The centrality of the embodiment of mind, self, and values for the later Nietzsche is widely acknowledged. Here, I reconstrue Nietzsche’s HL to show that he uses his drive model of the mind already in this early text. The “historical sickness” central to HL is diagnosed in the form of failures of embodiment and drive control. First, I argue that a precursor to Nietzsche’s figure of “the last human” is already the target in HL. Second, I offer working definitions for (...) terms such as “drives,” “affects,” and “values,” which are crucial to Nietzsche’s heuristic diagnostic framework. I then focus on the neglected passage that contrasts the medieval memento mori with a modern memento vivere, showing that the former functions as an embodied mechanism of willing and self-control, which Nietzsche claims the moderns have been unsuccessful in replacing. Finally, I draw on recent research in embodied cognition and identify two causes—“overload” and “semantic embodiment”— of the modern “historical sickness” that undermines flourishing. (shrink)

Der Autor interpretiert Nicolas Poussins Gemälde »Et in Arcadia ego« (1638–1640) mit der Inschrift »Auch in Arkadien gibt es mich, den Tod« als Darstellung eines Erkenntnisprozesses und schlägt vor, das zuvor moralisch verstandene »Memento mori« als Aufforderung zur Selbsterkenntnis zu begreifen. Damit formuliert er eine Gegenposition zum Programm des »Transhumanismus«, der die Abschaffung des Todes anstrebt. Sodann geht er von Freuds Hinweis auf die Verleugnung des je eigenen Todes aus und interpretiert die Struktur dieser Einstellung mit Freuds spätem (...) Begriff der »Ichspaltung«. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die mit der Ichspaltung verbundene Allmachtsphantasie auf Verleugnung statt auf Anerkennung von Unverfügbarkeit abzielt, deren Repräsentant der Tod ist. »Memento mori« wird so zu einer emotional erkennenden Erfahrung von Unverfügbarkeit als zentralem Aspekt der Conditio humana. (shrink)

Exemplified especially by Heidegger and Levinas, the phenomenology of death expresses first, the impossibility of the death experience, second, the authenticity of Dasein starting from the horizon opened by the possibility of death, and third, the relevance of the death of the other to the discovery of one’s own death. This article tries to take a step further, showing the link between the authenticity of Dasein and the desire for immortality manifested in this authenticity. By overturning Heidegger’s theses and by (...) affirming both the necessity of an authentication of death itself—in accord with Socrates’s death example—and the legitimacy of the meditation on death, this text links the need for immortality, which is phenomenologically visible, with the Christian faith in the resurrection, which is visible only for theology. (shrink)

Nos encontramos no momento atual, marcados por uma ideia de doença, iminência da morte e isolamento. Assim, nesse ensaio faz-se repensar sobre as imagens subjetivas do vazio, da melancolia e da solidão no sujeito. No processo de Memento Mori ou Lembra-te que Morrerás busca-se uma imagética do suicídio, do rastro da vida, do “após a vida”, que também termina por nos revelar, a impossibilidade de experienciar a própria morte.ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3274-2036.

During Advent we prayerfully consider how Jesus was born to save us from death through his incarnation, death, and resurrection. Remembering this in light of your own death can change your life. Mememto mori or "remember your death" is a phrase long associated with the practice of remembering the unpredictable and inevitable end of one's life. This book is the latest in a series of books by Sr. Theresa Alethia Noble, FSP, that explores the traditional Christian practice of meditation (...) on death in light of Christ. This book will help you to connsider the four Last Things: death, judgment, hell, and heaven in the context of Advent. -- Adapted from back cover. (shrink)

De mi padre recuerdo que solía decir: “No deseo que llegue el día de los grandes elogios, pues sé que, entonces, no los necesitaré”. Mi padre, a su modo, tenía esa veta estoica que recorre el sentir de los pueblos costeños, hechos de una sabiduría que se ha forjado en las faenas de la mar y cuyo talante les aprovisiona de una resignada actitud ante la vida y la muerte. Pensando en ello, he de reconocer que mi querido amigo Jairo (...) Escobar ya no precisa de mis elogios. Si acaso, como suele suceder, soy de los que ha de detenerse a preguntar: ¿Por qué soy deudo suyo? (shrink)

La 4e de couverture indique : "Michel Henry - bien que considéré comme un penseur de la "vie" et des "vivants" - n'a cessé de méditer le fameux memento mori, marque insigne de la destinée de la philosophie. Comme philosophe de la subjectivité, il a identifié la vie à "ce qui ne peut pas mourir", rompant ainsi avec ce qu'il y avait de moribond dans l'onto-thanatologie heideggérienne d'Être et Temps. Cet ouvrage élucide et interprète ces rapports entre la (...) vie et la mort, l'être et le temps. Mais il pose une question de fond : en pensant la vie comme auto-révélation et auto-affection, Michel Henry n'aurait-il pas, de façon idéaliste, esquivé le phénomène incontestable et brutal de la mort, voire barré, par principe, une humaine intelligibilité de ce dernier? En interrogeant l'élaboration henryenne des tensions conceptuelles entre une sotériologie rigoureusement philosophique et les paradoxes de l'eschatologie religieuse, le livre montre les enjeux mais aussi les faiblesses - ou les oublis - de la phénoménologie henryenne quand elle doit bien faire face à la mort.". (shrink)

In _Death in Documentaries: The Memento Mori Experience_, Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter suggests that documentaries are an especially apt form of contemporary _memento mori_; that is, documentaries offer transformative experiences for a viewer to renew one’s consciousness of mortality.

