The Plurivocal Character of Hermeneutics – Moving beyond the Quest for Objectivity

As a science, hermeneutics started out in the area of theology. Dealing with revealed texts, the interpreters would be interested in searching out for the authorial intent. Therefore, one could say that, at its beginnings, the interpretation was concerned with discovering the meaning that was already there, namely the meaning intended by the author. However, the history of Christian thoughts reveals that the schools of interpretations did not agree on the methods of hermeneutics. Things are not different now, except for the fact that it is much harder for the interpreter to reach the authorial intent due to the time gap. Though objectivity in interpretation is desirable, as it keeps the interpreters away from far off interpretations, it is impossible to achieve. In this article I underline the plurivocal character of hermeneutics as a result of interactions among the participants in the act of interpretation: the author, the text and the reader. While the first two keep the interpreter within some objective perimeters, the reader would never be a passive recipient of a text. The goal of hermeneutics is transformational rather than informational. Thus, the interpreter moves from the quest for objectivity to ontolog

Kant on the Peculiarity of the Human Understanding and the Antinomy of the Teleological Power of Judgment

Kant argues in the Critique of the Teleological Power of Judgment that the first stage in resolving the problem of teleology is conceiving it correctly. He explains that the conflict between mechanism and teleology, properly conceived, is an antinomy of the power of judgment in its reflective use regarding regulative maxims, and not an antinomy of the power of judgment in its determining use regarding constitutive principles. The matter in hand does not concern objective propositions regarding the possibility of objects or actual features of certain objects, namely, organisms. It is rather a methodological issue as to the appropriate way to explain the generation, development, and function of organisms. Taken in this manner as subjective maxims guiding the explanation and inquiry of organisms, the principles of mechanism and teleology need not necessarily be seen as contradictorily opposed but instead can be combined in the study of organisms. This, however, is not enough to complete the analysis of the antinomy of the teleological power of judgment. In order to show that there is an antinomy in this case, Kant has to establish that both seemingly conflicting maxims are necessary and natural to the human mind. He does it by grounding them in the ‘special character’ or peculiarity (Eigentümlichkeit) of the human understanding. However, it is not entirely clear just what exactly this peculiarity of the human understanding is. Paul Guyer argues that Kant suggests two different accounts of the peculiarity of the human intellect. According to one account, this peculiarity consists in the fact that our understanding forms general concepts and according to another, in its propensity to proceed from the parts to the whole. I will argue in this paper that Kant puts forward a single account, in which the combination of these two features demonstrate the peculiarity of the human understanding manifested in the encounter with organisms. This account explains the necessity of the regulative maxims of mechanism and teleology, and thus completes Kant’s analysis of the antinomy of the teleological power of judgment

"Ein Wahnsinniger, der die Fakultäten vermischt" : interdisciplinarity and Ingeborg Bachmann's Das Buch Franza

This paper seeks to demonstrate the ways in which Bachmann's work constitutes a prime case for examining the scope and the boundaries of philological research. It does so by focusing on Bachmann‘s fragmentary and unfinished novel, "Das Buch Franza" [1965-1966], exploring the text and its author in an interdisciplinary light. Forming part of Bachmann's uncompleted "Todesarten"-Projekt, "Das Buch Franza" deals with the continuing legacy of fascism and its displaced forms in the post-war era. In its thematisation of the traumatic and necessarily belated after-effects of the Second World War and the Holocaust, Bachmann‘s text draws on various disciplines and discourses, namely geology, archaeology and psychoanalysis. I consider the ways in which the interdisciplinary ambitions of the text reflect Bachmann‘s struggle for a new form of representation, one that adequately mirrors the concerns of her society. Finally, drawing on Bachmann‘s own theoretical reflections on the field of literary study in her Frankfurt Lectures on poetics, I trace the ways in which the author's work repeatedly encourages us to adopt multiple disciplinary perspectives, as well as privileging literature with a utopian function that exceeds any generic or disciplinary boundaries

