The Task of Thanking: Thanking as Thinking with Samuel Weber—A Note from Latin America

Abstract: The essay pays homage to Samuel Weber’s work through a reflection on thanking and (as) thinking. It is argued that Weber’s critique of thinking modeled after the skill of the archer, as hitting the mark and making the point, can be extended to a problematization of thanking. Thus, by taking the form of a digressive, off point, “thank you note” from Latin America, the essay draws on the almost homonymy between thinking and thanking both in English and in German ( Denken - Danken ), to reflect upon what it means to thank and be thankful, in connection to what it means to think and be thoughtful. In addition to discussing Weber’s work, the essay draws on Nietzsche’s argument on thankfulness as being intrinsically linked to indebtedness and ressentiment ; on Heidegger’s idea of thinking as thanking, and as a gift that does not need to be repaid; as well as on Derrida’s reflections on the economy of sacrifice. The result is not only a reflection on how to thank thinking , and on how to think thanking , but also an exploration of the ability to thank from outside the Global North.