In einer gesteigerten Form der Memento-mori-Dichtung des Barock wurde die menschliche Sterblichkeit durch den Einsatz performativer Strategien für die Zeitgenoss*innen bereits zu Lebzeiten erfahrbar. So waren mahnende und tröstende Tote, die scheinbar direkt aus dem Jenseits zu den Lebenden sprechen, in Begräbnisgedichten und Grabinschriften allgegenwärtig. Ebenso waren Gedichte und Sterbelieder verbreitet, in denen der Sterbeakt performativ durchlebt werden konnte. In der Gegenwart, die sich nach Norbert Elias durch eine Verdrängung der menschlichen Vergänglichkeit zugunsten von Unsterblichkeitsphantasien, und somit einer (...) Vermeidung von Erfahrungen mit der Vergänglichkeit, auszeichnet, gestalten einige deutschsprachige Lyriker*innen moderne Variationen dieses gesteigerten memento mori. In den untersuchten Gedichten von Özlem Özgül Dündar und Günter Kunert werden durch performative Verfahren Konfrontationen mit der eigenen Endlichkeit inszeniert, welche als moderne, säkulare Vergänglichkeitsmahnungen verstanden werden können. (shrink)

In einer gesteigerten Form der Memento-mori-Dichtung des Barock wurde die menschliche Sterblichkeit durch den Einsatz performativer Strategien für die Zeitgenoss*innen bereits zu Lebzeiten erfahrbar. So waren mahnende und tröstende Tote, die scheinbar direkt aus dem Jenseits zu den Lebenden sprechen, in Begräbnisgedichten und Grabinschriften allgegenwärtig. Ebenso waren Gedichte und Sterbelieder verbreitet, in denen der Sterbeakt performativ durchlebt werden konnte. In der Gegenwart, die sich nach Norbert Elias durch eine Verdrängung der menschlichen Vergänglichkeit zugunsten von Unsterblichkeitsphantasien, und somit einer (...) Vermeidung von Erfahrungen mit der Vergänglichkeit, auszeichnet, gestalten einige deutschsprachige Lyriker*innen moderne Variationen dieses gesteigerten memento mori. In den untersuchten Gedichten von Özlem Özgül Dündar und Günter Kunert werden durch performative Verfahren Konfrontationen mit der eigenen Endlichkeit inszeniert, welche als moderne, säkulare Vergänglichkeitsmahnungen verstanden werden können. (shrink)

I argue that Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight are best seen as an example of memento mori art. Memento mori, the admonition to remember death, can take many forms, but the idea remains the same, namely that an awareness of our inevitable end should bear on how we live. I show how Richard Linklater’s warning works in each of the movies and argue that with the Before trilogy he makes a Frankfurt-style case that romantic (...) love is life’s summum bonum--i.e. "the ultimate ground of practical rationality.". (shrink)

Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” is one of the best known and most commented on poems in the English language. According to the critical consensus, the poem is a seduction gambit in the “Carpe Diem” tradition. Interpretive debate therefore revolves around the significance of the allusions and imagery of the poem, rather than its central meaning. Moving against the current, this article challenges the critical consensus that Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” is a poem that has seduction as its (...) main significance or implied intention. Reading the poem with attention to its ironic moments and theological references reveals that its allusions and imagery are systematically ambivalent. In the context of Marvell’s other poetry, especially “Dialogue of the Soul and the Body,” it becomes possible to show that “Coy Mistress” shares many features with these metaphysical meditations on mortality and spirituality. By making reference to psychoanalytic theory, the article then demonstrates the plausibility of a reading in which the poem aims to avoid, rather than engorge, sexual desire. The poem is a monument to repression, and a reminder of mortality, not a love lyric. (shrink)

It is known that antiquity understood man as an organic part of the cosmos, which occupies the highest place among natural beings. Instead, the Middle Ages led man beyond the limits of cosmic natural life, proclaiming, on the one hand, an invisible connection with the transcendent God, and, on the other, humiliating the complete dependence caused by his fall upon Divine grace. The Middle Ages are about the discovery of the "inner man", who in the cosmos does not meet anything (...) and know the depths of which can only be obtained by the supernatural light of grace [Haydenko P.P. Evolution of the concept of science.- M., 1980.- C. 409, 425]. Self-knowledge, like the knowledge of God, medieval philosophical thought subordinated the religious task of saving the soul. She transferred the center of gravity of ethics from the sphere of knowledge to the sphere of faith, giving priority to freedom rather than reason - which led to the assertion of man as an active subject of action as opposed to the objectively contemplative attitude of antiquity. Such activity of the subject, despite its purely religious orientation, subsequently played an important role in the formation of the identity of the Renaissance individual. (shrink)

My main interest here is to look at pain as a sign of the body that something is wrong. I will argue that there is a meaning of pain before and after an illness is diagnosed. An illness contains its own semantic paradigm, but the pain before the diagnosis affects the pace of life, not only by limiting our interactions, but also as a struggle with its meaning and a reminder of mortality.My main approach is what I call bio-hermeneutics, an (...) extension of medical hermeneutics branching out from the Continental hermeneutical tradition. As such, I will explore the connection between pain and language, temporality, dialectics, and ontology. Given the centrality of language in constructing the meaning of pain, my analysis is informed by the semantics (looking at pain metaphors), syntax (pain as incoherence), and pragmatics (pain as companion) of expressing pain.The last section explores the meaning of pain in connection with death, as memento mori. Revisiting an old definition of philosophy asmelete thanatou, or ‘rehearsal of death’, I will reflect on the difficulty of finding meaning not only for pain, but also for death as cessation of all existential possibilities. (shrink)

