Diem takes issue with the misuse of Kierkegaard's work in present-day theological and philosophical discussion. This is a translations of Die Existenzdialektik von Soren Kierkegaard.

The pseudonymous works Kierkegaard wrote during the period 1843–46 have been responsible for establishing his reputation as an important philosophical thinker, but for Kierkegaard himself, they were merely preparatory for what he saw as the primary task of his authorship: to elucidate the meaning of what it is to live as a Christian and thus to show his readers how they could become truly Christian. The more overtly religious and specifically Christian works Kierkegaard produced in the period 1847–51 were devoted (...) to this task. In this book Sylvia Walsh focuses on the writings of this later period and locates the key to Kierkegaard’s understanding of Christianity in the “inverse dialectic” that is involved in “living Christianly.” In the book’s four main chapters, Walsh examines in detail how this inverse dialectic operates in the complementary relationship of the negative qualifications of Christian existence—sin, the possibility of offense, self-denial, and suffering—to the positive qualifications—faith, forgiveness, new life/love/hope, and joy and consolation. It was Kierkegaard’s aim, she argues, “to bring the negative qualifications, which he believed had been virtually eliminated in Christendom, once again into view, to provide them with conceptual clarity, and to show their essential relation to, and necessity in, securing a correct understanding and expression of the positive qualifications of Christian existence.”. (shrink)

Two themes form the basis for this volume. First, the author argues that the relation between an outer transient nature and an inner eternal nature provides a thread which enables the interpreter to trace a coherent point of view and provide an immanent criticism of Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous texts. Second, he argues that there is a dialectic of self and other running throughout the pseudonymous works which challenges the view that Kierkegaard’s image of the human being is that of a (...) single solitary one. He develops these themes by applying a structural analysis to these works. (shrink)

The pseudonymous works Kierkegaard wrote during the period 1843–46 have been responsible for establishing his reputation as an important philosophical thinker, but for Kierkegaard himself, they were merely preparatory for what he saw as the primary task of his authorship: to elucidate the meaning of what it is to live as a Christian and thus to show his readers how they could become truly Christian. The more overtly religious and specifically Christian works Kierkegaard produced in the period 1847–51 were devoted (...) to this task. In this book Sylvia Walsh focuses on the writings of this later period and locates the key to Kierkegaard’s understanding of Christianity in the “inverse dialectic” that is involved in “living Christianly.” In the book’s four main chapters, Walsh examines in detail how this inverse dialectic operates in the complementary relationship of the negative qualifications of Christian existence—sin, the possibility of offense, self-denial, and suffering—to the positive qualifications—faith, forgiveness, new life/love/hope, and joy and consolation. It was Kierkegaard’s aim, she argues, “to bring the negative qualifications, which he believed had been virtually eliminated in Christendom, once again into view, to provide them with conceptual clarity, and to show their essential relation to, and necessity in, securing a correct understanding and expression of the positive qualifications of Christian existence.”. (shrink)

This article suggests that the problem of Christianity’s involvement in the world of politics may be described as taking the form of a dialectic of Christian politics. This means that while the transcendent essence of Christianity is apolitical, the presence of the Christian message in the immanent world always brings with it political consequences and makes Christendom a part of political life. The dialectic is presented with reference to the thought of two key contemporary Christian thinkers: Søren Kierkegaard (...) (1813-1855) and Jacques Maritain (1882-1973). Both recognized the dialectical tension inherent in Christianity, but each found a different solution to this problem: whereas Kierkegaard denies Christianity any possibility of political involvement, Maritain concludes that such involvement is necessary for proper Christian existence in the world. The goal of this article is to uncover, on the basis of their considerations, a third, positive solution to the dialectic of Christian politics—a model that would demonstrate how the elements of the Christian ideal (transcendence) could be transferred to the temporal world (immanence), morally improving the latter without becoming falsified in it. (shrink)

Our analysis in this paper unfolds on two levels: a critique of the ‘realities’ of graduate nursing education and an argument to sustain its ‘ideals’. We open for discussion an aspect of graduate nursing education dominated by instrumental reason, namely the research industry, using an internal critique approach developed by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno of the Early Frankfurt School. As we explain, internal critique arises out of, and relies on, the mismatch between goals, or ‘ideals’, and existing realities. Thinking (...) about ‘ideals’ of the academy, we draw on Hans-Georg Gadamer's view of the university as a place to think freely, creatively, and critically. The contemporary realities of the university, on the other hand, that emphasize the market values of the research industry forcefully shape nursing academic scholarship in a particular direction. In our attempt to recognize and disrupt the forces of the research industry with its instrumental reason, we consider Judith Butler's writings on how norms operate in society. We show that our growing involvement in the research industry makes it very difficult to disentangle ourselves from that situation. The values of the research industry actually suppress the very ideals of education and scholarship that we would like to uphold. As a contra-force, the internal critique of the ‘existing realities’ in the graduate nursing education unmasks the tyranny of the research industry and makes visible the importance of sustaining the higher goals and ideals in nursing scholarship. (shrink)

