scholarly journals Horizons of memory: childhood memoriesas an experience of figurative comprehension of timein the philosophy of Walter Benjamin

2021 ◽  
pp. 52-67
Author(s):  
Alexander S. Drikker ◽  
◽  
Oxana A. Koval ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Childhood Memories ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Future ◽  
Temporal Modes ◽  
Artistic Images ◽  
Poetic Prose ◽  
The One

The article outlines Walter Benjamin’s philosophical theory of time, which formed the ba­sis of his conception of history. It is a famous alternative to a number of existing models. Benjamin’s approach to understanding time is characterized by a unique methodology. It is based on artistic images and not on abstract categories and linear patterns of a philosophi­cal and historical discourse. On the one hand, such images allow Benjamin to capture the characteristic properties of a concrete time, which are often difficult for historical sci­ence to grasp, and on the other hand, they make a strong impression on the reader because they require an emotional involvement in the text. The book “Berlin childhood around 1900”, often attributed to the genre of a poetic prose, is a visual representation of Ben­jamin’s philosophical ideas. The fragmentary style of narration and its metaphorical nature are intended to demonstrate a different way of experiencing the present moment – when the signs of the future clearly appear in the fragments of the past. The fusion of all three temporal modes in an instant he calls “Jetztzeit” (just now), which is difficult to articulate in the language of rational metaphysics, is embodied in the allegories of “Berlin child­hood”. Selected fragments of this work are analyzed in the present paper. They capture each of the three time dimensions in the current “now” mode: the fragment “The otter” symbolizes the past, “Loggias” symbolizes the future and “The sock” symbolizes the present. Childhood memories, which do not usually appear in philosophical reflec­tions, serve as a source of the birth of images: on the one hand, they supply sensual mate­rial from personal experience, on the other hand, they suggest a synthesizing principle, be­cause a child is more sensitive to the unity of fiction and reality. Benjamin’s “memorial letter”, seen from this angle, turns out to be a strategy to think poetically about the world, time, and history.

The Role of the Learned Man in Government

1958 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul H. Nitze
Keyword(s):  
Western Culture ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One

In the context of government, what do we mean by the phrase “a learned man”?* I take it we can mean a variety of things. On the one hand, we can have in mind the specialist, the expert, the man with an intensive and specialized background in a particular field of knowledge. On the other hand, we can have in mind the man with general wisdom, with that feeling for the past and the future which enriches a sense for the present, and with that appreciation for wider loyalties which deepens patriotism to one's country and finds bonds between it and Western culture and links with the universal aspirations of mankind.

scholarly journals Temps et psychanalyse chez Ricoeur. Confrontation de deux perspectives sur le passé

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf Boutet
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Philosophy Of Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One ◽  
A Charge

This paper confronts two conceptions of the past that one can find alternately in Ricœur’s thought. The first, encountered in Time and Narrative and elsewhere, apprehends the past as a soil of possibilities able to guide expectations directed towards the future; the second, taken back from Freud’s psychoanalysis, defines it as a charge that haunts the present as a compulsive repetition. There are two issues to this confrontation between a past that opens up a future and one that closes it. On the one hand, we want to show what effects Ricœur’s lectures of Freud have had on his own philosophy of time; on the other hand we want to reveal, in the light of the problem that rises from a haunting past, the practical scope of the idea of an indeterminate past

The promise of the unforgiven

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Keller Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One

Hannah Arendt’s work on violence is bedeviled by a series of paradoxes. On the one hand, Arendt is clear in arguing that violence is utterly powerless and yet, on the other hand, she is equally clear in her portrayal of beginnings as necessarily violent. These two positions conflict insofar as Arendt holds beginnings to be the source of all power. Thus power and violence are at once opposed and yet alloyed. This tension is deepened by yet another. For Arendt, action, of which power is composed, would not be possible without the twofold human faculties of promising and forgiveness. Promising undoes the hold of the future on the present by pacifying its unpredictability, while forgiveness loosens the grip of the past by alleviating its irreversibility. The trouble, however, is that Arendt argues that the power of forgiveness stems from its unpredictability, and unpredictability is precisely that which promising is meant to thwart. Taking these two paradoxes together one might say that Arendt, however unwittingly, leaves us promising never to forgive. This article works to flesh these paradoxes out. It also contextualizes Arendt’s paradoxes in terms of the literature that claims democratic political life is beset by tragedy. In the end, I argue that, following Arendt, democracy is ultimately about learning to live with the vivid disquiet of the miracle of paradox.

scholarly journals A FORMAÇÃO SITIADA. DIRETRIZES CURRICULARES DE EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA EM DISPUTA: JOGO JOGADO?

