BA Philosophy (1994-1998), University of Bucharest; Roman-Catholic Theology (1997-2001), Roman Catholic Theological Institute of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus; BA Philology (English and German Literature) (2006-2009), Spiru Haret University; PhD in Philosophy (2011-2014), University of Bucharest
In this paper I examine the Aristotelian characterial taxonomy of the four median habitual dispos... more In this paper I examine the Aristotelian characterial taxonomy of the four median habitual dispositions in Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII.7. Aristotle assumes, in his well-known statistic- probabilistic manner, that the moral state of most people (oi polloi) lies somewhere between the self-control (enkrateia) and incontinence (akrasia) from the point of view of pleasure and between the person prone to endurance (karteria) and the soft person (malakia) from the point of view of pain. In both cases, most people incline more towards the worse state. If we understand eudaimonia as a holistic and spheric concept, one difficulty arises when we have to estimate what is that critical degree of evil inclination of most people that eudaimonia could afford to succeed in keeping its balance. Finally, Aristotle seems to solve the problem of akrasia by appealing to a genuine double epistemological and psychological combinatorics, respectively the Socratic logos (I know/ I don’t know) versus the Hippocratic bios (pleasure/pain, weak/ intense desires, resisting to pleasure/ resisting to pain). Key words: akrasia, enkrateia, malakia, karteria, most people (oi polloi), evil inclination, analogy of ‚scissors gait’, eudaimonia.
Alfred Gell’s anthropology of art is by far the most interesting and influential synthesis of sem... more Alfred Gell’s anthropology of art is by far the most interesting and influential synthesis of semiotics and phenomenology within the realm of anthropology. Anthropology offers him, as usual, a great amount of data for testing his theories, but first of all, and as a mark of British anthropological tradition, it puts a great theoretical stress upon the concept of sociality as the key explanatory anthropological concept. This anthropological sociality, shaped in a transactional way, functions as an indispensable background for the comprehension of this synthesis. We have selected some topics to present some results of this sui generis emerging epistemology. Key words: anthropology, Alfred Gell, agency, abduction, art nexus, art-index, index, Kula, phenomenology, Marcel Duchamp
Proceedings of the International Conference “Humanities and Social Sciences Today. Classical and
... more Proceedings of the International Conference “Humanities and Social Sciences Today. Classical and Contemporary Issues” – Philosophy and Other Humanities, Iasi, 2015
In this study, we try to identify some concepts from J.-P. Sartre's book "Being and Nothingness" ... more In this study, we try to identify some concepts from J.-P. Sartre's book "Being and Nothingness" (1943) which we believe has decisively influenced the inception of Rene Girard's mimetic theory in his first book. We think we could qualify "Deceit, Desire, and the Novel" (1961) as being a literary theory corollary of Sartre's ontological treatise, a literary double. The starting point of the Girardian mimetic desire is the Sartrean definition of desire as an ontological lack, a lack constitutive for the human being itself, hence his religious longings and totalizing attempts. Girard tried to weaken this strong ontology through a sui generis non-Levinasian alterity, founding a kind of social theory, a social mimetology "à la française". The modern individualism diverts the vertical transcendence to the Other, hence the quasi-mystical intensity, the passions and the troubles involved in the "modern feelings". Keywords: desire as ontological lack, bad faith, desire to be God, mimetic desire, diverted transcendence, authenticity, romanesque conversion
Rene Girard gândește imitația (mimesis) dinspre dorință, ca temei al dorinței. Dorința umană este... more Rene Girard gândește imitația (mimesis) dinspre dorință, ca temei al dorinței. Dorința umană este constitutiv si structural imitativă. Având o dimensiune afectivă, dinamică și achizitivă, dorința mimetică e mai mult decât o simplă copie a ceea ce imită (paradigma reprezentațională platoniciană curentă). Ori, tocmai aproprierea, achiziția este aceea care dă imitației caracterul ei conflictual. Omul este creatura care nu știe să dorească spontan pentru că nu știe propriu-zis ce să dorească. De aceea, nu dorește direct, ci mereu indirect prin mijlocirea unui model-obstacol, imitând dorințele și credințele acestuia. Dorința mimetică trădează astfel un deficit ontologic. Dorința de a avea calitățile modelului devine treptat dorința de a fi ca modelul, dorința de a i se substitui ontologic acestuia, ca un dublu al său. Cuvinte cheie: mimesis achizitiv, triangulația dorinței, medierea internă și externă, model/obstacol, double bind, dorința psihotică.