This investigation provides an in-depth exploration of the dialectics of action and technology in the works of French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, both in terms of the concrete use contexts of technological artifacts and the entanglement between individual agents and their sociotechnical surroundings. Furthermore, it briefly outlines some potentials of Sartre’s thoughts for debates in contemporary philosophy of technology. Throughout his works, Sartre approaches human action from different yet dialectically interrelated perspectives that are always accompanied by and developed in relation to (...) reflections about technology. Against the background of a complementary conception of human action that is derived from Sartre’s major works, the implementation of matter in the course of action primarily represents an instrumentalization. Things are thus always disclosed as implement things due to the practical character of human existence. Although things do not prescribe action, the material characteristics and properties of these things render them more useful for attaining some and more adverse for attaining other ends. Despite the ontological freedom of human beings, their position in societal forms of organization, to which Sartre refers to as practical ensembles, delimits their choice of means and necessitates them to satisfy their needs and desires with the limited means available. In this way, la force des choses arises, not as a result of the characteristics of technology but as an outcome of sociality and politics. (shrink)

The famous triad of ‘rational proofs’ of God’s existence may, if their underlying intuitions are taken at face value, be reversed to prove the contrary, namely the non-existence of God. The ontological argument, for example, proceeds from the notion of God as the ‘real most’ or ‘absolutely real’ being. However, the existence of an entity thus defined must be beyond doubt, for if distinguishing between ‘levels of reality’ makes any sense at all, ‘more real’ must also mean (...) ‘more manifest’. And since a being whose existence is beyond doubt is greater than that whose existence is in doubt, God, to fit the definition provided by St. Anselm, must be a being the existence of which cannot be doubted or, more strictly, the existence of which can only come to be doubted if He did not exist to dispel all doubts. Hence it follows that God does not exist, because it is an undeniable fact that His existence is subject to doubt. This paper is not, however, about theexistence of God, it is about the inherent dialectic of theological reason that seeks non-natural or supernatural explanations for natural phenomena. (shrink)

This thesis has the following aims. First, to show that Deleuze can be situated clearly within the post-Kantian tradition. This is achieved through an analysis of the relations between Kant's transcendental idealism and Deleuze's transcendental empiricism. Second, to explore the criticisms of representational theories of difference which can be found in the work of Deleuze and Hegel. Representational theories are best understood as theories which rely on a logic which is governed by relations between entities which pre-exist those relations. Deleuze (...) argues that these logics presuppose the formal equivalent of a homogeneous space within which these relations can be construed. Hegel similarly understands representation as the utilisation of finite categories which rely on the fixity of the subject of predication. The third aim is to provide a rigorous explication of some of the key themes of Deleuzian ontology, particularly in relation to the problem of representation. This will involve looking at the logic of multiplicities, which attempts to provide a theory of difference that is non-oppositional. This logic will be clarified through a discussion of Deleuze's use of modern geometry, and his analysis of the foundations of the calculus. The fourth aim will be to contrast Deleuze's solution with that of Hegel, particularly with respect to their relationships to Kant and the calculus. This is achieved through the Deleuzian distinction between finite and infinite representation, the latter in Deleuze's view characterising the Hegelian attempt to bring the idea of transition into representation itself. Finally, having shown where Deleuze and Hegel differ in their respective projects, the thesis will explore whether either of these philosophies has the resources to provide a refutation of the other with reference to the dialectic of force and the understanding in the henomenology of Spirit, and the problem of the one and the many. (shrink)

All politics (i.e., a collective organised thought-practice), if it is to be emancipatory, must exhibit a dialectic of expressive and excessive thought. The absence of the dialectic implies the absence of a politics. The same point can be made by stressing that, in emancipatory politics, thought and practice are indistinguishable. The dialectic here concerns an emancipatory politics latent in excluded popular African traditions. Such latency means that a potentiality for dialectical thought often already exists within African traditions. (...) Yet it can only be activated in struggle. I show through three examples separated by long periods of time, that Africans—or more accurately some Africans—have successfully activated existing potentials into emancipatory politics by thinking against and beyond the oppressive particularities of interests, place and identity embedded in dominant cultures (such as those typical of civil society today) and have thus emphasised the centrality of universal humanity in the politics of emancipation. (shrink)

