Gerhard Richter's study argues that the concept of 'afterness' is key to understanding the thought and aesthetics of modernity. He pursues such questions as what it means for something to 'follow' something else and whether what follows marks a clear break with what comes before. The book's various analyses illuminate Lyotard's apodictic statement that 'after philosophy comes philosophy. But it has been altered by the after'. The book demonstrates, that much hinges on our interpretation of the 'after'.