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lino Castellani Filho
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
The Other ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
National Education ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

RESUMO O presente Ensaio se insere na linha de pesquisa voltada à política educacional centrada na formação superior no âmbito da Educação Física. Nos remete ao debate de ideias e embate de compreensões acerca do que foi, é e deveria ser a formação de nível superior em Educação Física, diante das polêmicas que a acompanham desde o advento das reformas das diretrizes curriculares aventadas ao final de 1998, por conta das Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional aprovada em 1996, até o atual momento, no qual a expectativa pela possível reformulação da atual diretriz vem gerando, por um lado, a ideia de que “tem jogo pela frente” e, por outro, a sensação de que o “jogo já foi jogado”.ABSTRACT The besieged formation. Curricular guidelines for Physical Education in melee: Game played? The present study is inserted in the line of research aiming for educational policies centered on higher education in the field of Physical Education. It refers to debates and discussion of ideas and understandings concerning the past, present, and the desirable future of higher education formation in Physical Education, with regard to the conflicts that have arisen since the advent of curricular guidelines in the end of 1998, following the National Education Directives and Bases Law, approved in 1996, until the present moment. The expectation for the possibility of reform of the current directives have been generating on the one hand, the idea of "the game is still on" and on the other hand, the sensation that "the game has already been played".RESUMENLa formación sitiada. Directrices curriculares de Educación Física en disputa: Juego jugado?El presente Ensayo se inserta en la línea de investigación vuelta a la política educacional centrada en la formación superior en el ámbito de la Educación Física. Nos remite al debate de ideas y embate de comprensiones acerca del que fue, es y debería ser la formación de nivel superior en Educación Física, a las polémicas que la acompañan desde la llegada de las reformas de las directrices curriculares realizadas al final de 1998, por cuenta de las Directrices y Bases de la Educación Nacional aprobada en 1996, hasta el actual momento, en el cual la expectativa por la posible refundición de la actual directriz viene generando, por un lado, la idea de que "tiene juego por el  frente" y por  otro, la sensación de que el " juego ya fue jugado". 

Just Nationalism: The Future of an Illusion

1996 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 345-363
Author(s):  
Andrew Levine
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One

Until quite recently, political philosophers routinely ignored nationalism. Nowadays, the topic is very much on the philosophical agenda. In the past, when philosophers did discuss nationalism, it was usually to denigrate it. Today, nationalism elicits generally favorable treatment. I confess to a deep ambivalence about this turn of events. On the one hand, much of what has emerged in recent work on nationalism appears to be on the mark. On the other hand, the anti- or extra-nationalist outlook that used to pervade political philosophy seems as sound today as it ever was, and perhaps even more urgent in the face of truly horrendous eruptions of nationalist hostilities in many parts of the world. What follows is an effort to grapple with this ambivalence. My aim will be to identify what is defensible in the nationalist idea and then to reflect on the flaws inherent in even the most defensible aspects of nationalist theory and practice.

Reminiscing the past, pointing to the future: immigrant memoirs from the early- twentieth-century United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-146
Author(s):  
Anita Jarczok
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The Future ◽  
American Society ◽  
The One

The aim of this article is to demonstrate that memoirs, which are usually examined in terms of their connection to the past, are often oriented towards the future. Using immigrant memoirs from the early twentieth century United States, this essay shows that immigrant authors wrote their memoirs with a specific audience in mind, an audience they believed they can instruct. One the one hand, immigrants addressed American citizens, and wanting to gain their sympathy, they described the difficulties of the immigrant life. On the other hand, they wrote for their fellow immigrants to show them that determination pays off and one can have a comfortable, or even successful, life in a new country. Their aim was to envision and promote a better future for the American society, a future based on tolerance and equality.