Rene Girard’s mimetic theory can be concentrated in two pivotal concepts: the mimetic desire and ... more Rene Girard’s mimetic theory can be concentrated in two pivotal concepts: the mimetic desire and the scapegoat mechanism. The concept of ignorance or delusion (meconnaissance) reveals the social epistemology behind this highly ambivalent and spontaneous psychological mechanism. In order to be efficient and productive, it must remain hidden and partially incomprehensible. There can be no "scapegoat", unless you consider the expelled individual as truly guilty. The proper function of the scapegoat is to externalize the violence of the community and to restore order within it. If we perceive him as an innocent victim, the ritual technique of scapegoating would instantly collapse. In the second part of our study, we try to locate and to map the Girardian concept of meconnaissance within the demystifying tradition working underground in the French humanities, following Marcel Mauss, Pierre Bourdieu and Rene Girard, a tradition according to which there is no science but of the hidden. Keywords: scapegoat mechanism, self-delusion, pharmakos, anthropological revolution of Christianity, French demystifying tradition, complex system, self-organization.
In this paper I examine the Aristotelian characterial taxonomy of the four median habitual dispos... more In this paper I examine the Aristotelian characterial taxonomy of the four median habitual dispositions in Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII.7. Aristotle assumes, in his well-known statistic- probabilistic manner, that the moral state of most people (oi polloi) lies somewhere between the self-control (enkrateia) and incontinence (akrasia) from the point of view of pleasure and between the person prone to endurance (karteria) and the soft person (malakia) from the point of view of pain. In both cases, most people incline more towards the worse state. If we understand eudaimonia as a holistic and spheric concept, one difficulty arises when we have to estimate what is that critical degree of evil inclination of most people that eudaimonia could afford to succeed in keeping its balance. Finally, Aristotle seems to solve the problem of akrasia by appealing to a genuine double epistemological and psychological combinatorics, respectively the Socratic logos (I know/ I don’t know) versus the Hippocratic bios (pleasure/pain, weak/ intense desires, resisting to pleasure/ resisting to pain). Key words: akrasia, enkrateia, malakia, karteria, most people (oi polloi), evil inclination, analogy of ‚scissors gait’, eudaimonia.
Alfred Gell’s anthropology of art is by far the most interesting and influential synthesis of sem... more Alfred Gell’s anthropology of art is by far the most interesting and influential synthesis of semiotics and phenomenology within the realm of anthropology. Anthropology offers him, as usual, a great amount of data for testing his theories, but first of all, and as a mark of British anthropological tradition, it puts a great theoretical stress upon the concept of sociality as the key explanatory anthropological concept. This anthropological sociality, shaped in a transactional way, functions as an indispensable background for the comprehension of this synthesis. We have selected some topics to present some results of this sui generis emerging epistemology. Key words: anthropology, Alfred Gell, agency, abduction, art nexus, art-index, index, Kula, phenomenology, Marcel Duchamp
Proceedings of the International Conference “Humanities and Social Sciences Today. Classical and
... more Proceedings of the International Conference “Humanities and Social Sciences Today. Classical and Contemporary Issues” – Philosophy and Other Humanities, Iasi, 2015
In this study, we try to identify some concepts from J.-P. Sartre's book "Being and Nothingness" ... more In this study, we try to identify some concepts from J.-P. Sartre's book "Being and Nothingness" (1943) which we believe has decisively influenced the inception of Rene Girard's mimetic theory in his first book. We think we could qualify "Deceit, Desire, and the Novel" (1961) as being a literary theory corollary of Sartre's ontological treatise, a literary double. The starting point of the Girardian mimetic desire is the Sartrean definition of desire as an ontological lack, a lack constitutive for the human being itself, hence his religious longings and totalizing attempts. Girard tried to weaken this strong ontology through a sui generis non-Levinasian alterity, founding a kind of social theory, a social mimetology "à la française". The modern individualism diverts the vertical transcendence to the Other, hence the quasi-mystical intensity, the passions and the troubles involved in the "modern feelings". Keywords: desire as ontological lack, bad faith, desire to be God, mimetic desire, diverted transcendence, authenticity, romanesque conversion
