Despre subversiune și apologia naturii în istoria epistemologiei
On subversion and the apology of nature in the history of epistemology

Goethe and Blaga, guardians of the world’s corolla of wonders

Summary/Abstract: Epistemology is supposed to explain how science works in theory as well as in practice. But a discipline which reflects on the way science works also reflects on the status of science as a part of culture, i.e. it implicitly handles the question whether science is or is not more rational and efficient than other areas of culture such as myths, religious systems, the arts or the human sciences. The following article can be broken down into two main parts. In the first part (section I), I argue that epistemological theories can be exploited ideologically according to the way they relate to science and that many popular epistemologists of the 20th century (such as Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos or Feyerabend) tend to subvert the idea of science as a rational, self-contained enterprise. Although these theories do not damage the reputation of science in my opinion, they are subversive in that they help weaken the claim that science should be deemed the most rational form of knowledge at man’s disposal. In the second part of the article (sections II and III) I will present a special form of epistemological subversion, one that recognizes knowledge itself as a violent act (i.e. as a potential threat to nature), thus taking into account „nature’s point of view” as well. This type of subversion can be found in the views of science put forward by poets such as Johann Wolfgang Goethe or Lucian Blaga. In the synopsis, I bring together the aspects discussed in all three sections, emphasizing the idea that every epistemological theory implicitly deals with the fears which may derive from the domination of science over other forms of knowledge.

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