Critical Philosophy Research Articles

POR UMA ÉTICA DA LINGUAGEM: SOBRE O SUPOSTO CARÁTER SOLIPSISTA E MONOLÓGICO DA RAZÃO PRÁTICA

O presente artigo pretende introduzir um conjunto de reflexões que versam sobre o problema da mentira e do dever de veracidade enquanto elementos que estruturam a filosofia prática de Kant. Para tanto, ocupa-se do primado da linguagem como questão fundamental da filosofia crítica. Em seguida, tematiza alguns dos principais momentos onde o referido problema se apresenta. Assim, além de uma reconstrução das teses gerais que constituem a parte transcendental da doutrina moral-prática, busca indicar em que medida os juízos sintéticos a priori práticos encontram na natureza humana, interpretada sensivelmente, seu domínio factual de aplicação. Tal esforço constituirá uma resposta indireta às críticas dirigidas por Karl-Otto Apel e Jürgen Habermas contra um suposto caráter solipsista e monológico da razão prática, de modo a sustentar que, em fim de contas, não seria Kant apenas o mais natural aliado desses dois pensadores, mas, sobretudo, que sua concepção de razão prática seria essencialmente dialógica.

“What is Enlightenment?” – on the question of the anthropological foundations of Kazakh modernization

Abstract. Based on the analysis of the texts of philosophers and thinkers – remarkable figures and theorists of the Kazakh and the European Enlightenments – the article reveals some questions of philosophical and ideological foundations of modernization processes in the modern Republic of Kazakhstan. In particular, the research holds a comparative analysis of the definitions of the Enlightenment givenby Immanuel Kant in the 1784s essay “The Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?”, on the one hand, and, on the other, by Shokan Walikhanov in his 1864s work “Judicial Reform Note.” It uses both direct author’s analysis of the texts themselves, as well as the critical analysis of Enlightenment’s theorists made in the second half of the 20th century by Western philosophers Hannah Arendt, JurgenHabermas, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida. In general, the article emphasizes the possible problem statement of Kazakh modernization, which should be considered as an object of philosophical, historical, anthropological, political and social analysis in order to clearly designating not only technical (Industry 4.0), economic (digital economy), but also axiological, ideological and theoretical framework of theprocess of modernization of the Republic of Kazakhstan (the concept of the so-called “modernization of consciousness”). Key words: European enlightenment, Kazakh enlightenment, kazakhstani modernization, modernization of consciousness, Republic of Kazakhstan, digital society, critical theory, critical philosophy, postmodernism.

The Tacit Dimensions of Normative Rules

All rules are normative. Using Polanyi’s tacit integration, this article shows that all rules have tacit dimensions in their creation by recognition of regularities, application and modification, all of which cannot be made wholly explicit. J. Searle holds that some regular actions are not the following of unconscious rules, but ignores the fact that they have been tacitly formed by recognising of regularities. Tacitly known and practised rules are transmitted by apprentices observing the actions and judgements of masters, and then across generations by tradition. Thus knowledge and belief cannot be neither clearly distinguished nor separated. Justificatory, critical and foundational philosophies are to be replaced by a fiduciary and fallible one.

Why Is New Materialism Not the Answer? Approaching Hyper-Matter, Reinventing the Sense of Critique Beyond ‘Theory’

The article offers a new model of materialist philosophical critique (general technocritique or digital critique) as a critical response to new materialism(s). Drawing on the reinterpretation of the legacy of European philosophies and works by Bernard Stiegler, the article strives to elaborate authentically new theoretical account of matter, notably in relation to the techno-logical mode of its organisation. The critique of new materialism(s) is positioned within the unprecedented crisis of the theoretical model of knowledge. What it is possible to discover by the end of the second decade of the 21st century is that humanities scholars have not managed to confront the central issue for their viable future: the whole theoretical and methodological model, which has so far provided fuel for the contemporary humanities and shaped our social class, postcolonial, gender, queer and other sensibilities, is plunging into a deep epistemological crisis, for having lost its efficient and final cause. In a nutshell, the modelof “doing theory,” is no longer valid, inasmuch as “theory” strangely misrecognized the revolutionary developments in cybernetics, which occurred in the 1950s and radically changed the very nature of knowledge. Therefore, a new epistēmē has to be formed in this new digital condition. However, the formation of this new epistēmē requires for us to radically transform what is referred to as “theory” or “critical theory” and to take into account the developments in the sciences and technology (not necessarily in the methodological framework offered by what is defined as STS) in order to lay the foundations under a new critique of political economy in the hyper-material era.

