This article develops a hermeneutic framework for analyzing the representation of imminent future threats. The framework will be derived from the later works of Paul Ricoeur, in which he employs the concept of 'imagination' rather than 'fantasy' (both originating from the Greek term phantasia). Ricoeur posits the significance of what shall be referred to as 'the site of initiative'. It is within this site of initiative that two types of events converge: events that happen to us and events that we (...) make happen. Furthermore, the site of initiative is constituted between two orders of imagination: the space of experience (reproductive) and the horizon of expectation (productive). To enhance the framework's relevance for political and social theory, it will be extended to incorporate Ricoeur's analysis of ideology and utopia. This extension facilitates a preliminary analysis of contemporary dystopias in which fears are exploited for political gain. It will be argued that these dystopias have the tendency to spur a society into arbitrary and unwarranted actions that eclipse the site of initiative. (shrink)

Der vorliegende Band vereinigt die Akten des internationalen Schleiermacher-Kongresses 2021 und nimmt den Philosophen, Theologen, Pädagogen und Übersetzer Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) als Kommunikationstheoretiker in den Blick. Ob als Universitätslehrer, Kanzelredner, als politischer Reformer, Publizist, Salongänger oder Briefeschreiber – Schleiermacher war selbst ein begnadeter Kommunikator und im Begriff der Kommunikation bündeln sich wie in einem Brennglas viele zentrale Aspekte seines Denkens. Seine Philosophie, Theologie und philologische Praxis zeichnen sich durch ihre emphatische Prozesshaftigkeit jenseits starrer Systeme aus. Sich in Sprache manifestierendes Wissen, (...) moralisches Handeln, religiöses Erleben und der Entwurf gemeinschaftlicher Institutionen sind im beständigen Werden und nur im Austausch der miteinander streitenden, sich liebenden und hassenden, Ideen und Sinn entwerfenden und um Gemeinschaft und Individualität ringenden Menschen wirklich. Die Beiträge dieses Bandes gehen Schleiermachers Werk ebenso wie seiner gesellschaftlichen, kirchlichen und philologischen Praxis vor dem Hintergrund ihrer ideengeschichtlichen Verflechtung nach und aktualisieren sein Denken in Auseinandersetzung mit unterschiedlichen Positionen der Gegenwart. (shrink)

The aim of my paper is to put Ricœur’s philosophy in dialogue with human geography. There are at least two good reasons to do so. The first concerns the epistemological foundation of geography: Whereas humanistic or phenomenological geographers inspired by Heidegger or, to a lesser extent, by Merleau-Ponty have sometimes taken on an anti-scientific approach, the Ricœurian articulation of understanding and explanation may contribute to building a bridge between the experiential side of place-meanings and the scientific explanations of spatial elements (...) and their relationships. The second reason has to do with the application of the Ricœurian “model of the text” to landscape: It is a direction that Ricœur never explicitly took, but it is worth exploring, especially considering that “landscape as a text” was quite a popular metaphor among human geographers in the 1980s and 1990s. In this paper I will discuss both issues in order to outline a “Ricœurian path to geography,” which, while never explicitly developed by the philosopher, may represent an innovative and fruitful actualization of his thought. (shrink)

This article clarifies and resituates Althusser’s materialist philosophical project in relation not only to such predecessors as V.I. Lenin and Jean-Toussaint Desanti but also to such successors as Pierre Macherey and Pierre Raymond. The thesis of the article is that Althusser’s project to establish a philosophical practice that would be appropriate for Marxism did not simply consist of identifying and defending a ‘materialist’ position in philosophy against external ‘idealist’ challenges or threats. On the contrary, it recognised that there exists an (...) interminable struggle between inextricably linked but ever-shifting materialist and idealist tendencies – a struggle that operates as a defining feature in the history of philosophy. As a result, the problem explored in this article concerns how best to conceptualise this struggle and to determine whether or not the term ‘tendency’ genuinely holds analytical value and can serve as an important conceptual resource for Marxists working within the field of philosophy. (shrink)

Since the end of the 1970s, an incremental erosion of social rights, resulting from successive restructurings of national labour markets that have been encouraged at European Union level, and the consequent emergence of a society of competition, has led to social anomie while at the same time opening the way for a new disciplinary normative order. That new order is shaping or reshaping individual and collective identity by caging people into patterns of relations that promote fear, indifference, intolerance towards others, (...) or feelings of shame and a loss of self esteem. In the most extreme cases, this leads to self-annihilation. (shrink)

This article explores the promises of critical hermeneutics as an innovative method and philosophy within the human sciences. It is argued that its success depends on its ability to articulate a theory of meaning with one of action and experience as well as its capacity to renew our understanding of the problem of ideology. First, critical hermeneutics must explain how cultural messages ‘show and hide’; that is, how the ambiguity of meaning always allows for a group to represent itself while (...) opening the door for distortion and domination. Second, critical hermeneutics ought to show how action can be best understood as opposing performances driven by ideological-moral views. Through an analysis of social movements, for instance, it is shown that any attempt to do justice could also and easily create exclusion. Third, critical hermeneutics has to clarify how tension and dualism within meaning and action are not to be dissociated from the self-interpretation of concrete individuals. A theory of experience is thus required in order to explain why the autonomy of the subject is finally at stake with regard to the problem of ideology. (shrink)

