The Modern Privilege of Life

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-49
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Ziarek

Abstract This essay reconsiders the notion of “world” by looking critically at the idiom of life dominating current critical debates. Showing how and why life should be displaced from the privileged position it has assumed in modernity, it examines Arendt’s and Heidegger’s comments on the world. In The Human Condition, Arendt provides an interesting philosophical and cultural account of the rise of life to prominence in the modern age, pointing out its detrimental effects on the understanding of the world and human action. Heidegger, on the other hand, executes, through his idiomatic approach to mortality, perhaps the most radical displacement of life in an attempt to rethink and bring to eminence being and the event of the world. At stake is a different experience of the world and a change in the understanding of the human, situating the human (and) life always already in response to the nonrepeatable event of being.

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-73
Author(s):  
Agapov Oleg D. ◽  

The joy of being is connected with one’s activities aimed at responding to the challenges of the elemental forces and the boundlessness of being, which are independent of human subjectivity. In the context of rising to the challenges of being, one settles to acquire a certain power of being in themselves and in the world. Thus, the joy of being is tied to achieving the level of the “miraculous fecundity” (E. Levinas), “an internal necessity of one’s life” (F. Vasilyuk), magnanimity (M. Mamardashvili). The ontological duty of any human being is to succeed at being human. The joy of being is closely connected to experiencing one’s involvement in the endless/eternity and realizing one’s subjective temporality/finitude, which attunes him to the absolute seriousness in relation to one’s complete realization in life. Joy is a foundational anthropological phenomenon in the structure of ways of experiencing the human condition. The joy of being as an anthropological practice can appear as a constantly expanding sphere of human subjectivity where the transfiguration of the powers of being occurs under the sign of the Height (Levinas) / the Good. Without the possibility of transfiguration human beings get tired of living, immerse themselves in the dejected state of laziness and the hopelessness of vanity. The joy of being is connected to unity, gathering the multiplicity of human life under the aegis of meaning that allows us to see the other and the alien in heteronomous being, and understand the nature of co-participation and responsibility before the forces of being, and also act in synergy with them.The joy of being stands before a human being as the joy of fatherhood/ motherhood, the joy of being a witness to the world in creative acts (the subject as a means to retreat before the world and let the world shine), the joy of every day that was saved from absurdity, darkness and the impersonal existence of the total. Keywords: joy, higher reality, anthropological practices, “the height”, subject, transcendence, practice of coping


Author(s):  
Marin Terpstra

Abstract In this article I explore different ways of imagining distinctions in the form of borders and on the attitudes that people assume towards them. A distinction is primarily a cognitive operation, but appears as such in human communication (people talking about differences and identities), and in constructions that shape the material space people live in (borders, buildings, and the like). I explore two extreme positions, the one de-intensifying distinctions by focusing on their logical and contingent forms, the other intensifying distinctions by making them a potential cause of conflict. The first one is exemplified by Spencer Brown’s and Niklas Luhmann’s reflection on the logical and sociological aspects of distinctions; the second one by Carl Schmitt’s theory of ‘the political’ and its key notion of the distinction between friend and enemy. Both positions are relevant to understand a major debate and struggle in the world of today between liberal cosmopolitans and authoritarian nationalists. I show in what way both positions are aspects of the human condition, and what makes that alternately the one or the other is stressed.


Author(s):  
Conrad Scott

Raymond Holmes Souster has been described as a poet of place who invests Toronto, the city of his life-long residence, deeply into his writing. Having worked for some forty-five years at the downtown Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Souster’s immersion in a particular place certainly informed his poetic output; however, Souster the poet also ponders the human condition. On the one hand, he writes from a basis of experience: the destruction of war and the changes imposed by the rise of the modern era. On the other, his work seeks out and highlights that which is still precious despite the weight of the world he feels. Moreover, he clearly values poetry as a salve to the cacophonous imposition of modernity, and continually encourages poetic development: in addition to his substantial body of work, he has supported Canadian poetry by editing several anthologies, and as a creator of Direction (editor 1943–6); a founder of Contact (editor 1952–4); an editor of Combustion (1957–60); and a founding member of the League of Canadian Poets (president 1967–71).


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-549
Author(s):  
Jana V. Schmidt ◽  

A near exclusive focus on Hannah Arendt’s concept of forgiveness from her major work The Human Condition has obscured the equally important model of reconciliation in her writings on aesthetics and in her Thought Notebook. By engaging Arendt in a dialogue with her contemporaries and friends Ingeborg Bachmann and Hermann Broch, on the one hand, and with the classic thinkers of tragedy, Aristotle and Goethe, on the other hand, I show how reconciliation responds to the situation of fatherlessness after 1945 and, as a “reconciliation with reality,” offers a new basis for intersubjectivity. Having, as Arendt writes, “enough of origin within” ourselves to do without pre-established categories cannot mean that we must begin to “father” ourselves but that, on the contrary, our inception as beings born to begin anew leaves us radically forlorn and yet equipped with everything we need to “make world” with one another. The essay contends that imagination, judgment, and understanding build a network of thought figures in Arendt that are tied to reality through the work of reconciliation.


