Pełnotekstowa wersja "Er(r)go" nr 2 (1/2001)

Er(r)go,

what is the other side of discourse? Is it the evident awaiting to be discovered, or is it a double non-evidentness of the metaphorical and the enthymematic? The world as a stable, though always distant target of cognition, or the world as a hypothetical project of an uncertain an nomadic thought? History as macro-narration or as a conglomerate of mini-stories, epistemology or rhetoric, the obvious or the relative truth? (The paper by Andrzej Dziamski already anticipates the theme of the third issue of "Er(r)go"). Panrationalism or adogmatism?

The contemporary methodological debates, the divisions into traditionalists and postmodernists, the doubting and the certain, the metaphorists and the scientificalists, the constructivists and the essentialists, are contained in the attitude to the evident. For some, the evident is evident, even though one has to persevere in order to know; for others. the evident is not-evident, although it imposes itself on knowledge. But here also the desacralization of the foundations of cognition becomes a pagan sacrum, forcing us eventually into a series of dualisms. A grand narrative about the annihilation of grand narratives. Anti-anti-anti-... -realism.

With tender suspicion, we embrace our own discourse and the discourse of the other. With magnanimous violence we mark out the limits of the parentheses of the non-evident. We seek to explore the unstable and opalescent space between le dit and le dire. We continue our effort as translators of dualisms into pluralism, and not infrequently do we return to the point of departure, now paradoxical. Yet each duality contains/opens a fissure, only apparently void. Seemingly condemned to dualisms, we sometimes forget to let the Third speak.

Wojciech Kalaga

The Evident Abstract in English In "The Evident" Andrzej Chojecki sets out to illuminate the eponymous category through recourse to its etymology which demonstrates that the evident is a matter of visual perception in the first place. His project of demarcating the semantic boundaries of the category prompts him to discuss Aristotle"s views in the light of their subjectivisation of the evident: what is evident for one person, does not have to be evident for another. As the absolutely primary determinant of the evident. We must recognise God, which is conveyed by means of the formula Ego sum qui sum (I am that I am). In what follows Chojecki refers to the views of such philosophers and writers as Hegel, Heidegger. Husserl, Schopenhauer, Shestov and Nietzsche in the context of the relationships or encounters of the category of the evident with the categories of truth, certainty. understanding, identity. perceptibility, representation. Finally, he elaborates on the association of the evident with the Cartesian "ergo." .

The Discourse of Europe and the Search for a European Identity Abstract in English "The Discourse of Europe and the Search for a European Identity" focuses on the problematisation of the identity of contemporary Europe. Hayden White refuses to identify contemporary Europe with its allegedly inherent goodness and dignity. He argues that Europe is by no means a clear and well defined category, and indicates that, historically, it has been characterised by hegemonic tendencies and aggression against what it could not dominate or assimilate. Thus he sees the EEC and the NATO as manifestations of the hegemonic impulses of the European civilisation. White goes on to elaborate on the far-reaching consequences of the insistence on defining identities: it paves the way for racism, class distinctions and sexism. The latter part of the essay is concerned with a discussion of "La Systeme de la mode" by Roland Barthes and its implications for our attempts at defining a European identity.

Anthropological Sensitivity and the World Presented. An Essay on the Anthropology of Literature Abstract in English Wojciech J. Burszta's essay takes its inspiration from two different sources: it recognises a new, modified attitude to "classical" anthropological texts by Frazer. Malinowski, Mead, Levi-Strauss or Benedict but it also centres round a theory of the literary truth developed by Mario Vargas Llosa. Llosa differentiates between the truth of non-fictional writing (e.g. history, journalism) and the truth of fiction which depends on its power to create illusions and captivate the reader's imagination. Burszta points out that the anthropological discourse is a hybrid form in that respect: it combines a commitment to facts with imaginative recreation of the world, which is characteristic of literature. Thus. according to Burszta, anthropology comes to occupy the no-man's-land in between nonfiction and fiction. Consequently, anthropological imagination will be in close rapport with aesthetic imagination which does not have to rely on the author's actual experiences. .

The Postmodernist Turn or the Return of Grand Theories in Social Sciences Abstract in English Grzegorz Dziamski identifies postmodernism with the rebelious spirit of the late 1960's which has been. in turn, underlain by poststructuralism (represented by Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida, Lyotard as well as Lacan and Barthes). The return of grand theories mentioned in the title refers to the impact of poststructuralism on social sciences and, more specifically, to their reorientation under the influence of poststructuralist explorations of discursive and textual practices. The essay focuses on the shift from a theoretically oriented historiography to a recognition of its inevitably narrative quality stressed by Hayden White, Frank Ankersmith or Dominick LaCapra. In social sciences, Dziamski argues, the shift implies a transition from universalistic sociological aspirations to local and particular discourses which should recognise their own limited applicability. That entails, first of all, rejecting the category of objective scientific truth which could control social development at large and, secondly, a turn to a theory which meets the requirements of specific social groups.

On the Fringes of Constructivism - on the Fringes of Thinking Abstract in English Ewa Bińczyk's essay is concerned with constructivism which, by analogy to Michel Foucault's genealogy. questions all those certititudes that we live by. By demonstrating that they are relative to particular historical paradigms, constructivism destabilises the universality of such experiential categories as the individual, body, pain or even death. At first, Ewa Bińczyk sets out to explore what lies at the very heart of constructivism, that is, the postulate of eliminating the world-knowledge dualism. Then, she analyses the issue of the social construction of the individual and pain as well as the category of violence. The final section of the essay offers a metatheoretical perspective on constructivism.

Grzegorz Trela – Towards anti-antirealism 

The article revolves around the debate between realism and anti-realism in the broader context of contemporary philosophical debates.

The article is a response to an essay by Grzegorz Trela on anti-antirealism and at the same time it reflects on the manner of doing philosophy in the academia. The author first list the points of disagreement with Trela critiquing both the formal quality of his argumentation and then his philosophical position. Next he draws out his own views advocating constructivism as an alternative. Nevertheless, this polemic aims not so much at producing counterarguments to Trela’s anti-antirealistic position, but seeks a critical examination of the very purposes of epistemological efforts and the production of knowledge in the academia, whose condition is determined by economy and institutionalism.

Introducing Stanley Fish in the context of his position in the American academia, the author of the article focuses on the concept and mechanisms of interpretation in Fish’s understanding, who ascribes to it the function of a ubiquitous epistemological tool for man as homo interpretans. With this purpose in mind, the article juxtaposes Fish’s ideas with hermeneutics and structuralism and reveals their constructivist nature. This does not lead, nevertheless, to relativism as culture is grounded on a solid rock of fossilized meaning, which has been constituted as a result of previous consensual interpretations within a social group. This rock of fossilized meaning is a starting point for the negotiation of further meanings, which leads to the transparency of the acts of interpretation in everyday life for the people who preform them. Such existence in the world understood has its ethical and philosophical consequences, which the article briefly examines in its conclusions.  

This essay is concerned with Jacques Derrida's arguments promulgated in “Signature Event Context” which Fish confronts with J. L. Austin's views on performative language.

Jacek Gutorow's review of Simon Critchley's "Very Little... Almost Nothing. Death, Philosophy, Literature", London and New York, Routledge 1997.

Ewa Rychter's review of Robert Eaglestone's "Ethical Criticism: Reading After Lévinas"

Aneta Zacharz's review of Jolanta Brach-Czaina's book "Szczeliny istnienia", PIW, Warszawa 1992.

Summaries of the feature texts of the issue.

Colophon