LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN: PHILOSOPHIZING AS THE GESTURE OF KEEPING SILENT

Author(s): German Melikhov / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2017

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophizing is deeply ontological, and can be defined as a reflexive gesture of keeping silent. The silence secured by reflexing is an essential part of a philosophy. A philosopher has to use language, but things that pass over in silence must influence things he or she says. The speech manifests not only in the spoken, but also in the unspoken. How is it possible? Through understanding a reflexive speech as an action or gesture of annihilation of speech. The expressed words in philosophy and expressed philosophical concepts are just means of referring to the ultimate value which should be thrown away immediately because it cannot say anything about the inexpress-ible. The philosophy as a gesture of keeping silent is an attempt to meaningfully keep silent through the constantly evolving reflexive annihilation of your own speech. The philosophizing which takes into account the importance of silence becomes a minimal-istic gesture.

DESCARTES ON GENEROSITY AS AN IDEAL CHARACTER VIRTUE. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Author(s): Indoo Pandey Khanduri / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2017

This paper humbly attempts to explore Descartes’ conception of generosity as an ideal character virtue which can address the problems of the global world like struggle, intolerance and segregation; and thereby creates healthy routes for universal dialogue. The first part attempts to clarify Descartes’ conception of the foundations of generosity. The second part narrates Descartes’ views on generosity as passions and as a virtue. The third part explores the possibility of generosity as a virtue of the individual as well as social character. It also proposes to take the practice of generosity as a mechanism of developing cooperation, tolerance, and, consequently, universal dialogue and harmony.

Nietolerancja i granice jej zasadności

Author(s): Katarzyna Maria Cwynar / Language(s): Polish Issue: 18/2018

Dr. Ivan Žmavc — Prispevek k njegovemu življenjepisu

Author(s): Irena Gantar Godina / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 1-2/1985

The article is an attempt to outline the work of dr. Ivan Zmavc, one of the first Slovenes at the Czech university in Prague and a student of Masaryk. The author presents his philosophy which basically influenced his viewpoints in political, social and national matters. The significant influence of Masaryk, manifest in his early writings, gradually waned.

The theory of ideas and Plato’s philosophy of mathematics

Author(s): Bogdan Dembiński / Language(s): English Issue: 66/2019

In this article I analyze the issue of many levels of reality that are studied by natural sciences. Particularly interesting is the level of mathematics and the question of the relationship between mathematics and the structure of the real world. The mathematical nature of the world has been considered since ancient times and is the subject of ongoing research for philosophers of science to this day. One of the viewpoints in this field is mathematical Platonism.In contemporary philosophy it is widely accepted that according to Plato mathematics is the domain of ideal beings (ideas) that are eternal and unalterable and exist independently from the subject’s beliefs and decisions. Two issues seem to be important here. The first issue concerns the question: was Plato really a proponent of present-day mathematical Platonism? The second one is of greater importance: how mathematics influences our understanding of the nature of the world on its many ontological levels?In the article I consider three issues: the Platonic theory of “two worlds”, the method of building a mathematical structure, and the ontology of mathematics.

Philosophy in science: A name with a long intellectual tradition

Author(s): Paweł Polak / Language(s): English Issue: 66/2019

This paper presents Michael Heller’s notion of “philosophy in science” and re-introduces Michael Heller’s classical text that first presented this concept of philosophy entitled How is “philosophy in science” possible?. The paper discusses the historical context of Heller’s idea as it emerged from the discussions and works of the Krakow philosophical scene and discusses the basic tenants of this philosophy, its analytic character, the role of intellectual tradition in the development of this philosophy, and the critical role played by an interdisciplinary dialogue between philosophy, science, and theology. Despite the idea of philosophy in science having emerged about 40 years ago, this concept still inspires and fuels innovative research. The notion of “philosophy in science” lies at the foundations of the philosophy published in two journals: Philosophical Problems in Science (Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce) and Philosophy in Science.

