Ontological Suspension: A Structural Theory of Transitional Subjectivity

Abstract

This article develops the concept of Ontological Suspension as a structural theory of transitional subjectivity. Building upon the theories of Structural Subjectivity and Ontological Erosion, the article argues that human subjects frequently encounter a condition in which previously operative structures of meaning, agency, identity, and existential orientation lose their organizing capacity before alternative structures emerge. This condition cannot be adequately described through existing concepts such as crisis, uncertainty, alienation, or liminality alone.

Ontological Suspension is defined as a transitional structural state in which the subject remains existentially operative while lacking access to sufficiently coherent frameworks capable of organizing experience. Rather than representing mere disorder, suspension constitutes a productive interruption of structural continuity that creates conditions for transformation, reorganization, and regeneration.

The article further argues that suspension performs a constitutive function within human existence by opening a space between dissolution and reconstruction. It is within this interval that new forms of subjectivity become possible.

Keywords: Ontological Suspension, Transitional Subjectivity, Structural Subjectivity, Ontological Erosion, Existential Transformation, Human Existence