The aim of the paper is to present moral philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre in its relation to Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics. For that purpose, his specific understanding of the tradition, a mode of its relation with an individual, and the distinction between practical and theoretical knowledge are discussed in the paper. Considered primarily as Thomist and Marxist thinker, MacIntyre’s conceptions emerge as strongly influenced by continental hermeneutics. From the hermeneutical point of view, some key elements of MacIntyre’s thought can be understood in a new way, enabling in this way to overcome the most commonly expressed reservations formulated against his views.
By the function of the arts, I understand the role that is ascribed to disciplinary organized knowledge in domain of the humanities, the role which they play in the making of diagnosis of the culture in statu nascendi. And by the aim of the arts, I understand the growth of knowledge about objectivized, publicly available phenomena of culture. So we can ask: what a difference in our cultural milieu is generated by the growth of knowledge about cultural phenomena? What aims are satisfied by self-knowledge, and what kind of subjectivity is built on imperative of self-knowledge? There is no better way of emphasizing the connection between functions and aims of the arts as to emphasize historicity of culture and historicity of its interpretation. Herbert Rosendorfer in The Architect of Ruins provided an excellent portrait of this doubled historicity. In the parable of merchant, who makes an attempt at selling the collection of sculptures, he has showed how our culture is desynchronized in its modes of temporal organization. The common elements of culture are inherited in manifold, complex, non-monotonous and frangible sequences of times, which are never synchronized. There is no single temporal arrangement of a culture, and everybody who wants to recover original harmony is confronted with confusions. In the arts, there are two main strategies to cope with this situation. First, hermeneutical strategy, consists in combining the aim and function of the arts in a way, in which compensative function of the arts is bound with the aim of self-cognition, whereas the second, “archaeological” one (in the Foucauldian meaning), in opposition to hermeneutics, postulates disfamiliarization of culture as a means of preserving the aims of the arts consisting in objectivity of knowledge.
The moment in which a theory is conceived as useless superstructure of activity, is critical for the understanding of thinking and acting as separated qualities. From one point of view this separation is being criticized, on the other hand, the proposal of making the connection assumes the separation, that was already rejected. Solving the problem requires reaching for the arguments against radical separation of thinking and acting and, to inquire about a possibility of some primary union of them. This is the moment in which the title category of 'thinking in which we act' emerges. Opposite to representing 'thinking of', thinking in which we act is understood as the space, the area, the 'horizon' within which different actions are undertaken. This way the dialog as a form of activity is a different action in the instrumental rationality, then it is in (e.g.) the hermeneutical - critical rationality.
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In the course of their dynamic development, fictionalised computer games have become sophisticated audiovisual cultural texts which are becoming more and more important and which convey increasingly powerful messages. The worldview aspects of these games, and the way these aspects are expressed reach far beyond the traditionally conceptualised area of “game” or “play” in the strict sense. The reports from the players’ experiences come close to those theories of relating to a text discussed in the works by Gadamer and Ricoeur. At the same time, the increasingly strong influence of the quasi-ethical dimension of the message contained in these games places this area of “virtual leisure” in the space of hermeneutical discourse.
The main thesis of this essay is that the basic phenomenon of truth (aletheia), 'the openness of the world' could be crucial for the concept of 'state of affairs' (Bewandtnis) identified with a set of practical and intersubjective rules of actions. Truth is to be identified with implicit and pre-conceptual 'knowledge-how' rather than an explicit '‘knowledge-that' articulated in theoretical statements. If such practical understanding of environment offers the only and basic access to the world, and if it simultaneously discloses meaningful entities (tools) for theoretical thinking, the idea of a theory being true, understood as being adequate or correspondent to the world, becomes quite problematic. In fact, the relation of correspondence implies a comparison of statements about present entities with practical action-rules. Since alternative articulations of the world in the terms of 'handiness' on the one hand, and 'presence' on the other, belong to two reciprocally irreducible and incomparable conceptual systems (what corresponds to eg. Quine's distinction between the 'mental' and the 'physical'), Heidegger's 'early' philosophy points to the necessity of distinguishing between a practical context of discovery and theoretical context of justification.
The paper considers Paul Ricoeur’s ideas about psychoanalysis. It focuses on three elements that show the evolution of Ricoeur’s views. The first pertains to the early period of his work and is connected with the first volume of the Philosophy of the Will. Here psychoanalysis was placed in the context of a broad project which examines the relationship between what is either dependent on or independent of man’s will. The second element concerns the best known interpretations of psychoanalysis, which were presented in two works, Freud and Philosophy and The Conflict of Interpretations. In these works the science of the unconscious becomes one of the branches of hermeneutics, more precisely the hermeneutics of suspicions. The third, least known aspect of Ricoeur’s work has to do with a new interpretation of psychoanalysis and can be found in Autour de la psychanalyse. Ecrits et conferences. Ricoeur, noting a discord between Freud’s theoretical writings and his descriptions of the psychoanalytical technique and of concrete cases, proposes a new approach based on the second group of writings.