Rene Girard gândește imitația (mimesis) dinspre dorință, ca temei al dorinței. Dorința umană este... more Rene Girard gândește imitația (mimesis) dinspre dorință, ca temei al dorinței. Dorința umană este constitutiv si structural imitativă. Având o dimensiune afectivă, dinamică și achizitivă, dorința mimetică e mai mult decât o simplă copie a ceea ce imită (paradigma reprezentațională platoniciană curentă). Ori, tocmai aproprierea, achiziția este aceea care dă imitației caracterul ei conflictual. Omul este creatura care nu știe să dorească spontan pentru că nu știe propriu-zis ce să dorească. De aceea, nu dorește direct, ci mereu indirect prin mijlocirea unui model-obstacol, imitând dorințele și credințele acestuia. Dorința mimetică trădează astfel un deficit ontologic. Dorința de a avea calitățile modelului devine treptat dorința de a fi ca modelul, dorința de a i se substitui ontologic acestuia, ca un dublu al său. Cuvinte cheie: mimesis achizitiv, triangulația dorinței, medierea internă și externă, model/obstacol, double bind, dorința psihotică.
Rene Girard’s mimetic theory can be concentrated in two pivotal concepts: the mimetic desire and ... more Rene Girard’s mimetic theory can be concentrated in two pivotal concepts: the mimetic desire and the scapegoat mechanism. The concept of ignorance or delusion (meconnaissance) reveals the social epistemology behind this highly ambivalent and spontaneous psychological mechanism. In order to be efficient and productive, it must remain hidden and partially incomprehensible. There can be no "scapegoat", unless you consider the expelled individual as truly guilty. The proper function of the scapegoat is to externalize the violence of the community and to restore order within it. If we perceive him as an innocent victim, the ritual technique of scapegoating would instantly collapse. In the second part of our study, we try to locate and to map the Girardian concept of meconnaissance within the demystifying tradition working underground in the French humanities, following Marcel Mauss, Pierre Bourdieu and Rene Girard, a tradition according to which there is no science but of the hidden. Keywords: scapegoat mechanism, self-delusion, pharmakos, anthropological revolution of Christianity, French demystifying tradition, complex system, self-organization.
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Key words: akrasia, enkrateia, malakia, karteria, most people (oi polloi), evil inclination, analogy of ‚scissors gait’, eudaimonia.
This anthropological sociality, shaped in a transactional way, functions as an indispensable background for the comprehension of this synthesis. We have selected some topics to present some results of this sui generis emerging epistemology.
Key words: anthropology, Alfred Gell, agency, abduction, art nexus, art-index, index, Kula, phenomenology, Marcel Duchamp
Contemporary Issues” – Philosophy and Other Humanities, Iasi, 2015
Keywords: desire as ontological lack, bad faith, desire to be God, mimetic desire, diverted transcendence, authenticity, romanesque conversion
Cuvinte cheie: mimesis achizitiv, triangulația dorinței, medierea internă și externă, model/obstacol, double bind, dorința psihotică.
Key words: akrasia, enkrateia, malakia, karteria, most people (oi polloi), evil inclination, analogy of ‚scissors gait’, eudaimonia.
This anthropological sociality, shaped in a transactional way, functions as an indispensable background for the comprehension of this synthesis. We have selected some topics to present some results of this sui generis emerging epistemology.
Key words: anthropology, Alfred Gell, agency, abduction, art nexus, art-index, index, Kula, phenomenology, Marcel Duchamp
Contemporary Issues” – Philosophy and Other Humanities, Iasi, 2015
Keywords: desire as ontological lack, bad faith, desire to be God, mimetic desire, diverted transcendence, authenticity, romanesque conversion
Cuvinte cheie: mimesis achizitiv, triangulația dorinței, medierea internă și externă, model/obstacol, double bind, dorința psihotică.