THE BOUNDARIES OF THE SELF AND THE LIMITS OF THE WORLD IN ARISTOTLE: A DIFFERENT KIND OF DECONSTRUCTION OF THE EGO

Author(s): Attila Kovács / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

Phenomenological theories have a long history in undermining the “traditional” opposition between mind and body. According to them, the material, viz. the corporal can serve as a place for the processes of meaning-formation, i.e., as a condition of possibility for any set of relationships forming a body of meaning. In this paper, this manifests itself through the fact that the basic concepts related to corporeality, e.g., “perception”, “movement” etc., are the conditions of possibility for any construction of meaning and consciousness process, as also shown by contemporary neuroscience and communication theory in the case of intelligence and communication. However, this was already known to Aristotle, long before the advent of modern neuroscience, but the stakes were even higher for him: the issue of corporeality is itself problematic in terms of determining its boundaries, as the limits of the Self (viz. my body) merge with those of the world. The situation is similar to the “passive and active synthesis” of Husserl and also to Heidegger’s “twofold openness” of the Dasein, conflating the boundaries of the Self and the limits of the world for our human being-there, or consciousness.

Eriugena (Johannes Scottus) élete és művei, különös tekintettel a Periphyseon I. könyvére

Author(s): Miklós Vassányi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2014

In this paper the author offers a historical introduction into what is called the Carolingian Renaissance and, especially, into the life and oeuvre of the greatest theologian and philosopher of the time, John the Scot, also called Eriugena. The paper enumerates and briefly characterizes every single known work of this epoch-making Irish scholar, and identifies the dubia and spuria with the help of the most recent literature. In the central part, the content of Book 1 of the Periphyseon, John’s main work, is outlined in detail. This is followed by a short philosophical evaluation of the metaphysical character of Eriugena’s teaching, in which the difficulties of interpretation are pointed out. A short presentation is given of John’s sources, and the paper closes with a review of both translation-related terminological problems and philological instruments of research.

Śaṅkarasvāmin Nyāyapraveśája, avagy egy buddhista logikai kézikönyv a hatodik századból

Author(s): Sándor Pajor / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2018

This paper presents the Nyāya-praveśa (Introduction to Logic), a work by Dignāga’s pupil, Śaṅkarasvāmin, who lived in the middle of the sixth century AD. The Nyāya-praveśa is a brief treatise on Buddhist logic perhaps written for beginner students. With its help they could learn the fundamentals of reasoning and the different fallacies one can make in reasoning. The article contains a full Hungarian translation and an introduction with some remarks on the question of authorship.

Fihteova ideja boga

Author(s): Stanko Vlaški / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 25/2016

Simultaneous acceptance of the statement that god is not and the rejection of the charge of atheism is possible only if one demonstrates that one can assert something different about god, what is more than “god is”. Complete Fichte’s philosophical labour was based on the effort to continuously reveal the act as what essentially precedes to the everything what is, to the every fact. His consideration of the idea of god may be observed as the important stage in his struggle for recognition of freedom as the highest principle of all human knowledge and Being. That principle, as such, remains locked for the conceptuality of understanding. Contrary to the wellknown thesis of the antagonism between the idea of god and the thought of selfpositioning I, the author tends to claim that Fichte, thinking god as the pure act and the moral world order, refl ects the same process of self-liberation of humanity which is expressed by the first principle of the science of knowledge (Wissenschaftslehre).

Fihteov pojam prakse

Author(s): Luka Kešeljević / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 25/2016

In this paper, the author considers Fichte’s concept of practice. Firstly, he refers to the ancient understanding of this concept, and its principal feature – separation of theory and practice, subject and object. Then he considers Kant’s awarding of the primacy to the practice. The rest of the text is devoted to the Fichte’s understanding of practice, by analyzing the concepts such as the effective action (fact-act, Tathandlung), the intellectual perception and the relation I – Not-I. Hereafter he discusses the relation between knowledge and action, and the question of humanity. In the last section of the paper the author considers the problem of speculation and its opposition to philosophy (metaphysics), and then relates the speculation to the revolution.