Only now can we consider that the question of genuine mythical detachment has been fully clarified. We remember how difficult it was to find the true root of this detachment. We compared mythical detachment with general material detachment and poetic detachment but could not find a satisfactory answer anywhere. All the time we have faced a difficult task: to synthesize the sensuousness, extreme con-creteness, and purely material corporeality of myth with its otherworldly, fabulous, and generally acknowledged "unreal" character. After many (...) attempts we have only now finally found this genuine synthesis in the concept of miracle. Miracle is thus an absolutely necessary dialectical synthesis by which mythical consciousness lives and without which myth itself would not exist. From this point of view, myth's relation to other areas of human creativity also appears in a new light. (shrink)

Dialectical contradictions influence organizational processes in distinct ways and create a unique dynamics in terms of leadership process in entrepreneurialorganizations. We integrate research from charismatic, transformational, and organizational literature, as well as entrepreneurship literature, to create a generalized model of entrepreneurial leadership that is descriptively robust and conceptually distinct from existing concepts. We focus specifically on visionary, transformational, and motivational contradictions of entrepreneurial leadership and conclude by discussing the implications of organizational reconciliation of these three contradictions for leadership research and (...) practice. (shrink)

The concept of democratic freedom refers to more than the kind of freedom embodied by political institutions and procedures. Democratic freedom can only be properly understood if it is grasped as the expression of a culture of freedom that encompasses an entire form of life. Juliane Rebentisch’s systematic and historical approach demonstrates that we can learn a great deal about the democratic culture of freedom from its philosophical critics. From Plato to Carl Schmitt, the critique of democratic culture has always (...) been articulated as a critique of its ãaestheticization“. Rebentisch defends various phenomena of aestheticization Ð from the irony typical of democratic citizens to the theatricality of the political Ð as constitutive elements of democratic culture and the notion of freedom at the heart of its ethical and political self-conception. This work will be of particular interest to students of Political Theory, Philosophy and Aesthetics. (shrink)

The age-old philosophical problem of evil assumes a dialectical explanation in the Yoruba thought system. The Africans, as in the case of the Yoruba, affirm the coexistence of Ibi and Ire in the world without any contradiction. In African theodicy there exists ministers or deities that include such deities as Orisa-nla, who does as he chooses and is responsible for such phenomena as albinos and hunchbacks. He serves in the theocratic government of the Supreme Being, Olodumare. This theocratic hierarchy shows (...) how the Yoruba consequently react to the problem of evil and how it is consistent with the concept of God. Selected excerpts from the Ifa literary corpus show the Yoruba belief that good cannot exist in the world without evil, and vice versa. (shrink)

A man tirelessly looks for answers to numerous questions about deep ontological problems concerning the meaning of life, fundamental reasons or the last things. The aim of the article is to build a theoretical base, on the basis of which one will have opportunity to ask yet further questions, which are relevant in relation to human existence especially for philosophers. The genius requires a huge commitment to get to it. It also involves an internal declaration of continuous self-improvement. Contrary (...) to the philosophers of the era of modernism, I believe that to a greater or lesser extent, every person can potentially be genuine and great. After all in the mechanism and in the specific rhythm of tape improvement of the product as well as in the fiery ideas contemplated by the people of philosophy and art we can find passion for life and creativity People as such do not live in strictly defined internal boundaries and therefore they can constantly develop. If a wider group of philosophers can be interested in the concept of philosophy which is open to current human problems, interested primarily in other people (also in the sense of their huge diversity), then the goal of this essay will eventually be achieved. From the perspective of the possibility of a sense of job satisfaction it does not matter whether someone cooks well or paints beautifully. Everybody can equally develop in the essential sense of self-improvement. The scientific aspirations of the approach to this philosophical problem are fortunately unable to hide the values of human work in general, and especially the work done on oneself, overcoming one's own prejudices and going beyond the previously established conventions. It is only the acquisition of the ability to play freely with what is given to an existence that gives a man the chance to free himself from the shackles of restrictions existing on many levels of culture, religion or art. (shrink)

The present study attempts to trace systematically the key doctrines of the 'Principles' viz. Berkeley's teaching on matter, existence, abstraction, body and mind from their main source in Continental scepticism through the 'Philosophical commentaries' to the beginning of the drafting of the published work in the late autumn of 1708.