Philosophical aspects of literary-critical creative work of I.B. Rodnyanskaya

In most literary and critical articles of I. Rodnyanskaya, regardless of the originally chosen topic, the reasoning affects the laws of human nature in general. The explanation of this sustained interest in the philosophical aspect can be found in Rodnyanskaya’s methodological guidelines, namely in the commitment to the direction chosen by V. S. Solovyov in literary criticism. The essence of this approach is to correlate observations on the aesthetic side of the works with the truth in the highest sense of the concept. Solovyov’s method is evaluated positively, because he managed to point out the absence of contradictions between the careful study of the artistic aspect and the reading of the text from a philosophical perspective. The purpose of this article is identifying patterns that indicate the impact of creativity Solovyov on the methodology of literary criticism Rodnyanskaya in general and poetics of articles in particular. Referring to the literary and critical work of Solovyov, it is possible to comprehend goals of Rodnyanskaya herself. Close attention to the one of the sixties’s philosophical criticism suggests: in the era of the Thaw in literary criticism revived philosophical direction.

Martin Luther en gebed

Martin Luther and prayer. For decades, not many theologians published on the theme of prayer. The philosophical critique on religion is one reason. A sensible thing to do in times of uncertainty and disorientation is to fall back on the advice of theologians of name who guided the church in the past. Martin Luther is one such theologian. He was a theologian of prayer. Prayer was a pivotal element in his understanding of spirituality. It was also a constitutive factor for his theology. In Luther, we find a respected and reliable teacher on Christian prayer. Luther himself prayed often in the privacy of his home and in public spaces. His life is an example of a praying Christian. He left behind many sermons and publications on prayer. The research on Luther’s theology of prayer is vast. Unfortunately, we have no publications on Luther and prayer in Afrikaans. This is hopefully the first of many to come. The article concentrates on Luther’s practical advice regarding prayer to congregants who joined the Reformation. The advice could also be useful to the South African community that is becoming more and more secularised. In the second part of the article, his theology of prayer is discussed and his Rogationtide sermons are emphasised. His introductions and theology on, especially, John 16 receive attention. Thirdly, as an example of his expositions on prayer, we look at the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer. The relationship between the kingdom and the church is explained.

موقف ابن تیمیة من الفلسفة

في هذا البحث سلطت الضوء على موقف ابن تيمية من الفلسفة من خلال موقفه من الفلسفة الطبيعية والأخلاقية، وبينت فيه اهتمام ابن تيمية المبکر في الفلسفة، کما بينت نقد ابن تيمية للفلسفة، وإنصافهم فيما أصابوا فيه، وبينت تفضيله لعلمي الحساب والهندسة على الفلسفة. کما بينت موقف ابن تيمية من النقل وهو النص المعصوم عن الله ورسوله، ورده لفرية التعارض بين العقل والنقل، وبينته نظريته في توافق العقل الصريح مع النقل الصحيح، کما بينت موقف ابن تيمية من العقل وأن العقل خلق الله والشرع أمره سبحانه وتعالى ولا تعارض بين الخلق والأمر، کما بينت موقفه من المنطق الأرسطي، وکيف أنه أول من نقد المنطق الأرسطي مع بيان أوجه النقد التي وجهها له. The presentresearch paper sheds light on Ibn Taymiyyah’s attitude towards philosophy through studying his approaches to natural philosophy and ethical philosophy. The study shows Ibn Taymiyyah’s early interest in philosophy, his criticism of philosophers, and his appreciation of their opinions when they are right. It also shows his interest in mathematics and engineering in preference to philosophy. It also indicates his attitude towards quoting texts, i.e. the infallible texts of the Qur᾿ān and the sayings of Allah's Messenger, his refutation of the false claim about contradiction between reasoning and quoting, and his theory about harmony between sound reasoning and accurate quoting. Ibn Taymiyyah stipulates that reason is Allah’s creation and that the Islamic law is His ordinance, Glory be to Him; and that there is no conflict between His creation and His ordinance. The study also illustrates Ibn Taymiyyah’s attitude towards the Aristotelian logic, as he was the first to criticize Aristotle’s logic, and it shows the facets of his criticism of it.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Sartre’s scattered commentaries and remarks on theater, published in a variety of media outlets, as well as in the most unlikely of essays (spanning philosophical texts, biographies, and literary criticism), were finally assembled late in Sartre’s career and published in one volume, Un Théâtre de situations (Sartre on Theater), put together by Michel Contat and Michel Rybalka in 1973. Inevitably, a number of later or missing theatrical documents then came to light, and an updated edition of Un Théâtre de situations appeared in 1992. There still remained, however, other documents on theater which for one reason or another were not included in the later volume. Two of these documents are published interviews that Sartre gave to the Russian theater journal, Teatr, in 1956 and 1962. It is those virtually unknown interviews by Sartre on theater that we are pleased to publish here for the first time in English translation.