Sistem etike u skladu s principima nauke o znanosti

Author(s): Johann Gottlieb Fichte / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 25/2016

Kako ono objektivno ikada može postati subjektivno, bitak za sebe postati predstavom – ovim se dotičem poznatog potonjeg zadatka svake filozofije – kako se, kažem, događa ova čudesna transformacija, nikada niko neće razjasniti ukoliko ne pronađe tačku u kojoj objektivno i subjektivno uopšte nisu različiti već su potpuno jedno i isto. Jedna takva tačka sada zasniva naš sistem i razvija se dalje od sebe. Jastvo, inteligencija, um – ili kako se već želi nazvati, jeste ta tačka. [...]

Komparativna filozofija evolucija jednog pristupa istoriji filozofije

Author(s): Dušan Pajin / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 15/2011

Communication between Europe and other regions in the world existed (more or less) depending on various circumstances, close to the beginning of Christianity. Import of silk, taking over certain “know-how” – like producing paper, silk, porcelain, steel, or printing), various inventions (compass, gun-powder, seismograph, etc.), or numerical systems (Arab-Indian numerals), went from East to West, between 100-1500 AD. A bit later, in colonial times the import of certain goods went on (coffee, tea, cocoa, spices, shawls, porcelain, or furniture). The next step was interest for Oriental culture, which followed Enlightenment times in Europe, and the discovery of values and ideas of the heritage of Asian cultures, gaining momentum during the 19th and 20th c. This took various forms and was developed in various fields. The first was related to language studies (in particular Sanskrit, which was considered as a proto-language of Indo-European languages). The second was comparative literature; third comparative mythology, religion, and mysticism; the fourth was comparative philosophy; the fifth, history of art, comparative aesthetics, and transcultural art philosophy; sixth was comparative psychology. “Oriental” studies meant that certain humanistic sciences took over the heritage of various culture of the East, “comparative” meant that in such cases the historian makes comparisons between western and eastern philosophies (noticing differences, similarities, or analogous ideas), while “transcultural” meant that the general standpoint went over Eurocentrism, which considered that certain cultural values, or creations, were a privilege of Europe, or European discoveries, which other cultures just had to take over in later times.

Logički intuicionizam. Uvodna rasprava

Author(s): Brankica B. Popović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3/2005

In this article author is offering a short overview of the philosophical history the logical concept of intuition, taking into consideration standpoints of Plato, Aristotle, Plotin, Augustine, Descartes, Kant, Schopenhauer and Loski. The aim of the paper is to point out the historical bases for a logical theory of the intuition of reason.

Aktuelnost Kantove filozofije. Okrugli sto "Kant danas"

Author(s): Dunja Šešelja / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1/2004

Povodom dva veka od smrti Imanuela Kanta, u novosadskoj Gimnaziji “Jovan Jovanović Zmaj" 29. aprila ove godine organizovan je okrugli sto o aktuelnosti Kantove filozofije, .,Kant danas". U razgovoru su učestvovali profesori Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu - dr Jovan Aranđelović, dr Sima Elaković i dr Živan Lazović i profesori Filozofskog fakulteta u Novom Sadu- dr Milenko A. Perović i dr Mirko Aćimović. [...]

Madness Subjectivized. The Ethical Sources of Psychoanalysis in the Thought of Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor

Author(s): Antoni Grabowski / Language(s): English Issue: 61/2019

The aim of the article is to illustrate the ethical foundations of psychoanalysis and to outline the ethical origins of Freudian theory. To this end, Jürgen Habermas' conception of knowledge-constitutive interests is discussed, which draws on psychoanalysis as an example of science justified in its form through an underlying emancipatory interest. The analysis of the position of the German philosopher is complemented by Charles Taylor's reflections on the sources of the contemporary conceptions of subjectivity and related ethical conceptions considered in their relation to the history of the discourse on madness - including psychoanalysis. The research results in showing the continuing validity of the conception proposed by Freud in the context of the development of the philosophical theories of subjectivity, as well as more detailed, conceptual problems concerning mental disorders.

