable of truly expressing the ultimate conditions of human experience. This article argues that, after hegemonies have been broken, or rather are seen to have always been broken from within, one can continue to speak, but only on condition that tragic irony doubles every natal general word with a mortal singular shadow.

Translators’ abstract: This article considers the concept of originary dissension in Reiner Schürmann’s. The ultimate conditions of experience are natality and mortality, which universalize and singularize respectively. These conditions are in originary dissension with one another in the sense that they cannot be resolved into a unified whole. But natality institutes the universal precisely by denying the mortal singular. Recognizing and sustaining the originary dissension therefore requires prioritizing mortality over natality.

Health care reforms, in particular the expansion of public and/or private health care benefit coverage to some or all population groups, is becoming an increasingly hot topic for discussion—and in some cases for action—at all levels of government. With almost 16% of Americans estimated to be uninsured for at least part of the year, opinion polls show health care near the top of the general public’s list of concerns. Little wonder that presidential candidates for the 2008 election are incorporating ‘‘universal (...) health care coverage’’ proposals in their campaign platforms. Will ‘‘cradle-to-grave’’ coverage for all become a reality or will they just experience cradle-to-grave debates over this issue? That is essentially one of the questions posed in the following discussion on the role of nonprofit health care organizations in promoting, and operating under, universal health care coverage. (shrink)