This article explores the affinities between film and philosophy by returning to a shared meditation on death and the nature of time. Death has been considered the muse of philosophy and can also be considered the muse of film-philosophy. But what does it mean to say that to film-philosophise is to learn to die, or a kind of training for dying? Film is an artistic object that reminds us of death’s inevitability; it is a meditation on the transient and finite (...) nature of time. Films as diverse as Mizoguchi’s Tales of Ugetsu, Resnais’s Hiroshima mon Amour, and Guzmán’s Nostalgia for the Light take an uncanny approach to the subject, expressing the paradoxical coexistence of life and death and of different temporal dimensions. This article explores the philosophical concept of the death-image and time through a Deleuzian approach to cinema, meditating on the flashback, the coexistence of the present and the past, and the emergence of a new type of Lazarean character – one who returns from the dead. The article aims to clarify not simply death’s unquestionable omnipresence in film but also cinema’s role as a contemporary version of the trope of memento mori. (shrink)

In his final book, renowned philosopher Pierre Hadot explores Goethe’s relationship with ancient spiritual exercises—transformative acts of intellect, imagination, or will. Goethe sought both an intense experience of the present moment as well as a kind of cosmic consciousness, both of which are rooted in ancient philosophical practices. These practices shaped Goethe’s audacious contrast to the traditional maxim memento mori (Don’t forget that you will die) with the aim of transforming our ordinary consciousness. Ultimately, Hadot reveals how Goethe (...) cultivated a deep love for life that brings to the forefront a new maxim: Don’t forget to live. (shrink)

The esteemed French philosopher Pierre Hadot’s final work, now available in English. With a foreword by Arnold I. Davidson and Daniele Lorenzini. In his final book, renowned philosopher Pierre Hadot explores Goethe’s relationship with ancient spiritual exercises—transformative acts of intellect, imagination, or will. Goethe sought both an intense experience of the present moment as well as a kind of cosmic consciousness, both of which are rooted in ancient philosophical practices. These practices shaped Goethe’s audacious contrast to the traditional maxim (...) class='Hi'>memento mori (Don’t forget that you will die) with the aim of transforming our ordinary consciousness. Ultimately, Hadot reveals how Goethe cultivated a deep love for life that brings to the forefront a new maxim: Don’t forget to live. (shrink)

Preliminary expectoration -- Alas a dirty third: the logic of death -- Thomas Bernhard's rant -- Following Sebald -- Tickling the corpse: Tom Stoppard's memento mori -- Don Rickles's rant -- Too late, my brothers -- Re: Barth.