‘Newness which never perishes’? Schoenberg’s ambivalent reception of Haydn

2010 ◽  
Vol 51 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 215-224
Author(s):  
Alexander Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Musical Style ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Future ◽  
Music Tradition

This paper explores Arnold Schoenberg’s curious ambivalence towards Haydn. Schoenberg recognized Haydn as an important figure in the German serious music tradition, but never closely examined or clearly articulated Haydn’s influence and import on his own musical style and ethos, as he did with many other major composers. This paper argues that Schoenberg failed to explicitly recognize Haydn as a major influence because he saw Haydn as he saw himself, namely as a somewhat ungainly, paradoxical figure, with one foot in the past and one in the future. In his voluminous writings on music, Haydn is mentioned by Schoenberg far less frequently than Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven, and his music appears rarely as examples in Schoenberg’s theoretical texts. When Schoenberg does talk about Haydn’s music, he invokes — with tacit negativity — its accessibility, counterpoising it with more recondite music, such as Beethoven’s, or his own. On the other hand, Schoenberg also praises Haydn for his complex, irregular phrasing and harmonic exploration. Haydn thus appears in Schoenberg’s writings as a figure invested with ambivalence: a key member of the First Viennese triumvirate, but at the same time he is curiously phantasmal, and is accorded a peripheral place in Schoenberg’s version of the canon and his own musical genealogy.

Monotheism in Isaiah

2020 ◽  
pp. 218-248
Author(s):  
Matthias Albani
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Divine Power ◽  
Crisis Situation ◽  
Catalytic Function ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One ◽  
Religious Crisis

The monotheistic confession in Isa 40–48 is best understood against the historical context of Israel’s political and religious crisis situation in the final years of Neo-Babylonian rule. According to Deutero-Isaiah, Yhwh is unique and incomparable because he alone truly predicts the “future” (Isa 41:22–29)—currently the triumph of Cyrus—which will lead to Israel’s liberation from Babylonian captivity (Isa 45). This prediction is directed against the Babylonian deities’ claim to possess the power of destiny and the future, predominantly against Bel-Marduk, to whom both Nabonidus and his opponents appeal in their various political assertions regarding Cyrus. According to the Babylonian conviction, Bel-Marduk has the universal divine power, who, on the one hand, directs the course of the stars and thus determines the astral omens and, on the other hand, directs the course of history (cf. Cyrus Cylinder). As an antithesis, however, Deutero-Isaiah proclaims Yhwh as the sovereign divine creator and leader of the courses of the stars in heaven as well as the course of history on earth (Isa 45:12–13). Moreover, the conflict between Nabonidus and the Marduk priesthood over the question of the highest divine power (Sîn versus Marduk) may have had a kind of “catalytic” function in Deutero-Isaiah’s formulation of the monotheistic confession.

The Christian Church in the Last Seventy Years

1943 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-34
Author(s):  
Kenneth Scott Latourette
Keyword(s):  
Large Volume ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

A strange contrast exists in the status of the Christian Church in the past seventy years. On the one hand the Church has clearly lost some of the ground which once appeared to be safely within its possession. On the other hand it has become more widely spread geographically and, when all mankind is taken into consideration, more influential in shaping human affairs than ever before in its history. In a paper as brief as this must of necessity be, space can be had only for the sketching of the broad outlines of this paradox and for suggesting a reason for it. If details were to be given, a large volume would be required. Perhaps, however, we can hope to do enough to point out one of the most provocative and important set of movements in recent history.

Comparing the Meaningfulness of Finite and Infinite Lives: Can We Reap What We Sow if We Are Immortal?

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 105-123
Author(s):  
Thaddeus Metz
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
The Other ◽  
Meaningful Life ◽  
The Past ◽  
William Lane Craig ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Important Argument ◽  
Moral Choices ◽  
The One

AbstractOn the rise over the past 20 years has been ‘moderate supernaturalism’, the view that while a meaningful life is possible in a world without God or a soul, a much greater meaning would be possible only in a world with them. William Lane Craig can be read as providing an important argument for a version of this view, according to which only with God and a soul could our lives have an eternal, as opposed to temporally limited, significance since we would then be held accountable for our decisions affecting others’ lives. I present two major objections to this position. On the one hand, I contend that if God existed and we had souls that lived forever, then, in fact, all our lives would turn out the same. On the other hand, I maintain that, if this objection is wrong, so that our moral choices would indeed make an ultimate difference and thereby confer an eternal significance on our lives (only) in a supernatural realm, then Craig could not capture the view, aptly held by moderate supernaturalists, that a meaningful life is possible in a purely natural world.

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