OPRAVDANJE GRAĐANSKOG NEPOSLUHA

Author(s): John Rawls / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

Author discusses the grounds of civil disobedience in a constitutional democracy. In that regard, thoughts on the conditions under which the legally established democratic authority be opposed by act of civil disobedience are limited to that framework. Author claims that in a reasonably just democratic regime, civil disobedience, when it is justified, is normally to be understood as a political action which addresses the sense of justice of the majority in order to urge reconsideration of the measures protested and to warn that in the firm opinion of the dissenters the conditions of social cooperation are not being honored.

POLITIČKI LIBERALIZAM JOHNA RAWLSA

Author(s): Asim Mujkić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

Conscious of the fact that, regrettably, Rawls is not well known in academic and wider circles in Bosnia, the author attempts to offer an introductory review of Rawls’ philosophical development. A fairly comprehensive context is outlined through a number of interesting details from Rawls’ biography, as well as the basic terminology developed in his philosophy, in particular in his Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism; a context within which, the author claims, any thinking with pretensions to relevancy in contemporary cultural and political studies would have to be developed. The author also offers a few hypotheses for a redirection of focus in reading Rawls and understanding liberalism in general. This redirection is Leftist. The author claims that now, more than ever, it is important to save Rawls’ liberalism from globalist Neoliberalism, by insisting on the significance of the Difference Principle, and on giving up the metaphysical grounding of liberalist doctrine. Rawls’ resolute turn from the metaphysical to the political sets plausible alternative contexts for postmodern politics at the turn of the century. Giving up foundationalist intentions confers the legitimacy of historical positioning and the possibility of a revision of political conceptions. This legitimacy has been repeatedly denied by current apologists of Neoliberalism, who essentialize Rawls’ insights into their obscure theories about “the end of history” and human development. On the other hand, the author raises a provocative question, in common with certain communitarian interpreters: is talk about civic virtue, so strongly advocated by Rawls, in fact talk about a desirable, valuable concept of the good life? In other words, is the concept of political liberalism also a concept of comprehensive doctrines – one of the most inclusive and open, but for all that a comprehensive doctrine? Even if it were so, the author claims, such an interpretation does not diminish the enormous emanicipatory power of Rawls’ thought.

PRASCENE STRANOG

Author(s): Bernhard Waldenfels / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

This paper uses Freud’s psychoanalytic term the Ur-scene to confront the problem of the radically alien, which cannot be derived from the self nor integrated into any kind of commonality. In psychoanalysis, the Ur-scene is a traumatic experience played out before the subject who experienced it had become aware of his own selfhood. In this sense, alienness should be understood as something innate to the self. Taking as his starting point the fundamental motifs of modernity, the contingency of order, the self, and the Other, the author differentiates between diverse forms of alienness, the ecstatic, the duplicative, and the extraordinary, and concludes by drawing attention to the need for a policy in regard to alienness that would itself be permeated by the alien.

SKEPTICIZAM I KRITIKA FUNDAMENTALIZMA

Author(s): Arif Tanović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

VIĐENJE POSTMODERNOGA IZ KRITIKE EAGLETONA

Author(s): Dubravka Pozderac-Lejlić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

Interest in the postmodern, in the case of this author, manifests itself predominantly as an interest in problems, and the impossibility of a full and exhaustive definition of the range and scope of this concept which, on the one hand, indicates its distancing from the institutions of modernity and the presence of an awareness of transition into another form of social system in which doubts are expressed concerning the traditional postulates of the truth, intellect and identity; and on the other, uses the same term to designate a form of sovereign culture, certain styles and movements that reflect some of these shifts. In his endeavours to detect and critique the concept of the postmodern, refraining from mere apologetics but also guarding against the dry-as-dust approach of armchair critics, the author uses and quotes the observations and insights of Terry Eagleton’s critical thought which, fearful of postmodernity’s sliding into irrationalism and relativism, is keen not to repudiate its responsibility towards the future and vision of the possibility of a better and more just world.