The general notion of the development of productive forces is, according to the materialist understanding of history, the point of departure for the solution of numerous concrete problems in Marxist-Leninist social theory and current revolutionary practice. It offers decisive arguments for the critique of Right and "Left" revisionism and reformism. In the course of the disputes that have recently begun in the Marxist economic and philosophical literature with regard to the basic questions involved in this problem, substantial gaps are found (...) specifically in the development of general theory. What is the internal contradiction moving within the forces of production; in what lies the distinction between their existence and essence, essence and appearance? A correct understanding of the processes involved in the resolution of this contradiction in real life, in revolutionary practice, depends upon attaining the utmost clarity with regard to these questions. (shrink)

The Twenty-sixth Congress of the CPSU, which defined the main directions to be taken in the building of communism in the 1980s, gave much attention to problems of further improvement of the socialist way of life and to intensifying the socialization of the people in internationalism and patriotism. the deep analysis of the achievements, problems, and prospects for strengthening the material and intellectual foundations of the socialist way of life contained in the Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU (...) to the congress, delivered by Leonid Il'ich Brezhnev, enriches scientific notions of the essence and the ways of shaping and consolidating the new historical form of human existence. (shrink)

Ovaj ogled razmatra kritiku Kjerkegorovog ucenja o egzistenciji, koju je izneo Teodor V. Adorno u svom habilitacionom spisu Kjerkegor. Konstrukcija estetskog. Polazeci od ove filozofije, Adorno iznosi osnovnu tezu da je Kjerkegor, suprotno svojoj osnovnoj nameri suprotstavljanja Hegelovoj ontologiji, upravo idealista i da sa njegovim radikalnim personalizmom idealisticka filozofija dolazi u poznu fazu dezintegracije. Kjerkegorovo ucenje o?unutrasnjosti bez objekta? pokazuje nerazresive protivrecnosti, ali u fazi?raspadanja? na figurativan nacin otkriva i svoju istorijsku istinu da je on duhovni izraz individualizma gradjanskog doba (...) i otudjenja coveka u modernom drustvu. To otudjenje Kjerkegor vidi kao gubitak?smisla?, koji se ponovo moze zadobiti jedino u veri. Adorno preokrece ovo stanoviste misleci da se Kjerkegorova filozofija najvise priblizava njenoj istini ne u religioznom iskustvu, nego u estetskom. Trazeni smisao se ne moze ponovo pronaci skokom u transcendentno, vec u estetskoj sferi, gde je on utopijski, jer nagovestava privid pomirenog stanja izmedju coveka i prirode. (shrink)

Good and evil are the most general ethical categories from which we can get our bearings in the fundamental philosophical and normative problems of ethics. In the contemporary scholarly literature the interpretation of the good is multifunctional. Good is regarded as a model of morality, as the most general moral requirement or most general moral evaluation, and finally as a practical norm, i.e., a requirement embodied in moral experience, as a unity of the objective and subjective in moral actions. The (...) history of ethical thought was bound to reach this broad, all-embracing conception of the good, indeed, that was the way it went, mastering the content of the category of the good, bit by bit, focusing attention now on one, now on another of its aspects. Hence the most general explanation of the good as a synonym for morality has not at all been the same throughout the different stages in the history of ethical thought. Good, like evil, and like all other ethical categories, had a different compass and different sets of attributes in diverse ethical systems. One must also consider that until modern times, there had never existed a single categorial term to designate morality as a whole. As O. G. Drobnitskii noted, the words "good and evil," "justice," "virtue," and "manners" were often preferred to the concept "morals"; and moreover, each of these words was used to designate not only the particular phenomena within moral philosophy but the entire domain of morals in general. (shrink)

Yang Hsien-chen and other comrades' theory of "combining two into one" consciously uses the bourgeois world view to oppose the proletarian world outlook. It is basically opposed to the philosophy of Marxism. "Marxist philosophy holds that the law of the unity of opposites is the fundamental law of the universe. This law is universally existent in the natural world, human society, and people's thinking." However, the theory of "two into one" declares that "there is nothing in the phenomena of the (...) natural world, or in human society, thought, etc. which is not a case of ‘two combining into one.’" The law of the unity of opposites holds that all things in the world are always dividing into two opposite sides which struggle with each other in a unity. The unity of opposites is conditional and relative, but the struggle of opposites is unconditional and absolute. The theory of "two into one" asserts that "anything is a combination of two into one." "The unity of contradiction only means that the two sides of the contradiction are inseparably connected." However, the law of the unity of opposites holds that "the result of the struggle between the two opposite sides of the contradiction is that there is nothing which cannot be transformed into its opposite under definite conditions" , and "in human society and the natural world, unities are always splitting into different parts." The theory of "two into one" simply regroups the contradictory relationships of things into "two opposite sides indivisibly linked together" , that is, things possess a so-called "inseparability." Since the theory of "two into one" in this way obliterates antagonistic contradictions and the absoluteness of antagonism, it also denies that the antagonism of contradiction must, under certain conditions, lead to the splitting of a unity and the transformation of opposites. (shrink)

