MEANINGS OF NORMALITY IN THE ROMANIAN CULTURAL SPACE
MEANINGS OF NORMALITY IN THE ROMANIAN CULTURAL SPACE

Author(s): Viorel Rotilă
Subject(s): History, Philosophy, Cultural history, Epistemology, Ethics / Practical Philosophy
Published by: CEEOLPRESS
Keywords: normality; social consensus; transcendence; freedom; norms; Kuhn paradigm; collective values;
Summary/Abstract: In this study, I aim to highlight some of the multiple roles of normality, showing that it regulates relationships with fellow human beings, with the entire world of living organisms and plants, with the environment, the universe, and often with transcendence, while also being dependent on these relationships. I address the conventional dimension of normality, seeking to demonstrate the extent to which normality depends on social consensus or compromise, allowing us to speak of the continuous renegotiation of normality. The role of perspective in defining normality is also important, particularly in examining its relationships with time, with significant emphasis on definition through recourse to transcendence and its relationship with duration. I note the sensitivity of normality to ideological approaches, highlighting that retrospective approaches can record “abnormal definitions of normality,” which are then used as references for the type of normality specific to the present. From the perspective of relating to certain sets of values, normality has a significant epochal dimension, allowing us to speak of a history of normalities. Normality is paradigmatic (in the sense given by T. Kuhn to the concept), participating in the self-definition and understanding of the communities that adhere to one or another of the models of normality. Analyzing the relationship between freedom and normality, I show that normality is dependent on norms, with any act of norm-setting likely to generate restrictions that seem to affect freedom. However, the absence of minimal rules of coexistence defined by norms is equally incompatible with freedom. This is an apparent paradox: normality is dependent on formulas of coexistence with freedom.

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