DANTOOVO PITANJE

Author(s): Fatima Lačević / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

Arthur Danto’s philosophy of art deals with the relationship between art and reality with the aim of discovering how an object or figure from real life passes into the world of the imagination, the way in which art transforms the mundane to give it a new modus of existence different from that modus of existence of items of practical use. Of course, the question of the relationship between art and reality is not a new one, but is age-old; Arthur Danto gives it new youth by enquiring into the relationship between the objects we use in our day-to-day lives and their artistic transformation. A work by pop-artist Andy Warhol, the well-known, and controversial, Brillo Box, is taken by this aesthetician as a serious example in support of the argument that an essential difference is to be discovered between the object – a box of cleaning pads on the supermarket shelf – and the artistic transformation of the same object in an exhibition. Danto explains the mode of existence of this artistic phenomenon. The aesthetician thus raises the issue of traditional aesthetics in the light of contemporary artistic practice – the world of art. The ontological difference between a work of art and mere objects in the interpretation of an art work is also constituted so as to give Danto’s philosophy of art the stamp of the kind of reflection on the artistic that leads, in self-scrutiny, to an awareness of the very structure of art. The aesthetician’s point of departure, why art is, or is not, a matter of philosophical reflection, is thus elaborated within the interconnection of all the leading topics of aesthetics, from Plato’s theory of imitation to Hegel’s vision of the end of art, Heidegger and the guide to hermeneutics, so as to give new life to the fundamental questions of the philosophy of art that have not been wholly rejected by new artistic practice.

DE GUSTIBUS EST DISPUTANDUM

Author(s): Predrag Finci / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

The essay addresses the maxim De gustibus non est disputandum, which claimed to resolve every aesthetic dispute by eliminating them with the use of something that did not attempt to explain anything. In claiming that there is nothing to discuss in matters of taste, one is speaking of oneself – one’s taste reveals and represents oneself – and not about nature, existence and the modalities of the work. These are beyond “liking” and “not liking”, beyond “pleasing”, beyond undebatable taste, in which there is neither reflection nor a coherent attitude to the work, and as such remain a relevant judgment only for the person who holds them. One can and should discuss matters of values. They themselves – particularly as the open values of an open work – demand it of us.

EMPEDOKLO I HÖELDERLIN

Author(s): Željko Škuljević / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

Although separated by many centuries, the poetosophy of Empedocles of Agrigente and that of J. H. F. Hölderlin, the last great “Hellenic” poet, are strikingly similar. Both are friends of the gods, and their poetry has cosmic resonance, ever reverberating with the universe. The awareness that they belong to the universal spirit never leaves them for even a second, so that their every word is given universal meaning, every truth made “objective”. When listening to them, it is as if we are hearing the Logos speaking to itself. Even silence has the dignity of speech, drawing them ever closer until they merge into a single voice, the voice of the Logos itself.

INFLACIJA IDEJA KULTURE

Author(s): Terry Eagleton / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

In a conversation following the publication of his selected works for the American market, Professor Terry Eagleton, literary critic and author with a Marxist background, speaks of the beginnings and evolution of cultural studies in Great Britain, his exemplars – the works of Raymond Williams and Louis Althusser – his disagreements with and at times harsh criticism of some of the most influential authors of postmodern and post-colonial discourse, his political interests and commitment to the problems of Ireland, his extensive writings as critic and author, and the topicality and indispensability of an on-going critique of culture and of the very concept of culture in the world and the environment in which we live.

FENOMENOLOGIJA KAO FILOZOFIJA ISKUSTVA

Author(s): Samir Arnautović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

ASPEKTI FENOMENOLOŠKOG ISHODIŠTA FILOZOFIJSKOG MIŠLJENJA KOD BERNHARDA WALDENFELSA

Author(s): Samir Arnautović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 04/2003

Waldenfels’ thematization of modernity, beginning with an insight into the tradition of philosophical thought, presents modernity in alienation as the central feature of its entire history. Various aspects of philosophical thought, different motives and possibilities of reflecting on reality intermingle here. Experience thus appears as the locus of encounter with the world, the place from which the living world develops in all the directions that realistically define it. In this thematization, the alien appears as the dynamic force of the self, which makes experience its own premise for the encounter with the world. Thus it is that the thematization of modernity, understood through alienation, manifests itself in Waldenfels in one meaning of the initial potential for philosophical thought, where philosophy has both the need and the responsibility to respond to the requirement to understand the quotidian.

