Search results

The aim of the following paper is to discuss Jaspers' disappointement of politics and his confession about the powerlessness of the (philosophical) Spirit, expressed at the end of his life. This confession may seem to contradict some of his earlier statements and positions. Yet, by analizing the evolution of his views about the complex relation between philosophy and politics, the autor claims that Jaspers' philosophy is an emblematic illustration of a tension, inherent in contemporary philosophy, namely that between the faith in Reason and the scepticism about its potentialities to achieve a substantial changement of human nature and society.

The aim of the following paper is to discuss Jaspers' disappointement of politics and his confession about the powerlessness of the (philosophical) Spirit, expressed at the end of his life. This confession may seem to contradict some of his earlier statements and positions. Yet, by analizing the evolution of his views about the complex relation between philosophy and politics, the autor claims that Jaspers' philosophy is an emblematic illustration of a tension, inherent in contemporary philosophy, namely that between the faith in Reason and the scepticism about its potentialities to achieve a substantial changement of human nature and society.

The "moveable feast" of non-philosophy(Abstract) The editorial aims to unveil the attracting force of Laruelle's non-philosophy for scholars from different disciplines and artists. It shows how a new "democratic order of thinking" permits non-philosophy to enclose domains that have long been considered as opposites: philosophy, science, religion and the arts. Conceived as parameters of thought of the same right and without privileges, these variables can be superposed in a process of creative invention. The performative force of non-standard thinking, which can take different forms of philo-fiction, science fiction, art fiction, Christo-Fiction etc., dismantles the decisional gestures and the sufficiency claims of philosophy, science and religion, and thus permits a regeneration as well as a choral orchestration in a "minimalistic symphony". In this sense, non-philosophy invites us every day to the "movable feast", that it is.

The "moveable feast" of non-philosophy(Abstract) The editorial aims to unveil the attracting force of Laruelle's non-philosophy for scholars from different disciplines and artists. It shows how a new "democratic order of thinking" permits non-philosophy to enclose domains that have long been considered as opposites: philosophy, science, religion and the arts. Conceived as parameters of thought of the same right and without privileges, these variables can be superposed in a process of creative invention. The performative force of non-standard thinking, which can take different forms of philo-fiction, science fiction, art fiction, Christo-Fiction etc., dismantles the decisional gestures and the sufficiency claims of philosophy, science and religion, and thus permits a regeneration as well as a choral orchestration in a "minimalistic symphony". In this sense, non-philosophy invites us every day to the "movable feast", that it is.

A peculiarity of Paul Ricoeur's philosophy is his effort to elaborate a hermeneutic phenomenology of the Self on the roots of reflexive philosophy. Thus, the problem of responsibility, which Ricoeur debated on different occasions, appears in the context of the Self as an acting, suffering and capable subject, which is not only responsible for its own acts but has also duties in respect to others. Ricoeur's hermeneutics of "l'homme capable" (the capable human being) analyzes responsibility on different levels – historical, ethical, political, juridical etc. The main thesis of the author is, that this levels of responsibility constitute the different dimensions of the will of the Self "to engage itself with" which should be recomposed hermeneutically in order to capture responsibility as an integral phenomenon. At the difference of some authors who offer only a partial interpretation of the problem of responsibility in Ricoeur's work, the following article aims to give a holistic one by reconstructing it through the complex evolution of Ricoeur's philosophical writings.

Paul Ricoeur's Search for a New Foundation of Human Rights and Dignity by Means of the Capabilities and his Application of phronesisThe aim of the following article is to reconstruct Paul Ricoeur's concepts of human rights and human dignity by exploring some little-known texts, and to exemplify how these concepts are connected to a specific philosophical conception of human being, which is grounded in a Dialectics between transcendence and incarnation, freedom and dependence, identity and difference, capability and fallibility (fragility). In doing so, I will argue that Ricoeur interprets human dignity, which he has never explicitly defined, through the prism of human capabilities, especially of the capability of being responsible. This interpretation allows him to take a differentiated position in the current bioethical debates on the rights of "potential persons" (Embrio) and to illustrate how the Aristotelian phronèsis can be used in (bio)ethical cases where decisions are difficult to take.