Criticism of Capitalism and Wage-Capital Conflict: Lyotard as a Kantian Reader of Marx

The present study aims at providing an analysis of Jean-Francois Lyotard’s criticism of Marx theory of the wage-capital conflict, as it is presented in The Differend: Phrases in Dispute (1983). We uphold that Lyotard’s analysis is important and original in many respects. First, it introduces into philosophical criticisms of Marx some considerations on the theory of language. Second, it deals with the wage-capital conflict as a Kantian Idea, made of some irreducible part—“an intractable wrong” done by one party (the Capital) to another (the Workers—, which cannot be expressed within a common language. The article reflects on the nature and consequences of Lyotard’s criticism for Marxist studies

Historical Projections of Philosophical Critics of Art Avant-garde of 20th Century

This article analyzes the concepts of artistic avant-garde by Peter Burger, Boris Groys, and Peter Osborn in order to observe the connection between philosophical criticism of the avant-garde and the justification of its historical status. These three views coincide in the research subject, but they are distinct in approaches to its interpretation. Their benchmarking study allows us to connect the avant-garde theories developed in the researcher’s work with their vision of the art history. Herewith the context of the appearance and existence of certain historical trends is considered in their connection with the present. Through explication and comparison of the theoretical approaches’ it has been established that all three concepts recognize the key importance of the institution of art for the reflection and the avant-garde self-reflection. Inclusion in social and political processes is highlighted through the institution of art, which defines the artist’s status and specificity the way of reading works through the question of art “autonomy”. The paper presents a comparison of different views on overcoming the autonomy as an exit to the level of criticism of an art institution on the one hand, and its overcoming by going out in practical life on the other hand. The key to understanding the independence and criticality of the avant-garde to the art movements of the past is its temporal aspiration for the future. The temporal independence of the avant-garde is analyzed in relation to the temporal regimes of modernity and contemporary as an opportunity to overcome the historicist schemes of writing the avant-garde to the art history and its consideration in the conditions of temporal and historical independence.Article received 15.01.2019

Making history philosophical: Kant, Maimon, and the evolution of the historiography of philosophy in the critical period

ABSTRACTIn this article I explore Maimon’s role in the evolution of Kant’s understanding of the function of the history of philosophy in philosophical enquiry. Kant is often viewed as holding an ambivalent relation to the history of philosophy. On the one hand, he dismisses past philosophers as victims of transcendental illusion and downplays the value of the historiography of philosophy. On the other hand, by framing his project as a synthesis of several philosophical traditions, Kant embeds the critical philosophy into a sweeping historical narrative in a manner that highlights the importance of the past for present philosophical aims. In this article, I argue that for most of his career Kant held a position reflective of the former view, but that the publication of Maimon’s response to a prize question announced by the Royal Academy led Kant to develop an understanding of the history of philosophy more in line with the latter view. The result is a distinctively post-Kantian model for a ‘philosophical history of philosophy’ that is both methodologically nuanced and potentially relevant to contemporary debates.

Blinde Flecken der Politischen Philosophie?

AbstractThis article examines which lessons political philosophers can learn from discussions within Critical Philosophy of Race. The article assumes a social-constructionist understanding of “race” and focuses on the question of how we can reconcile normative universalism with sensitivity to differences that have been created by processes of racialisation. To answer this question, it looks exemplarily at debates within three different fields of political philosophy: normativity, politics, and law. First, it presents objections voiced by critical race theory against liberal, ideal conceptions of justice. Second, the article reconstructs the main arguments for and against affirmative action as a policy measure directed at minority groups. Third, it focuses on racial inequalities in the context of penal law. By way of conclusion, it suggests how debates around justice and punishment and the conceptual lenses offered by CPoR can be fruitfully applied to the German context.

