Article/Publication Details

WHY PHENOMENOLOGY COULD NOT COMMIT THE LINGUISTIC TURN?

Abstract
Frege and Husserl are traditionally regarded as the precursors of the linguistic turn; however, the importance of their ideas for this event still is not fully comprehended. This article contributes to such comprehension: the principles of the linguistic turn in its analytical interpretation provided by Rorty are applied as an indicator revealing the commonality and difference of Frege’s and Husserl’s positions regarding key issues of their concepts. The connection of the philosophers’ ideas with the linguistic turn is viewed in the context of their interpretation of predicativity, propositionality, contextuality of meaning, and ways of categorization. The analysis conducted gives rise to distinguishing between Frege’s and Husserl’s referential schemes. It is based on the differences in the characteristics of the connection between perception and predication. In conclusion, the arguments against Frege’s and Husserl’s involvement in the linguistic turn are emphasized. These arguments stem from the idea of the primacy of sense over language fundamental for both philosophers who proceed from the fact that certain a priori logical relations underlie utterances or other acts. There is a more solid argument which does not allow considering Frege’s and Husserl’s legacies as its source. This argument consists in the fact that they regard sense as an objective, communicable, and universal phenomenon independent of its carriers, not inherently linguistic, and pre-logical which is due to its intentional nature according to Husserl and logical “indecomposability” of concepts according to Frege.

Keywords
meaning, sense, reference, contextuality, propositionality, meaning-conferring act.

References

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Article/Publication Details

ALEXANDRE KOJÈVE
NOTE ON HEGEL AND HEIDEGGER

Abstract
This article aims to contextualize and problematize Alexandre Kojève’s Note on Hegel and Heidegger, written in 1936 and unpublished during his lifetime, which is being introduced into Russian-language scholarship. A translation of the Note is published in the same issue with the permission of the copyright holders. This paper provides a general introduction to Kojève’s philosophy, illustrates possible reading strategies for Kojève and the place of the translated Note in his corpus of the philosopher’s texts, and describes the philosophical and historical circumstances of the text, namely that it was composed as an extension of a review on Tragische Existenz. Zur Philosophie Martin Heidegger by Alfred Delp written and published by Kojève that same year in Recherches philosophique. The article reconstructs the lines of reference that are essential to understanding Alexandre Kojève and provides a critique of certain statements. Finally, on the basis of an analysis of Kojève’s language, it offers a broader thesis on the epistemological problems of Kojève’s philosophy, the discovery of which led him to make a series of debatable statements in the philosophy of history (on the necessity for the philosopher to participate in the realization of the end of history), in anthropology (on the difference between people in their capacity to be philosophers or sages depending on a philosophical and religious attitude that is not entirely dependent on them), and in his decision to leave academia and turn to the ideological and diplomatic provision of economic integration of European states during the Cold War.

Keywords
translation, french neo-hegelianism, Hegel, Heidegger, phenomenology, worldview, Befindlichkeit, philosophy of history.

References

• Delp, A. (1935). Tragische Existenz. Zur Philosophie Martin Heideggers. Fribourg-en-Brisgau: Herder and Co.
• Fichte, J. G. (1993). Works in Two Volumes. Vol. 1. Rus. Ed. St Petersburg: Mifril Publ. (In Russian)
• Hegel, G. W. F. (1913). Sämtliche Werke. Bd. 7 (G. Lasson, Ed.). Leipzig: Meiner.
• Hegel, G. W. F. (1920). Sämtliche Werke. Bd. 5 (G. Lasson, Ed.). Leipzig: Meiner.
• Hegel, G. W. F. (1921). Sämtliche Werke. Bd. 2 (G. Lasson, Ed.). Leipzig: Meiner.
• Hegel, G. W. F. (1931). Sämtliche Werke. Bd. 20 (G. Lasson, Ed.). Leipzig: Meiner.
• Hegel, G. W. F. (1932). Sämtliche Werke. Bd. 19 (G. Lasson, Ed.). Leipzig: Meiner.
• Hegel, G. W. F. (1970). Works of Different Years in Two Volumes. Vol. 1. Rus. Ed. Moscow: Mysl’ Publ. (In Russian)
• Hegel, G. W. F. (1978). Political Writings (M. Levina, Trans.). Rus. Ed. Moscow: Nauka Publ. (In Russian)
• Hegel, G. W. F. (1986). Jenaer Systementwürfe. Bd. I. Das System der spekulativen Philosophie. Hamburg: Felix Meiner.
• Hegel, G. W. F. (2000). Phenomenology of Mind (G. G. Shpet, Trans.). Rus. Ed. Moscow: Nauka Publ. (In Russian)
• Kojève, A. (1993). Note sur Hegel et Heidegger. Rue Descartes, 7, 35–46.
• Kojève, A. (1998). Idea of Death in Philosophy of Hegel (I. Fomin, Trans.). Rus. Ed. Moscow: Logos, Progress-Traditsiya Publ. (In Russian)
• Kojève, A. (2003). Introduction to the Reading of Hegel (A. G Pogonyailo, Trans.). Rus. Ed. St. Petersburg: Nauka Publ. (In Russian)
• Kojève, A. (2007). Atheism, and Other Papers (A. M. Rutkevich et al, Trans.). Rus. Ed. Moscow: Praksis Publ. (In Russian)
• Koyré, A. (1999). Philosophical Evolution of Martin Heidegger. Logos, 20 (10), 113–136. Retrieved from http://goo.gl/BZAYnC (In Russian)