Zsekularyzować ascezę. Filozoficzna propozycja dobrego życia u Arnolda Gehlena

Author(s): Michał Jędrzejek / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 61/2019

Asceticism as a part of the good life is often discussed in the contemporary philosophy (Foucault, Agamben, Sloterdijk). The aim of this article is to analyze and criticize the encouragement to ascetic practices which was formulated by a German conservative sociologist and philosopher, Arnold Gehlen (1904-1976). In my text, I track the history of the philosophical concept of asceticism and describe Gehlen’s anthropological suggestion that ascetic practices should be actualized and secularized. The author of Der Mensch claimed that the return to asceticism can become an utopian answer to the imperatives of the consumer society. I analyze his distinction of three types of askesis as stimulans, disciplina and sacrificium. Subsequently, I criticize Gehlen’s belief that asceticism has not been secularized in the modern age by showing that he ignored the phenomenon of “wordly ascetiscism” described by Max Weber and his followers. In the final section, I point out some authoritarian and elitist moments in Gehlen’s image of asceticism and I suggest alternative possibilities of developing his intuitions.

Teoria cywilizacji według Feliksa Konecznego

Author(s): Jarosław Zieliński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 26/2019

Feliks Koneczny created a new scientific theory – a comparative science on civilizations. According to Koneczny, there is a clash between various cultures and traditions in Europe. However, there is a common civilization foundation on which individual national cultures develop, but there is no single European civilization. In geographically understood Europe there are four civilizations which constantly compete with each other: Latin (Western), Byzan¬tine, Jewish and Turanian (Muscovy-Cossack). The Western civilization is a Latin civilization. Other civilizations existing in Europe have an oriental origin with a false understanding of human being, and his potentiality. Therefore, these civilizations create many obstacles in the way of human perfection through apriorism, collegial vision of a human being, emanation foundations, legal monism, sacralism, ancestral nature. They are violent against human and his innate laws. However, according to Koneczny, the persistence of civilization is an act of will of the societies that create them, and in a situation of any collapse danger, one can always defend a given civilization. The knowledge of civilization helps to understand the history of today’s world.

Izokrates na temat etycznej wartości przekazu retorycznego

Author(s): Zbigniew Danek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2019

The subject of the article is the theory of ethically-based rhetorics of Isocrates, rightly regarded as the precursor of the idea of lingustic communication ethics. The author of the article focuses on the following aspects of the issue: the question of truth and taking responsibility for one’s words, the ethical conduct of rhetorician, his political involvement, his sympathy towards other people, his self-imposed regular mental activity and finally his care for stylistic and eufonic quality of his message. The final remarks concern the problem whether Isocrates actually followed the rhetoric principles he proclaimed.

On the Insufficiency of Taste Expressivism

Author(s): Marián Zouhar / Language(s): English Issue: 3 (107)/2019

It is possible to construct situations (with a suitable kind of setting) in which one speaker utters “This is tasty” and another one responds with “That’s not true.” The aim of this paper is to motivate the idea that typical (broadly) expressivist accounts of taste disagreements are unable to explain such situations (although some of them can successfully explain disagreements in which another kind of dissent phrase — like “Nuh-uh” — is employed). This is because utterances of “That’s not true” are typically used to ascribe falsehood to propositions. Taste expressivism has it, however, that when one utters “This is tasty,” one typically manifests her evaluative attitude (which is non-propositional) toward something rather than describes what attitude she bears toward that thing. Another aim of the paper consists in proposing an alternative account of taste disagreements. It is close to taste expressivism in the case of disagreements in which speakers respond with “Nuh-uh” but departs from it in situations in which they respond with “That’s not true.” The account is developed within a contextualist framework according to which taste utterances express contextually enriched propositions that contain judges who evaluate things as tasty or not.