유한의 시간 속에서 불변의 진리를 논하다! 살아서는 경험할 수 없고 죽어서는 전할 수 없는 삶과 죽음의 근원적 연속성 ◎ 도서 소개 인문학의 세 번째 질문, “나는 어떻게 죽을 것인가?” 최재천, 김상근, 강영안, 황농문… 삶에 던져진 마지막 물음과 인문학에서 찾은 최후의 답! 인생에 관한 대단원의 물음, 나는 어떻게 죽을 것인가. 삶의 황폐화와 사회 가치의 퇴색, 현실 문제에 대한 근원적인 해결책의 부재로 현대인들은 인간과 삶, 죽음에 대한 근원적인 물음을 품기 시작했다. 그 물음 끝에 탄생한 『나는 어떻게 죽을 것인가』는 2015년 봄 플라톤 아카데미가 (...) 주최한 동명의 대중강연을 엮은 것으로, 누적 10만 명 이상 청중들의 열광적인 호응을 불러일으켰다. 1부에서 최재천, 황농문, 김애령, 김종성은 우리 삶의 영역 안에 이미 자리하고 있는 죽음의 본질을 드러내고 2부에서 김상근, 정재현, 강영안, 윤영호는 죽음을 의식하는 삶이 지닌 진정한 의미에 대해 이야기한다. 생태학자, 공학자, 철학자, 건축가, 신학자, 종교학자, 의학자 등 다양한 분야에서 섬세한 시각을 발휘하는 최고 학자 8인은 죽음을 냉철하면서도 따뜻한 시선으로 바라본다. 이를 통해 우리는 삶과 죽음이 그리 멀리 있지 않으며, 죽음에 대한 물음이 도달하는 자리가 결국 삶이라는 점을 깨닫게 된다. 죽음을 삶의 흐름이 가져오는 결과로 보든 고통스러운 삶으로부터의 해방으로 보든 죽음은 우리 삶의 영역 안에 자리하며, 궁극적으로 나를 나일 수 있게 하는 고유한 가치로 발현한다. ◎ 출판사 서평 우리는 어떻게 죽어야 할까? 아름다운 자연의 원리를 향한 8가지 용기 나는 누구인가, 어떻게 살 것인가, 어떻게 죽을 것인가. 현대인들이 잊고 살지만, 인생에서 가장 중요한 질문이다. 개인의 삶이 점점 황폐해지고 사회 가치가 희미해지는 요즘, 이러한 근원적인 물음은 우리 삶에 더욱 중요해졌다. ‘인간’을 탐구하고 ‘인생’을 공부하는 학문인 인문학 열풍이 거세진 것도 이와 같은 이유다. 그 물음 끝에 탄생한 『나는 어떻게 죽을 것인가』는 2015년 봄 플라톤 아카데미가 주최한 동명의 대중강연을 엮은 것으로, 누적 10만 명 이상 청중들의 열광적인 호응을 불러일으켰다. 마치 눈앞에서 듣는 것처럼 최재천, 김상근, 강영안, 황농문 등 이 시대를 대표하는 학자 8인이 전하는 삶의 지혜와 인문학적 통찰이 뜨거운 감동과 함께 생생하게 전해진다. 위대한 고전과 과학적 진실을 통해 삶과 죽음의 연속성을 이야기하며, 우리 일상에 맞닿은 사례들을 중심으로 죽음이 전하는 메시지를 깊이 있고 흥미롭게 해석했다. 독자들은 이 책을 통해 ‘나는 어떻게 죽을 것인가’라는 생의 마지막 물음에 잔잔한 해답을 얻을 수 있을 것이며, 삶과 죽음은 그 자체로 아름다운 자연의 원리임을 깨닫게 된다. 삶의 순간에 마주한 죽음 죽음의 숙고로 완성하는 삶 생태학자, 공학자, 철학자, 건축가, 신학자, 종교학자, 의학자 등 다양한 분야에서 섬세한 시각을 발휘하는 최고 학자 8인은 죽음을 냉철하면서도 따뜻한 시선으로 바라본다. 1부에서는 우리 삶의 영역 안에 이미 자리하고 있는 죽음의 본질이 드러난다. 원래 하나였던 자연과 인간이 공생하는 법을 알고 평안한 마음으로 살아가는 것이야 말로 아름다운 삶과 죽음을 맞이하는 자세임을 전한 최재천, 죽음을 온전히 의식하는 것이야말로 성숙한 삶을 위해 반드시 필요하다고 역설한 황농문, 받아들일 수밖에 없는 죽음을 인정하고 아름답게 사는 것이야말로 아름다운 죽음을 맞이하는 방법임을 이야기한 김애령, 삶을 오롯이 담고 있는 공간인 건축으로부터 죽음에 접근한 김종성을 통해 우리는 살아서는 절대 경험할 수 없는 죽음에 한 발짝 가까워진다. 2부에서는 죽음을 의식하는 삶의 진정한 의미에 대해 이야기한다. 죽음은 벽이 아닌 평화(Shalom)의 세계로 나아가는 문이라는 희망의 이야기를 담아낸 김상근, 죽음을 숙명과 해방의 대립 구도로 보는 것을 떠나 ‘유한한 초월’, 즉 삶 안에서 죽음을 발견해 남은 삶인 자신의 현재를 사랑하라고 말하는 정재현, 철학의 가장 중요한 임무인 멜레테 타나투, 즉 죽음에 대한 수련을 위해 현상학, 해석학, 윤리학의 시선으로 죽음을 분석한 강영안, 죽음을 절망이 아닌 희망의 순간으로 바꾸기 위해서는 의미 있는 삶을 살아야 한다는 윤영호를 통해 우리는 인간에게 허락된 유한의 시간 속에서 죽음이라는 불변의 진리를 맞이하는 법을 배운다. 이를 통해 우리는 삶과 죽음이 그리 멀리 있지 않으며, 죽음에 대한 물음이 도달하는 자리가 결국 삶이라는 점을 깨닫게 된다. ◎ 본문 중에서 오랫동안 생명에 대해 공부하면서 깨달은 점 중 하나는 지구에 존재하는 모든 생명은 하나의 공통적인 속성을 가지고 있다는 것입니다. 