As widely acknowledged, the epistemological turn of early modernity was based on the Cartesian method of doubt and negation, which primarily relates to the world of objects. The methodological negation and separation of sensible qualities and subjective attributes of objects left behind residual entities, which, from the Cartesian res extensa to the Kantian thing-initself, explicates an important basic feature of a historically unfolding transcendentalism: the reduction of objects to a mere givenness and the directional conditionality of epistemology that presupposes it. (...) The following paper examines how and to what extent modern epistemology tacitly assumes an epistemic directionality, and accordingly reduces the world of objects to its mere givenness by subordinating the objects to a hierarchical structure of cognition. The investigation is carried out both in a theoretical-philosophical as well as in a historical framework. (shrink)

The Saga of Dharmapuri by O.V. Vijayan is a dystopian fantasy set in the imaginary country of Dharmapuri, which could be a depiction of India or any other newly independent country in the post-colonial era. Mikhail Bakhtin in his treatise Rabelais and his World justifies the use of Grotesque Realism, a literary trope that allows the author to move away from the conventions of propriety and decency to convey messages that are real and powerful nevertheless. Usually exaggeration and hyperbole are (...) key elements of this style. Through the centuries, literature has often been a medium through which contemporary concerns have been transmitted. This paper argues that O.V. Vijayan uses Grotesque Realism in his novel to depict the political, social and economic condition of India of the 1970s- specifically a country that was under emergency. Like all dystopian fables, The Saga of Dharmapuri has been prophetic in anticipating some of the social issues that we face even today. The paper aims at examining how Vijayan uses explicit language and scatological and sexual imagery so as to achieve this sense of realism within his novel. (shrink)

Die Wissenschaften entstehen und entfalten sich innerhalb von historischen Kontexten. Dabei vollzieht sich die Kontextualisierung einzelner Wissenschaftsdisziplinen durch die historisch-kontextuale Ausweitung und Abgrenzung gegenuber anderen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen. Die vorliegende Abhandlung ist ein Versuch, in der Entwicklungsgeschichte einiger fruhneuzeitlicher Wissenschaftsdisziplinen eine zweifache Wurzel der Kontextualitat festzustellen: Einen internen bzw. einen der Wissenschaftsdisziplin innewohnenden Prozess der Kontextualisierung kann man aus ihrer Entwicklungsgeschichte herleiten. Diesen gilt es von einem externen, durch aussere Faktoren und neue Erkenntnisse auf anderen Feldern bedingten Prozess der Kontextualisierung abzugrenzen. Aus (...) diesem kontextualen Wechselspiel heraus lassen sich etliche Paradigmenwechsel in der fruhen Neuzeit besser verstehen. Die Untersuchung geht von Fallstudien aus, wie sie in mechanischen und naturwissenschaftlichen Schriften von Descartes, Kepler, Galilei, Newton, Hooke und Boyle zu finden sind. (shrink)

Der tranzendentale Status der Sinnlichkeit -- Die Analogizität der Sinnlichkeit -- Die Ausdehnung der Sinnlichkeit -- Vom Subjekt zum Objekt.

Prevodu prvih petih knjig Livijevega dela, ki je ostal v zapuščini Primoža Simo­nitija in je lani izšel pri Slovenski matici, bo letos sledil izid druge peterke v prevodu Aleša Mavra. Kot pri prvi peterki so opombe tudi tu povzete po izdaji Hansa Jürgena Hillena za Sammlung Tusculum.