Correlations Between Deaf-Muteness and Cephalometric Characteristics in Adults

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess any existing correlations between the phonatory function obviously affected in deaf-mute patients and dento-maxillary and/or facial anomalies. Material and Methods: The study comprised 55 deaf-mute patients (28 males and 27 females) aged between 23 and 76 from 2 cities of Romania, belonging to the Hearing Deficiency Persons’ Association. 13 were edentulous. Each patient was clinically and radiographically assessed. We applied computer assisted interpretetation of the profile teleradiographies using AudaxCeph and Scanora Lite 3.2.6 software for the following parameters: SNA, SNB, ANB, SN/ML, FH/ML, NL/ML, NL/+1 and ML/-1 angles, Ls-ELine, Li-ELine, UP and LP distances.The data was compared to normal values as referred to in the mentioned computer programs by using Student’s t-tests and the Bland Altman plot. Results: The following characteristics were identified as being statistically different from the normal values: SN/ML with a mean of -5,5°, FH/ML by 6,2°, NL/ML with -5,2°, Ls-ELine by -4,2 mm and Li-ELine with a mean of -3,7 mm. Conclusions: Deaf-mute patients tend to present hypodivergent vertical skeletal patterns, anterior mandibular growth/rotation and skeletal deep bite and also protruded lips, aspects which must be taken into consideration when commencing an orthodontic treatment

The Priesthood of All Believers and Other Pious Myths

(excerpt) Now, to be sure, this was not the first time this had happened to me. I looked for the friendship between Luther and Melanchthon and discovered that they were colleagues not friends. Then, I found that the four “classical” marks of the church—one, holy, catholic, and apostolic—were the inventions of nineteenth-century Anglo-Catholics! I wanted to discuss Luther’s comments on the “orders of creation,” only to discover they were the construct of a nineteenth-century German Lutheran ethicist

Phänomen der grenze im lexisch-semantischen feld „raum“ von dem deutschen computerdiskurs

Der Artikel behandelt zwei Besonderheiten der Existenz des Phänomens „ Grenze “ im lexisch-semantischen Feld „Raum “ von dem deutschen Computerdiskurs: die Grenze zwischen dem Objekt und dem Hintergrund im Diskurs und die Grenze als die Ursache der Entstehung von dem Diskurs

Christologie im Kontext des Lebens und der Religion der Balinesen

Das Neue Testament bezeugt, daß es eine verblüffende Anzahl von Möglichkeiten gibt, Christus zu sehen und zu begreifen. So wird er beschrieben wie ihn Matthäus, Lukas, Jo-hannes, Petrus, Jakobus und Paulus jeweils verstehen. In der Kirchengeschichte gibt es Christus in der Version von Justin Martyr, von Irenäus, Origenes, Augustinus, Anselm, Thomas von Aquin, von Luther, Calvin, Schleiermacher, Barth, Bultmann, Bonhoeffer und vielen anderen. Wie es einen Kranz unterschiedlicher Christusverständnisse gibt, so existieren auch viele verschiedene Kirchen: Katholiken, Orthodoxe, Lutheraner, Calvinis-ten, Baptisten, Freikirchen und sektiererische Kirchen. Die moderne Welt wird in vier Blöcke aufgeteilt. Deshalb wird Christus auf viererlei Weise verstanden. Die Erste Welt besteht aus Menschen, die in vorrangig kapitalistischen und wohlhabenden Gesellschaften des westlichen Blocks leben. Sie dürften eine Version von Christus haben. Die Zweite Welt besteht aus Menschen, die in den relativ wohlhabenden Gesellschaften des Ostblocks oder der sozialistischen Länder leben. Sie dürften eine andere Version von Christus haben. Die Dritte und Vierte Welt besteht aus Menschen, die in Ent-wicklungs- oder unterentwickelten Ländern wohnen - als Arme, die von der Hand in den Mund leben. Sie dürften Christus in wieder einer anderen Weise als die Menschen, die in in erfolgreichen und wohlhabenden Gesellschaften leben, sehen. In der Ersten und Zweiten Welt werden die Menschen Christus wohl vorrangig als Befreier von dieser materialisti-schen Welt und ihren egoistischen Tendenzen sich vorstellen. In der Dritten und Vierten Welt dagegen betrachten sie ihn hauptsächlich als den Befreier aus Armut und Unkenntnis. Da es viele Religionen wie Hinduismus, Buddhismus, Islam, Judentum und Animismus gibt, kann man nicht umhin, Christus in verschiedenen Perspektiven anzuschauen, je nach dem religiösen Hintergrund der jeweiligen Menschen