아이러니컬하게도 그것은 죽음입니다. ‘생명’의 가장 보편적인 속성이 바로 ‘죽음’이라는 것입니다. (21쪽) 죽음에 직면하면 온갖 자부심과 자만심, 수치스러움과 실패에 대한 두려움, 외부의 기대들이 모두 떨어져나갑니다. 그리고 진실로 중요한 것들만이 남습니다. (…) 살아 있음이 얼마나 소중한지를 알고 있기 때문입니다. (73쪽) 시간은 많은 것을 피어나게 하고 성장하게 하고 탄생하게 하고 변화하게 합니다. 또 많은 것을 파괴하고 해체하고 늙게 하고 낡게 하고 저물게 하고 죽게 합니다. (…) 인간의 시간은 존재론적인 결함이기도 하고, 유한한 자가 가지고 있는 무한한 슬픔이기도 합니다. (81쪽) 아름다운 삶은 고통이나 슬픔을 경험하지 않는 삶이 아니라 그 고통이나 슬픔을 어떻게 받아들이고 해석하고 이해하느냐를 통해 만들어가는 것입니다. 아름다운 삶은 결코 확신이나 확실성으로 가득 찬 삶이 아닙니다. 오히려 삶이 가지고 있는 그늘, 고통, 눈물, 불확실성, 연약함을 끌어안고 나아가는 것, 그것이 진정 아름다운 삶이라고 이야기할 수 있습니다. (106~107쪽) 이런 요소들이 갖춰질 때 건축물로서의 아름다움이 완성되어 제대로 빛을 발하게 됩니다. 우리의 삶 또한 이와 다르지 않다고 생각합니다. 그런 면에서 죽음 또한 우리 삶의 일부라고 말하고 싶습니다. 아름다운 삶이 있어야 아름다운 죽음이 있고, 그때 비로소 하나의 인생이 완성되는 것일 테니까요. (144쪽) 우연의 연속에 불과한 사다리 같은 인생을 살아가야 하는 우리. 그리고 그 운명이 다하면 우리는 죽음이라는 미지의 세계로 뛰어들어야 합니다. 죽음을 맞이한 우리는 그 미지의 세계를 향해 몸을 날려야 합니다. 그것이 우리 인간의 운명입니다. (163~164쪽) 예수는 분노하거나 화를 내는 것이 아니라 오히려 그들에게 평화를 기원합니다. 그것도 두 번씩이나 “샬롬”이라 고 외칩니다. 예수에게 죽음은 벽도 문도 아니었습니다. 후회와 분노를 넘어서는 평화의 길이었습니다. (187쪽) 우리의 본능은 죽음에 저항하며 삶과 죽음의 관계를 가능한 한 멀리 떼어놓으려 합니다. (…) 그런데 여기서 가장 심각한 것은 무엇보다도 삶의 바깥으로 내몰린 죽음이 오히려 삶을 일그러뜨린다는 점입니다. 그 문제를 극복하려는 노력은 곧 우리의 몫입니다. 그래서 바깥으로 내몰렸던 죽음을 삶 속으로 끌고 들어오는 새로운 시도가 필요합니다. (191쪽) 욕망으로 죽음을 덮어버리면 삶이 일그러지고 맙니다. (…) 이렇게 볼 때 죽음에 대한 생각은 삶을 더 풍요롭고 가치 있게 엮어내려는 노력입니다. 그래서 건강한 삶을 위해서는 삶에서 죽음을 보아야 합니다. 그리고 어떻게 하면 밀어냈던 죽음을 삶과 함께 엮어낼 수 있을지에 대해 지혜를 모아야 합니다. (196쪽) 우리의 몸을 이루고 있는 모든 세포들은 생성과 소멸의 과정을 거칩니다. (…) 말하자면 몸은 죽음을 받아들이면서 죽음을 살아가고 있는 것이지요. 몸을 이루고 있는 모든 세포들이 끊임없이 죽음으로써 몸 전체가 살아가는 생명의 역설을 우리 몸은 이미 실천해오고 있습니다. (209쪽) 죽지 않을 것처럼, 아직 죽지 않은 것처럼 살지 말고 이미 죽은 사람으로 살라는 것입니다. “죽음을 기억하라(Memento mori)!”는 말씀이 바로 이를 가리킵니다. 그렇게 되면 지금 사는 삶은 덤으로 사는 것입니다. 덤의 시간들, 순간들, 그것이 바로 지금입니다. 그래서 한마디로 추립니다: “자신의 현재를 사랑하라! Carpe diem!” (219쪽) 하이데거는 그 끝이 있기 때문에 오히려 내가 나 자신이 될 수 있다고 말합니다. 끝이 있으므로 해서 너와 나 구별도 없이 군중 속에 무리지어 사는 그런 삶이 아니라 비로소 누구와도 혼돈되지 않는 나 자신, 존재의 가능성을 발견하게 된다는 것입니다. 왜냐하면 그 죽음은 누구의 죽음도 아닌 나의 죽음이기 때문입니다. (246쪽) 우리가 진심으로 우리의 삶 자체를 내게 주어진 값진 선물이라 생각하고 감사한 마음으로 살아간다면, 죽음은 결코 두려움의 대상이 될 수 없을 뿐 아니라 삶이 정말로 살 만한 것이 되지 않을까 생각합니다. (253쪽) 만약에 우리가 우주라는 하나의 몸에 존재하는 세포라고 가정한다면 어떻게 될까요. 우리는 각자의 이기를 위해 존재하는 것이 아니라 우주라는 몸을 위해 서로 조화를 이루며 봉사하는 존재가 될 것입니다. (…) 서로 믿고 조화를 이루며 봉사하는 삶, 바로 이것이 의미 있는 삶이라고 생각합니다. (275~276쪽) 우리는 죽지 않기 위해 사는 것도 아니고, 죽지 못해 사는 것도 아닙니다. 죽기 위해 열심히 살아가는 것입니다. 의미 있는 삶을 살다가 아름답게 죽음을 마무리하는 것까지가 인생의 완성입니다. 나무는 죽어 새로운 생명으로 태어납니다. 다시 대지로 돌아간 우리 역시 어디선가 다른 생명으로 이어집니다. 죽음은 자연으로의 회귀이며 또 다른 시작입니다. (279쪽). (shrink)

