Negative Poetics: On Skepticism and the Lyric Voice

2004 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARSHALL BROWN

ABSTRACT Beginning with negative formulations found in many lyric poems, this essay argues that poetry in general skeptically distances the speaking voice from the authorial perspective, even in poems that have been taken to express direct personal feeling. German Romantic examples (Wilhelm Müüller's ““Der Neugierige”” as set by Franz Schubert, Goethe's ““Meeresstille,”” and Joseph von Eichendorff's ““Mittagsruh””) are featured, with the intent of suggesting a general account of the lyric voice.

Derrida Today ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-94
Author(s):  
Bernard Stiegler

These lectures outline the project of a general organology, which is to say an account of life when it is no longer just biological but technical, or when it involves not just organic matter but organized inorganic matter. This organology is also shown to require a modified Simondonian account of the shift from vital individuation to a three-stranded process of psychic, collective and technical individuation. Furthermore, such an approach involves extending the Derridean reading of Socrates's discussion of writing as a pharmakon, so that it becomes a more general account of the pharmacological character of retention and protention. By going back to Leroi-Gourhan, we can recognize that this also means pursuing the history of retentional modifications unfolding in the course of the history of what, with Lotka, can also be called exosomatization. It is thus a question of how exteriorization can, today, in an epoch when it becomes digital, and in an epoch that produces vast amounts of entropy at the thermodynamic, biological and noetic levels, still possibly produce new forms of interiorization, that is, new forms of thought, care and desire, amounting to so many chances to struggle against the planetary-scale pharmacological crisis with which we are currently afflicted.


2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-164
Author(s):  
Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn

Freedom and life satisfaction are desirable conditions and they both have a special meaning in Eastern Europe — transition was largely about gaining freedom and ultimately overall wellbeing. There are several studies about the effect of freedom on life satisfaction, but none of them focuses on Eastern Europe. I investigate the effect of self-reported freedom on life satisfaction in post-transition Eastern Europe using the World Values Survey. Surprisingly, East Europeans feel less free and less satisfied with their lives than other nationals. But a personal feeling of freedom increases their life satisfaction at a higher rate than in other countries. Freedom is a strong predictor of life satisfaction as compared to national income.


1996 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-7
Author(s):  
Brian O'Neil
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Я. Эйделькинд

Эта статья содержит ряд соображений о том, как читать Песнь песней. Будучи сборником лирической поэзии, Песнь песней работает в первую очередь со звуком и не имеет сюжета. Важную роль играет принцип разнообразия и контраста. Серьёзный тон сменяется юмористическим, и наоборот. Гендерные стереотипы сохраняют свою силу в одних случаях, но подрываются в других. Сексуальная физиология, вопреки распространенному мнению, не находится на первом плане — гораздо важнее эмоции (факт, противоречащий как «духовным», так и «плотским» прочтениям). Отождествление читателя с лирическим голосом ведёт к субъективным интерпретациям. Последние вполне законны, пока не претендуют на то, чтобы быть единственно верными. Три контекста помогают понять Песнь песней: древний культурный контекст, более узкий контекст Ветхого Завета и контекст лирической традиции от древности до наших дней. This article is an attempt to formulate some principles of reading the Songs of Songs that would take into account its genre and poetic features. Being a collection of lyric poetry, the Song of Songs works primarily with sound and has no plot. An important role in its composition plays the principle of diversity and contrast. A serious tone gives place to a humorous one, and vice versa. Female voices alternate with male ones; gender stereotypes in some cases retain their power, but in others are subverted. Sexual physiology, contrary to a widespread belief, is not in the foreground — much more important are emotions. This fact belies both “spiritual” and “carnal” readings. The Song of Songs involves an identification of the reader with the lyrical speaking voice and provokes subjective interpretations. These are legitimate as long as they do not pretend to be the only true ones. Three contexts help to understand Song of Songs: ancient cultural context, a narrower Old Testament context and the context of the lyrical tradition from antiquity to the present day.


Utilitas ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Dick Timmer

Abstract Despite the prominence of thresholds in theories of distributive justice, there is no general account of what sort of role is played by the idea of a threshold within such theories. This has allowed an ongoing lack of clarity and misunderstanding around views that employ thresholds. In this article, I develop an account of the concept of thresholds in distributive justice. I argue that this concept contains three elements, which threshold views deploy when ranking possible distributions. These elements are (i) the level of the threshold, (ii) what constitutes the value of the threshold, and (iii) how benefits above and below the threshold must be allocated. I highlight three contributions that this particular account of thresholds makes: it clarifies the nature of the shift that occurs at the threshold; it resolves a common misunderstanding about headcount principles; and it shows how the arbitrariness objection can be met.


Philosophy ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 47 (180) ◽  
pp. 95-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony O'Hear

In this article, we will consider how far we might be said to be active in forming our beliefs; in particular, we will ask to what extent we can be said to be free in believing what we want to believe. It is clear that we ought to believe only what is really so, at least in so far as it lies in our power to determine this, but reflection shows that, regrettably, we do not confine our beliefs to what we have evidence for, nor do we always believe in accordance with the evidence we do have. So it is natural to conclude that non-intellectual factors may be at work here; such, at least, was the view of Descartes, who attributed error to the influence of our will in leading us to assent to judgments which go beyond the evidence presented by our infallible intellect. This view has some initial plausibility when we think of cases in which emotional considerations lead people to take up and genuinely believe things they have no evidence for, but it is not a view which has received much support from modern philosophers. So, in Part 1 we will look at criticisms levelled against Descartes' view by J. L. Evans, and in Part 2 we will see how far Descartes can be defended. Our conclusions here will lead us to give in Part 3 a general account of the influence of the will in beliefs. We will suggest that we are always responsible for our explicit beliefs, even though it is not true that we can simply believe what we like. Thus we will reject the idea that a man can consciously know something, and at the same time, by will power, believe the opposite. Belief is not then totally free, but we will argue that people do sometimes form beliefs which go against what they should and could believe, and that this can in a way be put down to the influence of the will. Finally we will consider some of the ways in which it is possible to influence our beliefs by willed acts over a long period of time, though this is not the way that we clami that the will might be said to play a part in every judgment that we make.


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