Article/Publication Details

THE PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION OF AL. KOJÈVE’S ARTICLE “NOTE ON HEGEL AND HEIDEGGER”
KOJÈVE’S NOTE IN-AND-FOR-ITSELF

Abstract
This article aims to contextualize and problematize Alexandre Kojève’s Note on Hegel and Heidegger, written in 1936 and unpublished during his lifetime, which is being introduced into Russian-language scholarship. A translation of the Note is published in the same issue with the permission of the copyright holders. This paper provides a general introduction to Kojève’s philosophy, illustrates possible reading strategies for Kojève and the place of the translated Note in his corpus of the philosopher’s texts, and describes the philosophical and historical circumstances of the text, namely that it was composed as an extension of a review on Tragische Existenz. Zur Philosophie Martin Heidegger by Alfred Delp written and published by Kojève that same year in Recherches philosophique. The article reconstructs the lines of reference that are essential to understanding Alexandre Kojève and provides a critique of certain statements. Finally, on the basis of an analysis of Kojève’s language, it offers a broader thesis on the epistemological problems of Kojève’s philosophy, the discovery of which led him to make a series of debatable statements in the philosophy of history (on the necessity for the philosopher to participate in the realization of the end of history), in anthropology (on the difference between people in their capacity to be philosophers or sages depending on a philosophical and religious attitude that is not entirely dependent on them), and in his decision to leave academia and turn to the ideological and diplomatic provision of economic integration of European states during the Cold War.

Keywords
translation, french neo-hegelianism, Hegel, Heidegger, phenomenology, worldview, Befindlichkeit, philosophy of history.

References

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Article/Publication Details

PHENOMENOLOGY OF MUSICAL UNDERSTANDING: THE CASE OF ROCK MUSIC

Abstract
The article deals with the problem of understanding the meaning of music on the example of rock music. The purpose of the article is to find a criterion for such an understanding. For this purpose, the question is considered as to what musical meaning is. Since rock compositions usually have a short length and one explicit melody, it can be said that musical understanding is the grasping of this melody. The question arises as to what it means to grab a melody, and whether it means the ability to sing it. Not necessarily, it turns out–rather, it means capturing its pattern. The idea that music is a language is rejected: music does not have external meaning. The article discusses several examples of the “translation” of one melody into another style or mode. In such a translation the hyletic data changes, but the pattern remains. This is associated with the preservation of musical meaning and musical thought. The most important criterion of musical understanding is the existential experience of the melody. To understand music, to grasp its meaning, the listener must be open, that is, be ready to perceive music as an aesthetic object. At the moment of listening, music is a saturated phenomenon, because it completely fills its horizon. Any other, alternative music is impossible. The problem of corporeality in the perception of music is examined. It is especially important in rock music, which usually has a clear rhythm. The pattern of the melody also has a spatial character, which refers to corporality. Here we can talk about a certain “resonance” of external music with the inner musical world of the listener.

Keywords
phenomenology of music, rock music, saturated phenomenon, understanding of music, music and culture.

References

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Article/Publication Details

HUSSERL’S LANGUAGE OF NEUTRALITY

Abstract
Husserl intended the phenomenological method as a new beginning for philosophy. The epoché, the key notion of this method, entails a modification of attitude such that it can completely cancel and disempower all that might be given to us and that might be used for philosophical inquiry. In Ideas I, in particular, this is addressed as the “neutrality modification,” and defined as a universal modification of consciousness that permeates the phenomenological attitude. Neutralization, along with the method, is described by relying on what Husserl calls the “language of neutrality,” which is actually spoken while investigating in the phenomenological attitude, enacted in the descriptions, and also discloses a series of rather peculiar acts that must be performed in order to obtain the phenomenological attitude. This paper discusses the phenomenological language of neutrality, first presenting what “neutrality” means, as well as illustrating the essential expressions of this peculiar language (such as “to put out of action,” “to bracket,” “to suspend,” and so on), then situating it in the context of phenomenological analyses, particularly as regards those devoted to phantasy experiences. Finally, going back to early interpretations of Husserl’s transcendental philosophy, notably the critical readings provided by Levinas and Fink, some key features of the method of epoché are pointed out, suggesting that the study of the specific neutrality involved in the latter can contribute to answering the question of what kind of act epoché is, and if it can even be considered an act at all.

Keywords
Edmund Husserl, phenomenology, methodology, epoché, neutrality, phantasy, language.

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