In the ninth fragment of his posthumous work Living Up to Death , Paul Ricoeur reflects on Jacques Derrida’s final interview given to the French newspaper Le Monde just months prior to his death. Although he confesses to a genuine distanciation from Derrida regarding salient aspects of their individual memento mori , he does so within the context of significant concessions of agreement. I argue in this article that their differing positions de facto agree at a critical structural (...) level with reference to the possibility of positing something akin to a textual immortality. Both contend that traces of the author remain in the corpus of a work, a remainder that allows for a form of resurrection through reading. By analogizing their perspectives with Rudolf Bultmann’s kerygmatic resurrection of Christ in the proclaimed word, I conclude that Ricoeur and Derrida contend that one truly learns to live up to death ‘ finally ’, that is, enfin — ‘at last’, ‘after all’, or one might say, ‘ in a word ’. (shrink)

Sans la mort, arche du rien, exit, avec la philosophie, la question fondamentale de la métaphysique : pourquoi y a-t-il quelque chose et non pas plutôt rien? Depuis son commencement, la philosophie n’a cessé de s’affronter à la mort, n’a cessé d’essayer de la penser, hésitant entre un memento mori et un memento vivere. Mais se demander si la pensée de la mort nous invite à la jouissance ou à l’abnégation et si on peut apprendre à mourir (...) sont peut-être questions oiseuses et indécidables. Pour sortir de cette indétermination, il faut sortir du cercle de la morale, distinguer d’abord le pur fait contingent de la mort, du mourir lui-même comme structure de l’existence humaine et reconnaître à la fois que, si nous ne cessons de lutter contre la mort et si, le plus souvent, nous lui tournons le dos, nous sommes, à elle, adossés et que, sans elle, nous ne ferions rien. (shrink)

Why would we ever take a picture of a dead person? This practice began as a way to perpetuate the image of the deceased, rendering their memory eternal – Victorians thought that it could be useful to have portraits of their dead loved ones. Certainly, subjects in post-mortem photos will be remembered forever. However, we must ask two more questions. Are they people portrayed as if they were still alive? Or on the other hand, are they bodies that represent death? (...) Our paper takes an in-depth look at different iconographical styles as well as photographic techniques and religious and ethical reasons behind memento mori photos during the Victorian Age. (shrink)

El presente volumen incluye la edición crítica, acompañada de un completo estudio introductorio, del Arte de bien morir, texto en prosa sin autor declarado, y de La contienda del cuerpo y alma, una composición en verso firmada por Antón López de Meta. Ambas obras integraban un mismo libro destinado a preparar al hombre para enfrentar su tránsito final hacia la vida eterna y forman parte de la tradición del Memento mori.

Building on previous speculations on the theological meaning Shakespeare intends with Falstaff, this essay argues that the character dramatizes the apprehension that tends to accompany a Protestant soteriology. Falstaff’s teasing Bardolph about his spiritual destiny bespeaks fright about himself, with the invoked memento mori calling attention to the unavailability of comforting ideas such as purgatory and self-determined repentance. Similarly, Falstaff’s forays into military impressment figure the incomprehensible nature of divine election, from a Protestant view. Through Falstaff, Shakespeare is (...) not offering a theological argument, so much as expressing sympathy for those afflicted with the anxieties to which Protestantism might leave them vulnerable. (shrink)

Freuds Arbeit über Vergänglichkeit wird in den Kontext der Auseinandersetzung mit Endlichkeit und Sterblichkeit gestellt, wie sie in Literatur und bildender Kunst bis in die Gegenwart hinein geführt wird. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die Spannung zwischen carpe diem und memento mori in Freuds Text als Spannung zwischen manischer Verleugnung und depressiver Reaktion – also in der Sprache der Psychoanalyse – wieder auftaucht. Es wird gefragt, inwiefern der leicht manische Einschlag, den Freuds Verteidigung des Genusses des Schönen angesichts der (...) Vergänglichkeit annimmt, auch dem Umstand geschuldet sein könnte, dass er sich dem Thema Verlust, insbesondere der sicher geglaubten kulturellen Errungenschaften, nicht aus einer Perspektive der Theorie der Objektbeziehungen nähert. Mit Bezug auf Roger Money-Kyrle lässt sich zeigen, dass auf diese Weise ein Weg eröffnet wird, dem Ringen um Genuss und Freude angesichts der Vergänglichkeit, die zum einen in der verstreichenden Zeit und zum anderen in der menschlichen Destruktivität begründet liegt, konzeptionell eine andere Wendung zu geben. Ferner wird die Vergänglichkeit zusammen mit dem psychoanalytischen Konzept der Nachträglichkeit diskutiert. Hier rückt die spezifische Zeitlichkeit in den Fokus und es eröffnet sich eine neue Perspektive, die für eine kurze Reflexion der Popularität von Vanitas-Topoi in der Gegenwartskunst genutzt wird. (shrink)

Freuds Arbeit über Vergänglichkeit wird in den Kontext der Auseinandersetzung mit Endlichkeit und Sterblichkeit gestellt, wie sie in Literatur und bildender Kunst bis in die Gegenwart hinein geführt wird. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die Spannung zwischen carpe diem und memento mori in Freuds Text als Spannung zwischen manischer Verleugnung und depressiver Reaktion – also in der Sprache der Psychoanalyse – wieder auftaucht. Es wird gefragt, inwiefern der leicht manische Einschlag, den Freuds Verteidigung des Genusses des Schönen angesichts der (...) Vergänglichkeit annimmt, auch dem Umstand geschuldet sein könnte, dass er sich dem Thema Verlust, insbesondere der sicher geglaubten kulturellen Errungenschaften, nicht aus einer Perspektive der Theorie der Objektbeziehungen nähert. Mit Bezug auf Roger Money-Kyrle lässt sich zeigen, dass auf diese Weise ein Weg eröffnet wird, dem Ringen um Genuss und Freude angesichts der Vergänglichkeit, die zum einen in der verstreichenden Zeit und zum anderen in der menschlichen Destruktivität begründet liegt, konzeptionell eine andere Wendung zu geben. Ferner wird die Vergänglichkeit zusammen mit dem psychoanalytischen Konzept der Nachträglichkeit diskutiert. Hier rückt die spezifische Zeitlichkeit in den Fokus und es eröffnet sich eine neue Perspektive, die für eine kurze Reflexion der Popularität von Vanitas-Topoi in der Gegenwartskunst genutzt wird. (shrink)