Author(s):  
Tony Salurante

Christian Worldview is an approach that sees Christianity as a whole and interrelated one another. Worldview which how a person looks at the world where it to be a center of human worldview affects all human culture, behavior, and belief. Worldview is fundamentals but is not easy to understand. This research describes a relationship that has implications for the way the church takes mission. The changing world of modernity caused the Christian worldview becomes an anti-thesis of the secular worldview and other religions. This problem becomes a conflict of various ideas and believes that influences and conquers one another. One side of the church is between influences, on the other hand the church is called to reveal His truth. These problematics has arisen been since the Middle Ages when the philosopher who pioneered the teachings of humanism, reinaisance and enlightenment. The objective of this research is to introduce Christian philosophical concepts as a way how the church sees the various views of life of others. So that the church can distinguish wisely and know the values that influence other worldviews. Through this research will stimulate the church to realizes his calling as a church more effectively. By utilizing a philosophical-systematic approach, it produces answers to the questions of this study. A Christian worldview approach encourages the church to state the truth in every aspect of life and provides an important perspective for the church in the modern age to become an instrument of God's mission.  ABSTRAKWawasan Dunia Kristen merupakan sebuah pendekatan yang melihat kekristenan sebagai suatu kesatuan utuh yang saling terkait. Wawasan dunia merupakan cara pandangan seseorang melihat dunia dimana pusat dari wawasan dunia itulah yang mempengaruhi seluruh budaya manusia. Hal fundamental ini tidak mudah dipahami namun ia mengendalikan cara hidup manusia. Penelitian ini menjelaskan relasi yang memiliki implikasi kepada cara gereja bermisi. Di tengah dunia modern yang semakin berubah membuktikan bagaimana wawasan dunia Kristen menjadi anti tesis dari wawasan dunia sekular dan agama lain. Masalah ini menjadi sebuah konflik dari berbagai ide dan kepercayaan yang saling mempengaruhi. Satu sisi gereja berada di antara pengaruh-pengaruh, di sisi lain gereja terpanggil untuk menyatakan kebenaran-Nya. Masalah besar ini muncul sejak abad pertengahan dimana para filusuf yang mempelopori ajaran-ajaran humanism, reinaisance dan pencerahan. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah memperkenalkan konsep filosofis Kristen sebagai cara pandangan gereja menilai berbagai pandangan hidup orang lain. Sehingga gereja dapat membedakan dan mengetahui nilai-nilai yang mempengaruhi wawasan dunia lain. Dengan cara memanfaatkan pendekatan filosof-sistematis maka menghasilkan jawaban dari pertanyaan dari penelitian ini. Pendekatan dengan Wawasan Dunia Kristen mendorong gereja untuk menyatakan kebenaran di setiap aspek kehidupan dan memberikan perspektif yang penting bagi gereja di abad modern sekarang untuk menjadi alat misi Tuhan.


2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (71) ◽  
pp. 679-704
Author(s):  
Diogo Bogéa