:In this essay, I argue that what I consider a generally valid critique of the traditional model of representation remains too closely focused on its limitations and not its liminality. To make this distinction, I couch my analysis in terms of sacrifice. The canonical model of mimesis was concerned by the sacrificed thickness of “presence” in the thin re-presentation; today's anti-essentialist model is instead concerned that presence or sameness comes at the sacrificial cost of the other. Although the latter is (...) accordingly more sensitive to racial representation, it still fails to come to terms with liminality, which is the structural inability to represent the margins. The Lacanian analysis of an Iranian film that cannot rely on traditional visual cues opens the door to appreciating liminality. But unless a “narcissistic” tendency of the Lacanian scholarship is addressed, liminality becomes a fetish for the other as a “stain.”. (shrink)

En este texto se desarrolla un acercamiento al problema de las formas de acción colectiva y de representación que se pueden presentar como alternativas con potencial de transformación de las condiciones sociales más allá de la estructura ideológica del sistema capitalista. A partir de una confrontación entre Cornelius Castoriadis y Slavoj Žižek con respecto a la posibilidad de autoinstitución de la sociedad y la necesidad de vincular la multitud a una representación unitaria, se analizan los dilemas concretos de lalucha revolucionaria (...) a través de las figuras de Lenin y Robespierre. Este análisis permite concluir que la irrupción de la libertad de los colectivos en los eventos revolucionarios implica un tipo de violencia que impide determinar con certeza su dirección. Sin embargo, tal violencia también es la condición que enmarca el acto revolucionario en una dimensión ética, como una decisión que posibilita la transformación del imaginario. (shrink)

This paper elucidates Ricoeur’s use of genetic phenomenology in his analysis of ideology and utopia, and how genetic phenomenology contributes to ideology critique. I argue that Ricoeur’s analysis, examined through the lens of genetic phenomenology, unveils the genesis of the experience of ideology. I propose a model of ideology critique emphasizing the liberation of individuals from ideological delusion without proclaiming an ideology-free position. Additionally, I explore the strategic use of utopian imagination to incite liberating experiences. In conclusion, I underscore the (...) role of social identity constitution as an implicit counterforce to ideology critique. (shrink)

Se vorbește îndeobște mai mult despre un spirit al timpului (Zeitgeist) și amprenta acestuia asupra modului în care noi înțelegem și reflectăm lumea – asemenea cerului, al cărui joc de lumini și umbre oferă un contur de culoare lucrurilor. Nu trebuie însă să uităm solul din care ideile încolțesc și spiritul locului (Raumgeist) care le‐a animat creșterea. În acest orizont au loc întâlnirile, împlinirile, speranțele și dezamăgirile care ne edifică ca oameni și ne orientează busola căutărilor filosofice și spirituale. Există (...) roade pentru care dăm socoteală în secerișul vieții de zi cu zi și există resturi de care recolta zilei nu pare să ia seama – aparent neînsemnate pentru logica zilei, aceste resturi de roade sunt tocmai cele care la urmă, la apus, dau sens întregii strădanii. Avem sarcina existențială de a nu lăsa iarna vieții să se aștearnă pe resturile rămase în urma secerișului. Acesta este și imboldul volumului de față, care se dorește a fi un spicilegium, care în limba latină înseamnă „un mănunchi de resturi de spice rămase în urma recoltei”. Așadar, o antologie de paisprezece texte filosofice de diferite dimensiuni și subiecte, dar care reprezintă expresia unei comunități de cercetători, profesori, doctoranzi și pasionați de filosofie aduși împreună de filosofia studiată sau trăită cândva la Cluj‐Napoca. Chiar dacă este compus din texte eterogene, cititorul atent al acestui volum va putea sesiza cum spiritul acestui loc subîntinde toate tematizările: propensiunea față de idealism, profunzimea psihanalizei, subtilitatea fenomenologiei, pasiunea realist speculativă și fervoarea căutării autentice a binelui, adevărului și frumosului în lume, în gândire și artă sunt predispozițiile care însuflețesc și textele de față. - Dan Siserman. (shrink)

This text shows how, for Paul Ricoeur, imagination as a poetic faculty allows us to structure the meaning of our action through metaphor and fiction. From this perspective, we will discuss the way in which such meaning is configured within the discourse as an absence that allows human will to judge its freedom and possibilities of action in the world. All of the above will allow us to argue that the poetic fac-ulty and its cultural creations are the fundamental elements (...) of the transformation of reality and the realization of the human will. (shrink)

Seit Ende der 70er Jahre, eine graduelle Erosion der Sozialrechte, hervorgehend aus den sukzessiven Restrukturierungen der auf der EU-Ebene geförderten nationalen Arbeitsmärkte, sowie das nachfolgende Vordringen der Wettbewerbsgesellschaft, brachten die soziale Anomie mit sich, indem sie gleichlaufend der neuen normativen disziplinarischen Ordnung den Weg ebneten. Diese neuartige Ordnung heißt Gestaltung oder Umgestaltung der individuellen und kollektiven Identität durch Einsperrung der Menschen in die Beziehungsschemas, die Angst, Gleichgültigkeit, Intoleranz gegenüber anderen oder eben Schamempfindungen und Gefühle des Selbstachtungsverlusts begünstigen. In den Extremstfällen (...) läuft dies auf Selbstvernichtung hinaus. (shrink)

The paper investigates the phenomenon of foreignness and its understanding in ethnographic and philosophical context. The role of a phenomenologicalhermeneutic conception of text and action in bridging the gap between the native’s and the observer’s points of view with respect to the description of cultural phenomena is elucidated by way of comparing the theories of anthropologist Clifford Geertz and philosopher Paul Ricoeur. Hidden links between the two authors, who make sparse references to one another, but should be connected more thoroughly, (...) are followed. The methods of “thick description” and of taking the “text as a model” for understanding social and cultural performances are analysed to attain a new notion of culture as context. (shrink)