Online research in philosophy

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

With this book, Figal presses this tradition of philosophical hermeneutics in new directions.

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

This paper is concerned with the relationship between philosophy and rhetoric. It argues that philosophical claims are bound to language, and yet philosophy’sclaim to objective clarity is meaningless if language is radically perspectival. The paper attempts to show the limitations and possibilities that Platonic dialectics and Derridean deconstruction share in their respective approaches to the analysis of language and the relationship between speech and writing. The paper concludes that language is ambiguous, neither reducible to the relativism of sophistry nor to (...) the essentialism of metaphysics. Against Derrida, the paper argues that without structure, voice is not language; it renders only inarticulate sounds. Yet in speaking, this structural aspect gets taken for granted and passed over. Only when language is established in writing is the possibility of voice first recognized. (shrink)

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

In this paper I take up the "claim to universality" of hermeneutics, as put forth by Hans-Georg Gadamer; the aim is to grasp the "life that can understand," to grasp it in its essence and in terms of understanding. In this way I deal critically with Gadamer's (and Heidegger's) idea that all understanding is "self-understanding" and work out the dependence of understanding on the other, on the "hermeneutic object" (Gegenstand) of understanding. But a "hermeneutic object" (Gegenstand) is not a "mere (...) object" (Objekt). On the basis of this distinction, I develop, in conclusion, a critical reflection on the selfobjectification of the human in those interpretations of human life that are oriented solely to natural science. Self-objectfication is a wrongly directed understanding and can therefore be corrected on the basis of a developed concept of life as understanding. (shrink)

The Symposium is one of Plato’s most literary and poetic dialogues. How might one reconcile this evidence of Plato’s predilection for poetry in light of his severe critique of poetry in the Republic? Though his critique is modified and refined in other dialogues, the power of his critique is nowhere significantly undermined. I argue in this paper that Plato’s poetic writing is not inconsistent with his critique, and that in fact there is an affinity between his practice of poetry and (...) his critique. Plato’s critique of poetry is not aimed against poetry itself, but just against its problematic claims and false promises. In turn, Plato’s use of the poetic image, especially in relationship to eros, delimits philosophy, and places it in relation to that which is not attainable for it. The battle between poetry and philosophy is seen to involve a reciprocal benefit for both, and a hidden affinity. In this sense, the poetic image has its philosophical sense precisely because it falls outside of the philosophical perspective. (shrink)

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

Mohr Siebeck publishing company, Tuebingen, Germany. Academic books since 1801 in the fields of theology, philosophy, law.

Earth possesses a double-character: it supports life and grounds perception and experience, but because of being this very base, also restricts these stances, since as base of any activity, theoretical or practical, it cannot be overstepped. Thus, earth itself is also groundless. Nevertheless, this duplicity is not contradictory, is no dualism, when formulated as earth being both a space of movement and a space of sense. Understanding this duplicity means understanding the intertwining of these two spaces by articulating the possibilities (...) of movements within sense; it means an understanding of sense and meaning in moving. This is the task of philosophy: both alienation from earth and the matter-of-course of its sense and return to it by taking part in its sense of moving and becoming. This is gained by interpretation, of which we draw on as a model reading Nietzsche on 'Will to Power' and perspectivity, and Plato's conception of dialectic. Thus, interpretation represents itself sensibly in earth's duplicity. (shrink)