A condição humana e a condição docente: das ilusões de onipotência ao reconhecimento do desamparo Resumo: Partindo do princípio de que todo processo educacional é aberta ou veladamente guiado por uma determinada maneira de se compreender o ser humano, procuramos nesse artigo colocar em questão os ideais de “humano”, e consequentemente, de humano-professor, que a tradição ocidental nos legou. Em seguida, tentamos indicar alguns caminhos para repensarmos contemporaneamente o que significa ser humano e, por conseguinte, o que significa ser professor. Enquanto os antigos ideais insistem em projeções de poder e invulnerabilidade ao assumir uma essência imaterial para o humano, apostamos numa concepção de humano encarnado, afetivo e desejante que envolve, em contrapartida, a disposição para assumirmos o irremediável desamparo e a incontornável vulnerabilidade que são intrínsecos à condição humana. Palavras-chave: condição humana; ilusões de onipotência; desamparo The human condition and the teacher condition: from the illusions of omnipotence to the recognition of helplessness Abstract: Assuming that every educational process is openly or veiled guided by a certain way of understanding the human being, we seek in this article to question the ideals of "human," and consequently of human-teacher, that the Western tradition bequeathed to us. Next, we try to indicate some ways to rethink contemporaneously what it means to be human and, therefore, what it means to be a teacher. While the old ideals insist on projections of power and invulnerability by assuming an immaterial essence for the human, we bet on an incarnate, affective and desiring human conception that involves, on the other hand, the disposition to assume the irremediable helplessness and the unavoidable vulnerability that are intrinsic to the human condition. Keywords: human condition; omnipotence illusions; helplessness La condición humana y la condición docente: de las ilusiones de omnipotencia al reconocimiento del desamparo Resumen: A partir del principio de que todo proceso educativo es abierto o veladamente guiado por una determinada manera de comprenderse el ser humano, buscamos en ese artículo plantear en cuestión los ideales de "humano", y consecuentemente, de humano-profesor, que la tradición occidental en legó. A continuación, intentamos indicar algunos caminos para repensar contemporáneamente lo que significa ser humano y, por lo tanto, lo que significa ser profesor. Mientras los antiguos ideales insisten en proyecciones de poder e invulnerabilidad al asumir una esencia inmaterial para lo humano, apostamos en una concepción de humano encarnado, afectivo y deseante que envuelve, en contrapartida, la disposición para asumir el irremediable desamparo y la ineludible vulnerabilidad que son intrínsecos a la condición humana. Palabras clave: condición humana; ilusiones de omnipotencia; desamparo Data de registro: 20/05/2020Data de aceite: 02/10/2020


2021 ◽  
pp. 255-269
Author(s):  
Inga Mizdrak

The aim of the article is to present human issues in the context of the face and the mask as its negative. This is to bring us closer to a better diagnosis of the human condition today and the changes that can be articulated on its basis. Both the face and the mask are multi-context, and any attempt to define them encounters a number of difficulties. In Józef Tischner’s philosophy of drama, the face is a condition for the essence of the meeting. On the other hand, the mask, as an appearance and falsification of the truth of the face, is placed in the ambiguous perspective of hiding, concealing, mystifying or obscuring or obscuring the image of the face. Thanks to the face, man is somehow “at home”, and in the bonds of the mask he is somewhat “out of place”, he is lying. The face is relational and the mask is reactionary. Inquiries about whether the face brings closer and reveals the naked being of a human intensified questions about the nature of the face itself and whether it is possible to reach the pure phenomenon of the face as such. Both the face and the mask reveal important moments in the characteristics of a human being as a dramatic being, in which questions about meaning, identity, freedom and responsibility, as well as what is “between” I and You, gain in intensity and imply new attempts to reveal who is a human.


2021 ◽  

Arthur Schopenhauer's influence on philosophy, art and psychology is indisputable. His political thinking, on the other hand, has remained almost completely unnoticed and insignificant up to the present day. Yet, the ‘thinker against the tide’ (Hübscher) creates a remarkable connection between pessimistic philosophy and liberal thinking in the field of politics. Schopenhauer's sceptical account of humanity and existence leads him to a political philosophy that highlights the limits of politics and statehood, taking into account the unalterable depths of life and thereby providing a realistic view of the human condition. This volume’s aim is threefold: to rediscover Schopenhauer for political philosophy, to reflect on the potential of a pessimistic philosophy for questions relating to society, law and politics, and finally to examine the connection between pessimistic anthropology and liberal thinking. With contributions by Dieter Birnbacher, Jutta Georg, Oliver Hallich, Henrik Holm, Dominik Hotz, Per Jepsen, Christina Kast, Jan Kerkmann, Thorsten Lerchner, Manja Kisner, Gabriele Neuhäuser and Christoph Sebastian Widdau.


Ars Aeterna ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Mária Kiššová

Abstract One of the most fundamental questions in the discourse on artistic creativity and interpretation is that of mimesis or representation; the relation and the ‘tension’ between experiential reality on one hand and an artistic construct on the other hand. In the present study, mimesis and the discussion about the connection between the experiential and the imaginary are understood as major characteristics by which man and the human condition are defined. From the context of the visual arts, the study proceeds to literature and, specifically, to an analysis of the novel The Real Life of Sebastian Knight (1941) by Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977). The main aim of the study is to show the questions of representation and interpretation as part of the universal inquiry about humanity and the human condition.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 213-230
Author(s):  
Mirko Alagna

This contribution proposes a reading of Guardini’s Das Ende der Neuzeit aimed at revealing the theory of modernity that it presupposes. Guardini embodies a third way between secularization and legitimacy. On the one hand, he recognizes a single sphere of the modern that can be explained with the paradigm of secularization. On the other hand, he empties this paradigm of meaning regarding other aspects of modernity, and this by virtue of an original reading of Christianity as a relationship between Revelation and the world - and not as an immutable and defined conceptual block.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document