A peculiarity of Paul Ricoeur's philosophy is his effort to elaborate a hermeneutic phenomenology of the Self on the roots of reflexive philosophy. Thus, the problem of responsibility, which Ricoeur debated on different occasions, appears in the context of the Self as an acting, suffering and capable subject, which is not only responsible for its own acts but has also duties in respect to others. Ricoeur's hermeneutics of "l'homme capable" (the capable human being) analyzes responsibility on different levels – historical, ethical, political, juridical etc. The main thesis of the author is, that this levels of responsibility constitute the different dimensions of the will of the Self "to engage itself with" which should be recomposed hermeneutically in order to capture responsibility as an integral phenomenon. At the difference of some authors who offer only a partial interpretation of the problem of responsibility in Ricoeur's work, the following article aims to give a holistic one by reconstructing it through the complex evolution of Ricoeur's philosophical writings.

Paul Ricoeur's Search for a New Foundation of Human Rights and Dignity by Means of the Capabilities and his Application of phronesisThe aim of the following article is to reconstruct Paul Ricoeur's concepts of human rights and human dignity by exploring some little-known texts, and to exemplify how these concepts are connected to a specific philosophical conception of human being, which is grounded in a Dialectics between transcendence and incarnation, freedom and dependence, identity and difference, capability and fallibility (fragility). In doing so, I will argue that Ricoeur interprets human dignity, which he has never explicitly defined, through the prism of human capabilities, especially of the capability of being responsible. This interpretation allows him to take a differentiated position in the current bioethical debates on the rights of "potential persons" (Embrio) and to illustrate how the Aristotelian phronèsis can be used in (bio)ethical cases where decisions are difficult to take.

A Discussion about the Problems of Institutionalization of Feminist Theory and the Gender Studies at the University of Vienna.

A Discussion about the Problems of Institutionalization of Feminist Theory and the Gender Studies at the University of Vienna.

Über-Setzung as a discursive Dominance: A new Interpretation of Paul Ricoeur's Paradigm of TranslationPutting into question the idealized interpretations of translation as an ethical paradigm and model for Europe (Paul Ricoeur, Domenico Jervolino), the author aims to reveal some negative aspects related to the politics of translation, specially the use of translation as a transfer of a dominant discourse. This negative phenomenon is analyzed by mean of the neologism of Über-Setzung (superimposition) designating an overlap of a discourse or an idiom over another through the abuse of the linguistic hospitality of translation. On the base of diverse examples and narratives the author offers a descrip-tion of the eidetic structure of Über-Setzung, and argues that the dominating language and its dis-course intervene in the mother language and its culture by putting itself "on" and "over" them as something primary, absolute and universal. The dominant discourse, that is established by means of translation, requires mindfulness, comprehension and acceptance; however, because it is a kind of anti-giving, the dominator who use it refuses to recognize the dominated as a partner; he treats him as non-equal and even as "retarded". In conclusion the author displays the intercultural potentialities of hermeneutic phenomenology in regard of a new European ethos of translation.

Über-Setzung as a discursive Dominance: A new Interpretation of Paul Ricoeur's Paradigm of TranslationPutting into question the idealized interpretations of translation as an ethical paradigm and model for Europe (Paul Ricoeur, Domenico Jervolino), the author aims to reveal some negative aspects related to the politics of translation, specially the use of translation as a transfer of a dominant discourse. This negative phenomenon is analyzed by mean of the neologism of Über-Setzung (superimposition) designating an overlap of a discourse or an idiom over another through the abuse of the linguistic hospitality of translation. On the base of diverse examples and narratives the author offers a descrip-tion of the eidetic structure of Über-Setzung, and argues that the dominating language and its dis-course intervene in the mother language and its culture by putting itself "on" and "over" them as something primary, absolute and universal. The dominant discourse, that is established by means of translation, requires mindfulness, comprehension and acceptance; however, because it is a kind of anti-giving, the dominator who use it refuses to recognize the dominated as a partner; he treats him as non-equal and even as "retarded". In conclusion the author displays the intercultural potentialities of hermeneutic phenomenology in regard of a new European ethos of translation.