Representation and Sensibility. The Rancière-Lyotard Debate on Art If representation means making something present again, what is its relationship to sensibility, especially in art? Could the work of art represent our sensory inputs, or does such representation always fall short of the adequate re-presentation of the sensory? The debate on representation and sensibility has been reopened within a new framework with Rancière’s distinction between three historical regimes of art. This article sets out by casting doubt on Rancière’s assumption that representation (...) could be reduced to one of these three regimes. Secondly, discussion turns to Rancière’s criticism of Lyotard’s notion of unrepresentability, particularly with regard to ‘Auschwitz’. Thirdly, the question is put why these two authors have such different readings of Kant’s aesthetics: Rancière’s choice for beauty is actually a choice for representation, whereas to Lyotard, the unrepresentable sublime creates the space for the event in our sensibility. Finally, it is shown that Rancière, though acknowledging a tension between ‘spirit’ and ‘letter’, ignores the meaning of avant-garde art, whereas Lyotard distrusts realistic, representative art. (shrink)

Hoofdstukken over het maatschappijbeeld van verschillende filosofen en filosofische stromingen, waarbij de begrippen macht en rationaliteit centraal staan.

In one of the essays in his recent book on Christianity, La déclosion (2005), Nancy discusses the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. Nancy opens this discussion with a reference to Lyotard’s book on this relationship: Un trait d’union (1993). Both Lyotard and Nancy examine a very early figure in the emergence of Christianity from Judaism—whereas Lyotard focuses on the epistles of Paul, Nancy reads the epistle of James. Lyotard concludes that the hyphen in the expression ‘Judeo-Christian’ actually conceals ‘the most (...) impenetrable abyss within Western thought’. With this abyss, Lyotard refers to the point of departure of Judaism: the event in which a Voice has left behind letters, inaugurating an interminable work of interpretation. For Nancy, however, it is rather Christianity, and therefore, Western culture, which is deconstructive in nature. Its composition is co-original with a decomposition, and therefore, with an openness. In James, Nancy finds an emphasis on praxis, in such a way that existence is to be understood as transcendent within itself. With this reading of James, Nancy seems to deny that there is a fundamental difference between Judaism and Christianity. In order to clarify the differences between Lyotard and Nancy, it is shown that, in Lyotard’s view, an unsublatable alterity comes with aisthèsis, whereas in Nancy’s view, alterity comes with existence as such. (shrink)

Heidegger’s geophilosophy In Heidegger’s ‘Black Notebooks’, his geophilosophy, the fact that he attributes a crucial importance to different places, becomes more evident than in his other works. The effect of this geophilosophy is that ontological difference – the key point of Heidegger’s thinking – is mixed up with, or replaced by, ontic differences. If in Being and Time Dasein’s ‘ground’ is an openness to Being, later this word often refers to Germany as a specific country. In 1939, just before the (...) start of World War II, Hölderlin’s view of the relationship between ‘the own’ and ‘the foreign’ inspires Heidegger to see the possibility of a complementary relationship between the German and the Russian people. During and after World War II, Heidegger’s criticism of ‘Western’ metaphysics is strongly colored by his hostility to England, France and the U.S.A. In response to metaphysical universalism he relates different types of it to specific regions on earth. Remarkably, his criticism of metaphysics brings him to both support and criticize the notion of race. (shrink)

A long and persistent consideration of Heidegger's involvement with Nazism can be found in the work of the French philosopher Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe . Starting from a re-evaluation of mimesis as a productive relationship between technè and physis, Lacoue-Labarthe detects in mimesis an original supplementarity, forgotten by metaphysics. According to Lacoue-Labarthe, Heidegger respects this supplementarity bothin Sein und Zeit and in 'The Origin of the Work of Art' , whereas Heidegger's Rectorial Address of 1933 represents a retroversion into metaphysics. In this (...) article, I argue that Lacoue-Labarthe's diagnosis is correct, where he proves that Heidegger's Address is dominated by 'onto-typology', i.e. a desire to have the Gestalt of the German people presented. However, first of all I show that also — what I call — 'onto-physiology' is important in Heidegger's metaphysical thinking in the Address. Second, I show that not all of the Address is a repetition of western metaphysics: notably Heidegger's treatment of knowledge cannot be taken to be metaphysical. A final question is whether Heidegger's involvement with Nazism coincides with his falling back into metaphysics. In fact, Lacoue-Labarthe gives cause for believing this is not the case and that Heidegger's Nazism is to be found just as much in his retreat from metaphysics. (shrink)

Is guidance by social norms compatible with rationality? Jon Elster has argued inThe Cement of Societythat there is a fundamental contrast between rationality and conformity to social norms. The context of study is the problem of collective action, with special emphasis on collective wage bargaining. In such negotiations, the appeal to social norms rather than to self-interest can block agreement. Suppose one union is committed to the norm of equal pay for equal work; another one appeals to the norm of (...) equal pay for everybody, regardless of the type of work. ‘In the presence of competing norms that favor different groups, the self-righteousness conferred by belief in a norm can lead to a bargaining impasse.'In confrontations between individuals, codes of honor can produce similar problems. It is in no one's interest to face a colleague over the barrel of a gun because one has made a nasty remark about his latest book, but if the code demands that one fight it out, the challenge must be accepted. (shrink)

Over the last few decades there have been several calls for a “big picture” of the history of science. There is a general need for a concise overview of the rise of modern science, with a clear structure allowing for a rough division into periods. This essay proposes such a scheme, one that is both elementary and comprehensive. It focuses on four machines, which can be seen to have mediated between science and society during successive periods of time: the clock, (...) the balance, the steam engine, and the computer. Following an extended developmental phase, each of these machines came to play a highly visible role in Western societies, both socially and economically. Each of these machines, moreover, was used as a powerful resource for the understanding of both inorganic and organic nature. More specifically, their metaphorical use helped to construe and refine some key concepts that would play a prominent role in such understanding. In each case the key concept would at some point be considered to represent the ultimate building block of reality. Finally, in a refined form, each of these machines would eventually make its entry in scientific research, thereby strengthening the ties between these machines and nature. (shrink)

Some conspicuous characteristics of argumentation as we all know this phenomenon from our shared everyday experiences are in my view vital to its theoretical treatment because they should have methodological consequences for the way in which argumentation research is conducted. To start with, argumentation is in the first place a communicative act complex, which is realized by making functional verbal communicative moves.

How do Dutch people let each other know that they disagree? What do they say when they want to resolve their difference of opinion by way of an argumentative discussion? In what way do they convey that they are convinced by each other’s argumentation? How do they criticize each other’s argumentative moves? Which words and expressions do they use in these endeavors? By answering these questions this short essay provides a brief inventory of the language of argumentation in Dutch.

The study of argumentation is prospering. After its brilliant start in Antiquity, highlighted in the classical works of Aristotle, after an alternation of ups and downs during the following millennia, in the post-Renaissance period its gradual decline set in. Revitalization took place only after Toulmin and Perelman published in the same year their landmark works The Uses of Argument and La nouvelle rhétorique. The model of argumentation presented by Toulmin and Perelman’s inventory of argumentation techniques inspired a great many scholars (...) in various ways to take up the study of argumentation in a serious manner. Nowadays there are well-established logical approaches to argumentation, but also social and socio-psychological, linguistic, juridical and other approaches. In most of these approaches traces can be found of the influence of the classical and neo-classical argumentation theories just mentioned. (shrink)