Through dialectical critical realism, Roy Bhaskar has made an important contribution to two different theoretical traditions. One is the philosophy of critical realism, where he aims for a more supple and reflexive approach. The other is dialectical theory, which he seeks to undergird and recast by locating on a realist terrain. Here an important question is how recasting affects existing dialectical thought. Bhaskar's own writings focus in this regard on dialectical critical realism's relation to Hegel. This paper addresses it by (...) comparing and contrasting dialectical critical realism with Theodor Adorno's negative dialectics, the approach which probably comes closest to dialectical critical realism. The first two main sections are accordingly directed to developing an account of Bhaskar's dialectical critical realism and comparing it to Adorno's negative dialectics. My argument is that what Bhaskar and Adorno have in common is a commitment to a realist ontology, but that Adorno's account is limited by a competing tendency towards irrealism. This gives his negative dialectics an unstable foundation, and this is brought out by the comparison with dialectical critical realism. The third and fourth sections bring out the implications of this tension for Adorno's account of modern freedom in his Negative Dialectics. Three competing views are identified, and it is argued that these coher on the basis of a realist reading of his analysis. An irrealist reading reduces them to incoherence. (shrink)

A defence of the view that the introduction of transendental idealism, in the Dialectic of Aesthetic Judgment, plays a central role in resolving the antinomy which, as Kant contends, exists in our pure judgments of taste. It is further argued that the link that he holds to exist between the realms of nature and morality (or freedom) can only be successfully made out if transcendental idealism is accepted as underpinning our judgments concerning the beauties of nature.

The massive introduction of artificial intelligence has triggered significant societal concerns, ranging from “technological unemployment” and the dominance of algorithms in the work place and in everyday life, among others. While AI is made by humans and is, therefore, dependent on the latter for its purpose, the increasing capabilities of AI to carry out productive activities for humans can lead the latter to unwitting slavish existence. This has become evident, for example, in the area of social media use, where (...) AI programmers tie psychology and persuasion to the human social need for approval and validation in ways that few users can resist. We argue that AI should serve humans with humans as masters and not the other way around. Moreover, we propose that virtue ethics might play a role to solidify the human as master of AI and guard against the alternative of AI as the master. (shrink)

In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant famously criticizes traditional metaphysics and its proofs of immortality, free will and God's existence. What is often overlooked is that Kant also explains why rational beings must ask metaphysical questions about 'unconditioned' objects such as souls, uncaused causes or God, and why answers to these questions will appear rationally compelling to them. In this book, Marcus Willaschek reconstructs and defends Kant's account of the rational sources of metaphysics. After carefully explaining Kant's conceptions (...) of reason and metaphysics, he offers detailed interpretations of the relevant passages from the Critique of Pure Reason in which Kant explains why reason seeks 'the unconditioned'. Willaschek offers a novel interpretation of the Transcendental Dialectic, pointing up its 'positive' side, while at the same time it uncovers a highly original account of metaphysical thinking that will be relevant to contemporary philosophical debates. (shrink)

Volvemos sobre la tesis salazariana según la cual la cultura peruana y latinoamericana puede ser caracterizada como "cultura de la dominación", con el propósito de ponerla en relación con desarrollos, que el mismo autor realiza en textos posteriores a la publicación del polémico libro titulado ¿Existe una filosofía de nuestra América?. Desarrollos a través de los cuales será posible despejar la pregunta por la función social de la filosofía, seguir de cerca su caracterización de la "cultura de la dominación" y (...) comprender las categorías dicotómicas "dominación / liberación" en el marco de una peculiar tensión dialéctica. Todos estos elementos convergen en su formulación de un humanismo emergente. We turn back on the salazarian thesis according to which the Peruvian and Latin-American culture can be characterized as "culture of domination", for the purpose of positioning it in relation with developments, which the same author carries out in texts after the publication of the controversial book entitled ¿Existe una filosofía de nuestra América?. Developments across which it will be possible to clear the question for the social function of philosophy, to closely follow his characterization of the "culture of domination" and to understand the dichotomous categories "domination/liberation" in the context of a peculiar dialectic tension. All these elements converge on his formulation of an emerging humanism. (shrink)