The article analyzes the narrative form of Ryszard Kapuscinski's 'Travels with Herodotus'. A key role in its structure is played by two types of autobiographical narration, personal reminiscences and intertextual reflection (quotations from Herodotus' Histories). The authorial 'I' is present in both of these strands: while reconstructing his portrait from memories picked up on the way into his own past he stops to peer into the mirror of Herodotus, matching the ancient traveller's character, values and work habits with his own. In this way he builds a double-track autobiography. For all its autobiographical self-centeredness the 'Travels' are instilled by a longing for an encounter with the Other. Whereas in Kapuscinski's earlier works Otherness was usually contemporaneous, the 'Travels' are driven by a desire to break through the boundaries of time, to meet Herodotus directly, face to face. There seems to be no other way of getting in touch with that venerable traveller than interweaving the two discourses, the Polish and the Greek, and entering into dialogue with the latter through interpreting the Other's text in the manner of hermeneutics. Finally, Kapuscinski's careful reconstruction and creation of Herodotus' character has one more function - open the 'Travels' to issues of philosophy of history.
Is it possible to describe the conditions of understanding irony, or maybe irony itself, working just 'in the middle' of understanding, calls this enterprise into question? The first path was chosen by Wayne C. Booth (as A Rhetoric of Irony was not yet translated into Polish, his standpoint was in a few words summarized), the latter - by Paul de Man, who defined irony as the permanent parabasis of the allegory of tropes. The author tries to show that we should follow the direction of a famous deconstructionist, and that at the same time it is very important to stress the pessimism manifest in his theory. Does an ironist really leave us with no support? Jaroslaw Marek Rymkiewicz (the third hero of the text) with his books on literary history turns out to be very helpful in discovering hermeneutical aspects of irony.
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The article deals with the relationship between philosophy and religious belief, in particular Christianity. It is a polemic against P. Dvorak and his view according to which there are logical relations between philosophy and the Christian message. The function of philosophy (and theology) is not to draw conclusions from factual statements inherent in the Christian message, since the key propositions of the latter are of a different kind (profession, parable, etc.) The nature of philosophical treatment of Christianity is hermeneutic as it searches for better understanding of the message. That in turn influences the content of the message without abolishing its specific character.
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This paper presents certain aspect of intuitive reasoning in mathematics called the 'intuitive analysis of concepts' along some schemes of that kind of intuitive analysis. The method of the intuitive analysis of concept of polyhedra based on the historical findings as presented by Lakatos in 'Proofs and Refutations' is described. Some important consequences for phenomenology as well as philosophy and history of mathematics follow. Mathematical knowledge seems to be created within the 'hermeneutical horizon' distinct for ancient and modern mathematics.
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Art is no arbitrary topic in Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics. Rather, it is a fundamental phenomenon, the description of which constitutes an unavoidable task of philosophy. In this article the author seeks to demonstrate the importance of art in philosophical hermeneutics, and in two major steps develops a hermeneutical conception of art. First, the author discusses the concept of the truth of art with special attention to the view that art can be described as the cognition of essence. Second, the ontology of the work of art is analyzed in detail, focusing on Gadamer's basic idea that the work of art becomes accessible, strictly speaking, only in its presentation.
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An essay on the relationship between language (mother tongue) and the human subject and its existence. It develops ideas of the Prague School of structural literary analysis (in particular, those of Bohumil Trnka, Vladimir Skalicka, and Jan Mukarovsky), cognitive linguistics, and hermeneutics, employing the concept of cultural competence, including criticism of its state in contemporary Czech society.
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The article would like to contribute to the discussion between Dvorak and Holub (see Nr. 18, 19 and 20 of this journal) concerning the relationship between 'belief, philosophy and theology' (Dvorak) and between 'philosophy and religious message' (Holub). The discussion seems not to address the same topic. Moreover, the standpoint of Holub disjoints the religious message from the answer of belief, and the point of view of Dvorak considers the believed content in complete abstraction from the act of belief. In neither case can the living reality of the religious act be achieved.
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Re-reading Plato's Ion as the first text in the hermeneutics tradition, the author finds two main streams. The first, based on reflection (rationality, logic, knowledge) stems from Socrates; the second, consisting in an affective approach (myth, art), stems from Ion. Both Socrates and Ion delimit this field of hermeneutics (legein peri or 'speaking about') staying beyond its frontiers. Next, the author exploits the Socrates: Ion binary in order to interpret some key figures, trends, and schools within the whole tradition (rabbis, St Augustine, Pietism, Schleiermacher, Nietzsche, Dilthey, explication de texte, Heidegger, Gadamer, Peter Szondi, the Nitra School, and Ricoeur). Writers tend towards either the Socratic (explication de texte) or Ionic wing (Nietzsche). There are, however, also writers who attempted to find the middle ground, a position offering both reflexion and intuition (Schleiermacher, Gadamer, and Ricoeur). The author concludes that the main challenge issuing from his interpretation is to remain close to a text, and resist any temptation to go beyond it.