Lov – sport ili destrukcija? - Tragom misli Joséa Ortege y Gasseta

Author(s): Tomislav Krznar / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/115/2009

It is possible, in the context of contemplating relation of philosophy and sport, to think on the phenomenon of hunting. Hunting is one of the most important formative forces in human development. Although hunting is not the most important food collectable tool any more, it is still present in human life in the form of leisure. In this paper we are trying to follow thoughts of Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset on the subject of hunting. In his Meditations on Hunting Gasset tries to show an inseparable connection of man and nature, especially through the hunting. For the contemporary human it is important to preserve hunting, even as a sport, although according to Ortega hunting is much more than sport, because without the hunting, human life is not complete. In this context we can ask if the hunting is a way of remaining near the nature, or just one in many other modes of destruction of nature. Although this paper is not trying to analyze the social or moral acceptability of hunting in contemporary society, it focuses on the critique of Ortega’s positions.

Istina u umjetnosti - Refleksije o spoznajnim aspektima vizualne umjetnosti

Author(s): Katarina Rukavina / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/115/2009

The theorizing of seeing and visible has been a typical and essentially defining philosophical problem since the very beginning of philosophy. Plato and Aristotle define the basic ways of approaching to reality. Whether it is considered to be illusion (idealism) or sensory givenness (materialism), it always remains presented. We try to analyze different aspects which point out the cognitive side of visual arts (painting above all) and which we recognize as consciousness of reality. The historical development of art, considering its cognitive character, appears explicitly with Hegel for the first time. The necessary consequence of such development, according to Hegel, is so called the end of art which means that art emerging does not correspond to its ultimate definition and meaning. His prediction of the death of art can be seen in the major part of the 20th century art, which abandons mimetic presentation and aims at abstraction and the destruction of visual in narrow sense. In spite of that, we are going to try to present even such an approach as the presentation of something or as making something visible. That “something” is, in our opinion, nothing else but the consciousness of reality.

Filozofijske dimenzije kineske gimnastike (daoyin xingqi 導引行氣) - Tjelovježba kao stvaralačko oponašanje

Author(s): Ivana Buljan / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/115/2009

Chinese gymnastics, daoyin xingqi 導引行氣, practised daily by millions of Chinese people, originates from ancient China and is rooted in shamanistic ritual dances. It is based on body movemements which imitate the movements of animals. Literally translated, daoyin xingqi means “guiding, pulling and moving qi 氣” i.e. the all-permeating vital spirit. Gymnastics in Chinese tradition, therefore, was never considered to be just a body exercise but also a form of cultivating the vital spirit, qi. Gymnastics, however, is the important medium of harmonizing man with heaven (tian 天) and earth (di 地). By reading of Warring States (zhan guo 戰國) and Han 漢 dynasty writings, as well as the the oldest excavated visual representation of gymnastics in China “Daoyin chart” (Daoyintu 導引圖), in this exposure analysis will be on the understanding of gymnastics in the early Chinese culture. The interpretation of Chinese gymnastics will be set forth within the paradigm of change which shaped Chinese vision of cosmos. Special emphasis will be given to the connection between gymnastics and the concept of sheng 生, which means life, as well as birth, creation, renewal.

Utopija i njezini doprinosi suvremenim razmatranjima roda

Author(s): Ana Maskalan / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/115/2009

This article discusses the concept and history of utopia with an emphasis on the modern forms of gender utopias. Although it can be said that utopian thought is inherent to humans, today the word ‘utopia’ is generally used in a pejorative meaning of an illusion and/or political concept whose actualization necessarily leads to some form of totalitarianism. These assumptions originated from etymological, historical and conceptional dilemmas associated with utopian theoretical and practical realizations. Describing utopia in terms of critique, hope and imagination as well as linking it with the concept of Mannheim’s active utopia it is possible to find in it elements that can be used for dealing with modern gender and ecological problems. As an example are given feminist utopias in which were tested different gender theories and practices and were suggested solutions for creating not ideal or completed but improved worlds, that is, worlds that allow improvement.

Koliko nam fašizma preostaje nakon Auschwitza? - Uz (auto)imunizacijsku paradigmu Roberta Esposita

Author(s): Marijan Krivak / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/115/2009

This article examines socio-political consequences of the heritage of one of the historical totalitarian concepts. It is a phenomenon of “fascism”. Does fascism have any theoretical, but also practical actuality in the contemporary “new world order”? With the pre-assumption that it is the matter of fact, certain argumentation strategies of explanation of the appearance of fascism in present days are imposed. Question in the title paraphrases titles of two important books. It is a book by Giorgio Agamben, Remnants of Auschwitz, and a collection of essays by Rastko Močnik, collected under the title How Much Fascism? This article tries to elaborate this selfimposed subject through the issue of “biopolitics”. For this purpose, as an inspiring model, the theory of immunization/immunitarity presented by the Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito is used. Through that theory a structural inevitability of fascism in the framework of neo-liberalism shows itself in the (auto)immunitarian paradigm. The “quantitative” reduction of fascism is related to the policy of solidarity and public sphere (through the community).