Student Philosophical Society of Kazan Theological Academy at the End of the XIX Early X X Centuries

The paper is devoted to the institutional analysis of the student philosophical society activity at the Kazan Theological Academy in the late XIX - early XX centuries. The study notes that the development of philosophy in a theological educational institution in itself is a contradiction since philosophy involves a critical attitude towards religion. But it was precisely at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries that interest in philosophy at Russian theological schools increased. At the same time, a philosophical circle society for students appeared only in the Kazan Theological Academy. Within the framework of our work, we use a constructionist and neoinstitutional approaches, which assume that institutions are formal and informal “rules of the game”, norms of interaction within certain social interactions. As a result, it is concluded that the activities of the student society were determined both by its charter and by those special goals set by the theological education in Russia at that time. We have determined that one of the main goals was to teach the methods of philosophical criticism of future Orthodox theologians. It is also revealed that the topics that were discussed at meetings of the philosophical society were determined by the public resonance that they had. The topics related to modern literature and religious doctrine of Leo Tolstoy were presented as the main problems for the reports. This agenda also largely depended on the research topics of the leaders of the student philosophical society who were the professors of the Kazan Theological Academy.

The infinite, the indefinite and the critical turn: Kant via Kripke models

ABSTRACTThis paper aims to show that intuitionistic Kripke models are a powerful tool for interpreting Kant’s ‘Critical Philosophy’. Part I reviews some old work of mine that applies these models to provide a reading of Kant’s second antinomy about the divisibility of matter and to answer several attacks on Kant’s antinomies. But it also points out three shortcomings of that original application. First, the reading fails to account for Kant’s second antinomy claim that matter is divisible ‘ad infinitum’ and his first antinomy claim that empirical space extends only ‘ad indefinitum’. Secondly, in conformity with the ‘assertability’ heuristics for Kripke models, it attributes an assertability semantics to Kant. In fact, it attributes a pair of assertability semantics to Kant, but neither of these accords with modern assertabilism. And finally, one must wonder the propriety of using contemporary assertability and contemporary formal logic to save an eighteenth-century text. Part II goes historical to solve the problems about assertability. It outlines the Descartes–Leibniz dialectic about the infinite/indefinite distinction and demonstrates how each position reflects larger philosophical positions. It then demonstrates that Kant’s two versions of assertability and his version of the infinite/indefinite dichotomy emerge naturally from his attempts (pre-critical and then critical) to resolve a tension in Leibniz’s philosophy. In light of this demonstration, Part III adapts the Kripke model interpretation so that it does reflect that dichotomy. It then refines the Kripke semantics in order to model some of Kant’s signature critical doctrines, and it shows how Kant’s critical version of the infinite/indefinite distinction differs from all those of his predecessors and from his own pre-critical version. It also addresses the question of using contemporary logical machinery to interpret Kant. Part IV turns the tables and uses what we have learned about Kant and modern semantics in order to address a pair of issues in the contemporary critical foundations of logic.

O senso comum e a filosofia

Ainda que pouco conhecido e estudado em nossa época, o filósofo neokantiano russo, de origem greco-alemã, Afrikan Spir, produziu uma obra original que teve repercussões importantes em seu tempo. Nascido um pouco antes de Nietzsche, em 1837, Spir será citado por ele, sobretudo, no que se refere às questões que envolvem o caráter transcendental do conhecimento. Afinal, como Kant, Spir defende que o mundo nos aparece mediado por nossa sensibilidade; mediado e organizado pelas estruturas “a priori” do conhecimento, ou seja, do mundo recebemos apenas impressões sensoriais, qualidades sensíveis, cabendo ao sujeito cognoscente ordená-las a partir de suas intuições. No entanto, na intitulada filosofia crítica de Spir, o único e o verdadeiro, à priori, é o “princípio de identidade”, que seria o responsável pela síntese do conhecimento, seja de nós mesmos, seja dos objetos do mundo. Em poucas palavras, segundo Spir, e contestando o senso comum e o próprio objetivismo científico, não existe nada que seja estável e absoluto fora de nós. Todo o absoluto diz respeito ao pensamento. Mesmo o “eu” nada mais é do que uma síntese operada pela consciência.

