The death of god and laughter of Man Cover Image

Śmierć Boga, śmiech człowieka
The death of god and laughter of Man

Author(s): Marcin Smerda
Subject(s): Philosophy, Philosophical Traditions, Metaphysics, Existentialism, Analytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Hermeneutics
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego
Keywords: Michel Foucault; Georges Bataille; Friedrich Nietzsche; the death of man; the death of God; laughter; creativity

Summary/Abstract: Author of the article starts with a question about the meaning of the activity that is writing. He looks for answers in ‘The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences’ by Michel Foucault, which – according to the author – emerged from the experience of the laughter, triggered by the book of Jorge Louis Borges, in which he included an excerpt from the Chinese encyclopedia describing the classification of animals. The author is analyzing this phenomenon in detail, inter alia in the context of what about the laughter thought Georges Bataille, who greatly inspired Foucault. However, the author does not end his deliberation with an answer to the question: ‘Why Foucault wrote ‘The Order of Things’’, where the philosopher announced ‘the death of man’ for the first time. He is trying to go deeper and answer the question: ‘why the man had to die?’

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 31
  • Page Range: 117-133
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Polish