Hobbes’s theory of authorisation poses numerous puzzles to scholars. The weightiest of these conundrums is a supposed contradiction between chapter 17 of Leviathan, that calls for unconditional submission to the sovereign, and chapter 21, that defends the liberties of the subject. This article offers a fresh perspective on the theory’s consistency, function and addressees. While existing research doubts the theory’s consistency, focuses on its immunisation function and on the subjects as the theory’s main addresses, the paper argues that Hobbes’s theory (...) of authorisation is consistent with the doctrine of the liberty of subjects, and that it serves the dual purpose of immunising the sovereign against criticism and disciplining the sovereign via a counsel of memento mori: A hitherto underexplored element of authorisation theory is a reminder of the mortality of sovereignty directed at the sovereign to convince him to make restricted use of his absolute right to rule. Hobbes’s theory of authorisation can thus be read as part of a complex argumentative strategy for peace, rooted in a ‘liberal absolutism’ which is not as paradoxical as it sounds, and which is reflected in the frontispiece by the friendly smile of the sovereign. (shrink)

In a chapter that hones in on certain Renaissance portraits by Hans Holbein, Giorgione, and Jan van Scorel, Hans Maes examines how it is that we can be deeply moved by such portraits, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that we don’t know anything about their sitters. Standard explanations in terms of the revelation of an inner self or the recreation of a physical presence prove to be insuffi cient. Instead, Maes provides a more rounded account of what makes (...) said portraits moving and memorable, thereby relying on Barthes’ notion of ‘punctum,’ James Elkins’ account of why people cry in front of paintings, and a phenomenological exploration of the parallel between portraiture and the tradition of the Vanitas painting. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:A Short ReplyGianluca MoriWhile thanking Thomas Lennon for the interest he has shown in my work—and without going into details of interpretation which cannot bear discussion in this context—I would like to make a few remarks on factual questions raised by his response.1) Lennon's text (p. 338): "The text that Bayle and Mori erroneously take to be Saint-Evremond's is in fact from Jean-François Sarasin."While it is not certain (...) that Bayle and I "erroneously" take this text to be Saint-Evremond's, it is certain that Lennon erroneously takes it to be Sarasin's. In fact, the text quoted by Bayle is not taken from Sarasin's Discours sur Epicure, but, as Bayle explicitly points out ("Xénophanes," K, note 124), from a "Discours des ennuis et des déplaisirs." This "Discours" is chapter 5 of De l'usage de la vie, a text published in many editions of Saint-Evremond's works (see the Barbin 1692 in-4° ed., Seconde Partie, p. 326). The paternity of De l'usage de la vie is doubtful and controversial, but it possibly contains some passages taken from Saint-Evremond's unpublished manuscripts, especially in chapters 3-6, as reported by an important source quoted by Ternois in Saint-Evremond, Œuvres en prose, IV, 3-4, note 1.2) Lennon's text (pp. 338-39): "The significance of two of the other texts advanced by Mori is fully vitiated, for in them Bayle makes the same mistake."In my article, I did not fail to state that these texts (OD I, 158 and Dict., "Epicure," M) are taken from an apocryphal source. On page 329 I wrote: "[Bayle] mistakenly attributes to [Saint-Evremond] a text on Epicurus's morals [i.e., Sarasin's Discours] included in that volume." However, it was absolutely impossible, for seventeenth-century readers, to distinguish between Saint-Evremond's original and apocryphal texts: the author himself—as is widely known—did not want to clarify this point (with a few exceptions, including the Saint-Evremoniana, which, as we have seen, Bayle never attributed to Saint-Evremond). [End Page 343] And this is true for all editions: there is no significant difference between genuine and pirated editions, since no official edition, authorized and revised by the author, existed before Des Maizeaux's posthumous one. From this point of view, virtually nobody (before 1705) could "study" Saint-Evremond's texts. (On this connection it should be added that I never claimed that Bayle "studied" Saint-Evremond, but only that he read his available works and made up his mind on them, and particularly on the Conversation du Maréchal d'Hocquincourt—which should be at the core of the present debate—long before reading Cotolendi).3) Lennon's text (p. 336): "As Mori acknowledges elsewhere, Labrousse thinks Le Vassor was a left-wing Anglican who failed to understand Bayle's calvinist perspective."Concerning Le Vassor, I "acknowledge" Labrousse's opinion only to reject it with a detailed argument (Bayle philosophe, 262, note 341).Gianluca MoriUniversità del Piemonte OrientaleCopyright © 2004 The Journal of the History of Ideas, Inc.... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Bayle, Saint-Evremond, and Fideism:A Reply to Thomas M. LennonGianluca MoriIn a recent article published in this journal Thomas M. Lennon returns to the controversial question of Bayle's attitude towards religion. The point he debates is the particular use that, in expounding his conception of the relationship between faith and reason, Bayle makes of a passage from Saint-Evremond. In Lennon's view the correct interpretation of this point would show that (...) Bayle's fideism is to be "taken at face value" without any hint of irony and with no suspicion of dissimulation or insincerity.1 This would cast doubt on and greatly weaken the interpretation I proposed in my Bayle philosophe.2 My aim here is to respond briefly to Lennon's arguments and to clarify even more briefly what in my opinion is the right perspective in which to consider Bayle's position on this topic.The context in which Bayle quotes Saint-Evremond is to be found in the Eclaircissements he added to the second edition of his Dictionnaire historique et critique (1702) to counter the Dutch religious authorities' harsh criticism of the first edition. In particular the Walloon Consistory accused Bayle of taking a skeptical position that undermined the most important dogmas of Christian faith. In response Bayle wrote the Eclaircissement sur les Pyrrhoniens, a clumsy mosaic of quotations from the Scriptures and from patristic and profane texts, with which he sought to show that his skeptical fideism was not in the least heterodox but indeed the position that most closely reflected true Christianity. The quotation from Saint-Evremond, almost at the end of this text, is taken [End Page 323] from the Conversation du Maréchal d'Hocquincourt et du Père Canaye (written in about 1654).3 The final passage gives a clear idea of the general tone: after having disputed with a churchman the need to subject one's intellect to the yoke of faith, the marshal concludes by saying that he is ready to be crucified "without knowing why." Father Canaye replies: "No reason! That is the true religion. No reason! God has granted you a fine grace, mylord." So, and here Lennon obviously agrees (229), Saint-Evremond's is a text with no shadow of mystical inspiration, indeed strongly tending in the libertine direction, as is clear from the blatant way it pours scorn on the fideist approach.In my interpretation Bayle's use of this quotation does not at all demonstrate his atheism or unbelief, for in my view that question is undecidable. However, the quotation from Saint-Evremond is sufficient—and this is the onlyreason I mentioned it4 —to show that Bayle's approach to fideism is in no way innocent and naive as is sometimes claimed. On the contrary, his texts on this subject contain what amounts to provocations aimed at orthodox readers (to which they immediately reacted). This, together with other more important reasons, leads me to believe that Bayle's professions of Christian faith, though frequent, are generally far from being above suspicion: indeed, almost every line of them raises questions about their actual significance.The provocation contained in the quotation from Saint-Evremond appears in all its rhetorical weight if we associate this text with three other passages from Bayle's works. The first is from the Nouvelles de la république des lettres of December 1686, in which Bayle stresses the unedifying nature of the religious maxims contained in Saint-Evremond's Conversation (which, incidentally, he himself had just had printed in the collection Le Retour des pièces choisies).5 The second is taken from a letter by Jean d'Oulès to Bayle, written in 1696, in which the author deals with exactly the same passage from the Conversation that was later to be reproduced in the Eclaircissement. In this letter d'Oulès quotes the full passage which he considers to be a "naughty text" deliberately written to throw ridicule on the fanatical fideism of Pierre Jurieu.6 The third passage is from Bayle's Continuation des pensées diverses of 1704 in which, shortly after the death of Saint-Evremond, he publicly reveals the poet... (shrink)