Olimpizam s kineskim karakteristikama: interkulturni problem

Author(s): Helena Motoh / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/115/2009

The 100th anniversary of the revival of the Olympic idea questioned the Europeanness of the Olympic ideal in the globalised reality – the 1996 centennial Olympics were given to the hometown of Coca-Cola Company, and it wasn’t until 2004 that Athens got the chance to celebrate the anniversary, while the 2008 Olympics went to China. In Chinese context the Olympic ideology was refurbished into a celebration of the glorious Chinese tradition. The paper analyses the issues brought about by this last Olympic Games and examines them through the perspective of intercultural philosophy. First, the idea of Greek origin of the Olympics is analysed in its immanent late 19th century Eurocentrist context and compared to its Chinese re-interpretation. Secondly, the ideas of cultivation of body are compared in the two traditions (olympism and Chinese thought) with special attention given to the connection between self-cultivation and the interests of the country/nation. Finally, the Olympic ideology is analysed through its attitude towards inter-cultural issues and the Beijing 2008 Olympics are interpreted as an indication of a paradigm shift in the Olympics ideology.

Znak, značenje i vlastito ime: kontroverzna mjesta u Derridaovom diskurzu

Author(s): Kristina Peternai Andrić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/115/2009

In his numerous works the French philosopher Jacques Derrida deconstructed the idea of a stable structure of language by affirming that words have no general meanings and that they do not refer to objects which would possess some essential qualities; according to him, no sign can once and for all be linked with some precise description or content. However, paradoxically, Derrida questions the accuracy of these statements when speaking about the category of proper names. On several occasions he presents such names as if they were an inner essence of the subject, treating them as if they implied fixed and precise descriptions/contents, or in other words defining them as an immutable, independent-of-context sign capable of delivering an unambiguous message to a recipient. Thus the question of proper names reveals itself as being an aporic question for Derrida.

Bioetički osvrt na filozofiju Nikolaja A. Berdjajeva - Promišljanje degradacije duhovnosti i bîti tehnike u prijelomu epoha

Author(s): Marija Selak / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/115/2009

The problem of the turn of epochs is debated once more nowadays. Contemporary discussions on bioethics once again pose this very question. Bioethics as such was created as a moral and civilisational response to the new historical situation. In that context one needs to analyze, on the one hand, both the problem of the turn of epochs and the prediction of the new Middle Ages proposed by Russian philosopher N. A. Berdyayev and, on the other hand, the emergence of bioethics which raised the question of the turn of epochs for the second time. Will we really reach the new epoch, what will it look like, what and in which form shall we transmit from the present epoch? These questions ultimately depend on the state of the human spirit which can be deciphered from man’s relation to technology, taking into account the strong interactive role which technology plays in our daily lives. Bearing in mind that the relation between the man and the machine is one of the crucial bioethical issues, this question of technology should be analyzed from Berdyayev’s relation between the man and the machine, but also within Heidegger’s analysis of the essence of technology. Similarly to Berdyayev, Heidegger states that technology must not be contradicted or denied, but rather, changed in a way to serve the human spirit – which is entrusted with the task of understanding the saving elements. The spirit of the modern man is the spirit of the divine-like creature (in the sense of the power of creation). It is the spirit of a man who, with the help of a developed machine can challenge nature (Heidegger), but this same machine, which serves him as a means, has evolved to the point that it can challenge the man. In this context it seems essential to turn to bioethics. It is precisely bioethics which, thanks to its pluri-perspective methodology, takes credit for covering different systems of values to direct the present system in the right way and protect the future system and the future in general. However, the questions remain whether bioethics will stay the only positive example among the multitude of negative signs and predictions, whether it will lead us to a new, yet unknown, epoch and whether we will take seriously the principle of responsibility which leads us to the threshold of the bioethical epoch and whether the change in the spirit of the present-day man, triggered by the bioethical thinking, can change technology to make it subordinate to the human spirit.

O Heideggerovom nacizmu

Author(s): Richard Rorty / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 17-18/2006