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The aim of this study is to present the document mentioned above and reflect on its content. First, the status and the nature of the ITC documents are discussed. The author subsequently presents the most important statements contained in the individual chapters. In the first chapter the document deals with the “Word of God” as opposed to the word of man. The author points out that the constitution Dei verbum is cited incorrectly in contemporary documents of the Church as Dei Verbum. In the second chapter the document clearly distinguishes between the apostolic tradition and ecclesiastic traditions. This step can be classified as a shifting of this meaning to the level of sententia communis. In the third chapter the principle stating that God is the proper object of theology is discussed. The document clearly reflects the spirit of Vatican Council II and consists of a definite appeal to a change in mentality in harmony with the requirements of the Gospel.
The paper focuses on the relationship between Kant's transcendental philosophy and the 20th century hermeneutics. It is true that the vigorous development of mainstream transcendentalism is due to such great figures in German classical philosophy as Fichte, Schelling and Hegel. At the same time, however, one of Kant's students, J.G. Herder, pointed to some shortcomings in Kant's philosophy, and created an alternative philosophical project by referring to historical, cultural and bodily underpinnings of the human existence. In Herder's view, human condition is determined by practical life interests and by communicative (language) structures. These insights have been further developed by Nietzsche and Dilthey, and after some time by Heidegger with his fundamental ontology and by Gadamer with his philosophical hermeneutics. These two philosophers built their views on the contribution that had been made by Dilthey. It is interesting to note that each of the three followers of Kant have relied on his philosophy in a different way - Dilthey to create an epistemological perspective, Heidegger an ontological one and Gadamer a multifaceted perspective that combines communication, life practice and ethics. These influences are quite widespread. The three philosophers profess an activistic conception of reason, initially discussed and developed by Kant. They also endorse the idea of an a priori conceptual scheme that precedes cognition and understanding of the world. But the ahistorical interpretation of reason characteristically detectable in the network of logical categories is replaced by the concept of protostructure of understanding with the constitutive role of language as a medium of human being-in-the-world. These developments explain how the hermeneutic project has facilitated the transition from Kantian transcendentalism to the linguistic turn.
In this article we ask the question of whether it is possible to connect phenomenology with neuroscience so as to develop the concept of the unified human being, which could be the subject of both objective information and lived experience. This question we answer with the help of the neuroscientist Jean-Pierre Changeux and the phenomenologist Paul Ricoeur. Our finding is that while both authors express the need to bridge the gap between science and phenomenology, in fact they remain locked in their respective methodological frameworks. Although neuroscience says that it needs to exploit the findings of phenomenology in order to adequately grasp experience, instead it actually replaces experience with mental states. On the other hand although phenomenological hermeneutics would like to include objectivity in its operations, in fact it only simulates it by the process of the sedimentation of experience. This finding leads us to further reflections about the character of thinking and about reflection on the person. We are interested in the question of what gives rise to the thought that neuroscience and phenomenology should indeed be concerned with the same thing. What gives rise to the supposition that there should be two perspectival viewpoints on one and the same reality? We suppose, as the preceding study shows, thinking does not grasp reality but rather divides it in a certain way, always differently to another way of thinking. It is not, therefore, the case that we understand better and better what a person is, or that from a different perspective we may regard that same person, but rather that we mean by the concept of person various forms of selfoverlapping. It does not therefore make sense to attempt to create coherent closed systems for dealing with the identical human being, but rather that on the basis of one thinking to divide reality and begin to think differently.
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From Borges to Ricardo Piglia, the genre of crime literature is widely used in the twentieth century Spanish American fiction to emphasize the fact that human condition is tightly connected with necessity of interpretation of reality. Today’s prose creates correspondences between the interpretation of various fields (literary criticism, science) and the investigation completed by a detective in a crime story. Various events, human behavior, everyday objects as well as words and cultural texts seem to be important clues for the characters which, at the same time, endow their existence with meaning and bring order into their lives. Both the investigations (detective stories) as well as the interpretations (literary, philosophical) are ways of controlling the chaotic reality.
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Philosophical hermeneutics, understood as the theory of interpretation, investigates some questions that are also asked in the cognitive sciences. The nature of human understanding, the way that we gain and organize knowledge, the role played by language and memory in these considerations, the relations between conscious and unconscious knowledge, and how we understand other persons, are all good examples of issues that form the intersection of hermeneutics and the cognitive sciences. Although hermeneutics is most often contrasted with the natural sciences, there are some clear ways in which hermeneutics can contribute to the cognitive sciences and vice versa.
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The study is a response to the lack of interest in liturgical translation on the part of contemporary Slovak and Czech scholars. Its main aim is to pave the way for a translation-studies-based reflection on liturgical meta-texts and to discuss the typological features of liturgical translation. The core of the study is divided into two chapters. Both provide a descriptive analysis of selected modern translations of two Byzantine liturgical compositions: the Paschal Canon by St. John Damascene and the Paschal Stichera. The translation procedures empirically used in the meta-texts are compared with procedures typical for either technical or literary translation. The analyses suggest that linguistic communities tend to translate liturgical compositions in a literary way when they perceive the proto-text as close to their domestic literary polysystem and translate more technically when aware of the strangeness of the original.
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