In lowland South America, breath animates human and non-human bodies, pulsating through the materialities of organisms. Humans, however, should manage their bodies to recast and reconfigure breath in its most life-enhancing manifestations: singing and smoking. These are the specialized domains of those able to manage their vitalities in such a way as to produce potent effects in themselves and in the world around them, including influencing atmospheric conditions, the lives of animals and plants and the harming and healing of others. (...) In these relational onto-epistemologies, intersubjectivity, intercorporality and states of non-cognitive interaffection find new depths. Breath, properly managed, can make and unmake worldly forms, including bodies and the societies they come together in. Focusing on two Amerindian communities, the Warekena of northwestern Rio Negro, Brazil and the Shipibo-Konibo of the Ucayali valley in Eastern Peru, this article examines the interface between human and non-human subjectivities, and how resonant interaffective atmospheric conditions are induced to promote health. (shrink)

We report here an emerging dispute in Italy concerning triage criteria for critically ill covid-19 patients, and how best to support doctors having to make difficult decisions in a context of insufficient life saving resources. The dispute we present is particularly significant as it juxtaposes two opposite views of who should make triage decisions, and how doctors should best be supported. There are both empirical and normative questions at stake here. The empirical questions pertain to the available level of evidence (...) that healthcare professionals would rather not be left alone with their ‘clinical judgments’ to make triage decisions, and to the accounts of distributive justice that doctors and healthcare professionals rely on, when making triage decisions. The normative questions pertain to how this empirical evidence should inform guidelines on how prioritisation decisions are made in a context of emergency, and who gets to have the authority to do so. This debate goes beyond the discussion of the care of critically ill patients with COVID-19 and has broader implications beyond the national context for the discussion of how to relieve moral distress in contexts of imbalances between healthcare resources and clinical needs of a population. (shrink)

Martin Heidegger’s understanding of art and Paul Ricoeur’s reading of the poetics of existence, developed through his hermeneutics of symbols, metaphor and narrative, open an immense vista to a theological thinking that desires to place primacy on the hearing of the symbolic language of poetry and literature. Beginning a few decades ago, various theologians have ventured along this trajectory, but theology still remains under the dominion of “theoria” and “praxis” and is not very open to “poiesis”. The study presented here (...) revisits the book of J.-P. Manigne on the Poetics of Faith from the 1970s, and the doctoral thesis of A. Thomasset on the Poetics of Morality, from the 1990s, showing how poetic reason provoked theological discourse in the second half of the 20th century. It is part of a research still in progress, devoted to other contributions of the beginning of the 21st century. (shrink)

H. Putnam has been considered the most Peircean philosopher among the neopragmatists. This note sugests that Putnam pays great atention to the problems Peirce tackled, but he does not share Peirce's thesis on the relation between "practical interests" and science. Therefore, Putnam's realism is more Deweyan and Jamesian than Peircean.