Capitalism and the Nature of Life-Forms

ABSTRACT The article critically discusses Rahel Jaeggi’s recent philosophical contribution to a critical theory of capitalism. The first part reconstructs Jaeggi’s account of Lebensform, life-form, that builds up the main ontological framework for addressing and problematizing capitalism intended not as an economic system but as a social whole. The second part focuses on the three different theoretical strategies that Jaeggi puts forward to detect and deal with capitalism’s immanent flaws. The third and last part problematizes the metaphysical assumptions and implications of Jaeggi’s understanding of life-form and outlines a more dialectical, or “transactional” notion of form of life, which is inspired by Dewey’s non-reductionist naturalist method of inquiry. The overall aim is to strengthen the philosophical critique of the capitalist form of life.

Adorno, Ferenczi, and a new “categorical imperative after Auschwitz”

Theodor W. Adorno's mature thought can be characterized by the attempt to articulate what he calls a “new categorical imperative after Auschwitz.” By this, Adorno means that theory and praxis must be organized in such a way that the Holocaust does not repeat itself. This article argues that Sándor Ferenczi’s metapsychology is key to understanding Adorno’s attempt to rethink the nature of precisely such a new categorical imperative. One of the key themes of Adorno’s entire corpus is the problem of the “identification with the aggressor” – an idea that originates with Ferenzci rather than, as is commonly thought, Anna Freud. The Ferenczian dimension of Adorno’s thinking becomes particularly clear in Adorno’s thoughts on the question of freedom. In this context, Adorno engages in a psychoanalytically informed critique of the philosophy of freedom and a speculative philosophical critique of psychoanalysis. The fashioning of a “new categorical imperative” after Auschwitz entails a form of education directed towards a new form of Mündigkeit, one oriented towards contradiction, resistance, and a steadfast refusal to “identify with the aggressor.”

Introduction: Debates on Experience and Empiricism in Nineteenth Century France

Introduction: Debates on Experience and Empiricism in Nineteenth Century France

Historiographical Approaches on Experience and Empiricism in the Early Nineteenth-Century: Degérando and Tennemann

This paper examines the views of Joseph-Márie Degérando and Wilhelm Gottlieb Tennemann about empiricism, and the scope and limits of experience as well as its relation to reason and its role in the attainment of true knowledge. While Degérando adopted the “philosophy of experience” and Tennemann advocated Kant’s critical philosophy, both authors blamed each other for the same mistake: if Degérando considered that, despite all appearances to the contrary, critical philosophy fell into empiricism, Tennemann judged that the philosophy of experience was nothing but pure and simple empiricism. Degérando’s and Tennemann’s discrepancies involved not only a discussion of “nomenclatures” and of the role and limits of experience in knowing, but also an epistemological and ideological commitment to the pacification of the intellectual field in the aftermath of the French Revolution. In this line, Degérando’s alignment with the philosophy of experience attempted to distance himself from the politically dangerous sensualism attributed to the idéologie. But, unlike his countryman Charles Villers, he did not want to replace the sensualism by critical philosophy. His opposition to philosophical novelty (which he associated with political revolution) led him to praise only the “eclectic” spirit of Kant’s philosophy.

Ruins, Memory and Vibrant Matter: Imagining Future North Korean Rural Terrains

With recent work in mind from the fields of Critical and Human Geography and Philosophy on webs of political life and ruins as lively matters, in process and becoming the paper considers the futures for North Korean non-urban landscapes from a temporal (and spatial) frame beyond that of Pyongyang’s present. Following a change of status quo on the Korean Peninsula in which North Korea as we know now it ceases to exist, how will both state bureaucracy and popular cultural power impact on terrains so heavily transformed by the ideology and political culture of North Korea? Will post-transformation forces consider architectures of ideological memory entirely ruined, attempt to write their own cultures and memories on these spaces, or unwrite previous ones, co-producing new landscapes of memory on the Korean Peninsula? In particular, this paper examines the physical and material futures for two important sites in North Korea. Firstly, the Samjiyon Grand Monument and the Birch Trees of Lake Samji, representative within North Korea’s historical narrative of both military struggles in the area and the first acknowledgement of Kim Il Sung and his first wife, Kim Jong Suk’s relationship. Secondly the paper considers Mt. Paektu and very specifically the Secret Guerrilla Camp below it, and Jong Il Peak, part of the mountain now graced by Kim Jong Il’s signature written in huge Korean script. Both sites, along with North Korea’s wider rural and wild spaces are in a sense ruined by their enmeshing with the political narratives of Pyongyang. However, in their ruination the paper sees the unpicking and untwining of this state, through the processes of time and culturalpolitical re-configurations.