I am an independent academic researcher and translator. I am also the Associate Editor of the Journal Existenz (www.existenz.us) which focuses on contemporary research on Karl Jaspers written in English language. Further, I am the Linguae.pro Language School Director and I have been a Lingoda German Teacher. I was awarded my PhD in Philosophy from Warwick University in 2009 for my thesis "Is Donna Haraway’s ‘Situated Knowledge’ Nietzschean ‘Gay Science’?". My article ‘On Nietzsche’s Concept of "European Nihilism"’ was published in the European Review (Academia Europaea). I have delivered many research papers on Haraway, Nietzsche, Jaspers and Plato at international Philosophy conferences. Together with Helmut Wautischer I did the first ever translation into English of Karl Jaspers ‘Preface’ and ‘Introduction’ to his book “Die grossen Philosophen” (1957)/“The Great Philosophers” (1965), edited by Hannah Arendt. Phone: 0041774784568
Cheerfulness and seriousness are an integral part of philosophizing in Friedrich Nietzsche and Ka... more Cheerfulness and seriousness are an integral part of philosophizing in Friedrich Nietzsche and Karl Jaspers. The main reason for this lies in the fact that both regard philosophers as being inseparable from their respective philosophies. Yet also the fact that their respective philosophies have multiple meanings shifts the focus away from truth toward style and rhetoric, that is, from the true and false to mood and laughter as well as to passionate interpretation and playful conversation.
The aim of this essay is to review Friedrich Nietzsche's "The Gay Science" in English Translation... more The aim of this essay is to review Friedrich Nietzsche's "The Gay Science" in English Translation. It compares and contrasts the translations by Thomas Common, Walter Kaufmann, Josefine Nauckhoff, and R. Kevin Hill. First, I argue in favor of translating the work's title "Die Fröhliche Wissenschaft" as "The Gay Science" or perhaps more precisely as "The Gay Knowledge". Nietzsche who is likely the greatest stylist in the German language wrote with philological precision and succinctness. This exactitude and awareness of the shaping influence of linguistic means on the contents expressed therefore needs to be reflected throughout in any kind of rendition of Nietzsche's artful texts and the evaluation and assessment thereof.
The International Journal of Science in Society, 2009
This paper explores the advantages of Donna Haraway’s (1944–) postmodern–socialist feminist figur... more This paper explores the advantages of Donna Haraway’s (1944–) postmodern–socialist feminist figurations which always only have a particular and specific perspective of the world. Haraway’s interdisciplinary ‘situated knowledge’ is produced by cyborgs and companion species which are continually emerging, inventive symbionts. Haraway construes a self which is embodied, dynamic, and split and whose perspectival cognition is unceasingly creative and generative of multiple, positioned knowledges. She advocates a passionate knowing in which pleasure, laughter, irony, and the ludic play an integral part. I argue that Haraway values surfaces, renegotiations of boundaries, and an experimental philosophy which draws on poetry, a rich imagination, and stuttering. For her, there is no presuppositionless knowing and for this reason she also regards her own theorising as revisable, regulative fictions. The paper concludes that Haraway’s analysis of and subversive interventions into today’s techno-linguistic code offers empowering accounts of knowledge, power, and agency which allow her and us to articulate heterogeneity and multiplicity in a future-enhancing manner. - Burch, Ruth A, 2009, "Joyful Interdisciplinary Experimenting: Donna Haraway’s Feminist Materialised Refigurations." In: The International Journal of Science in Society 1 (1): 119-132. doi:10.18848/1836-6236/CGP/v01i01/51296.
이 논문의 목표는 변형적 실험에의 참여로서의 사유에 대한 니체의 이해를 살펴보는 것이다. 본고에서 필자는 니체가 이미지 속에서 사유한다고 주장한다. 니체에 있어 인식은, 미래... more 이 논문의 목표는 변형적 실험에의 참여로서의 사유에 대한 니체의 이해를 살펴보는 것이다. 본고에서 필자는 니체가 이미지 속에서 사유한다고 주장한다. 니체에 있어 인식은, 미래를 향상시키는 상황 지어진 담론을 구체화하는 새로운 은유에 기초해야 한다. 니체는 그의 실험적 사유 속에서 다양한 지식의 영역을 창조적으로 통합한다. 필자가 그의 저서인 『도나 해러웨이(Donna Haraway)의 ‘상황 지어진 지식(Situated Knowledge)’은 니체의 ‘즐거운 학문’인가?』에서 주장하듯, 니체는 메타포와 함께 놀이할 뿐 아니라 철학적 쾌활함은 니체의 실험적 사유에 필요하다. 비극의 탄생』에서 니체는 예술과 학문을 연관시킨다. 『아침놀』과 『이 사람을 보라』에서 그는 이미지와 메타포 속에서 사유하는 것의 중요성을 역설한다. 니체의 은유는, 그의 책임에 대한 권리의 결과로서, 미래를 향상시키는 이야기를 구현한다.
Estudios sobre la filosofía de Karl Jaspers , 2018
ESTUDIOS SOBRE LA FILOSOFÍA DE KARL JASPERS 29.05.2018 - Resumen: Las traducciones al inglés de l... more ESTUDIOS SOBRE LA FILOSOFÍA DE KARL JASPERS 29.05.2018 - Resumen: Las traducciones al inglés de la obra de Karl Jaspers no han sido hasta el momento uniformes en su elección de la terminología técnica. Esta interpretación especializada de la Introducción de Jaspers a su obra seminal The Great Philosophers (Los Grandes Filósofos, nota de la traductora) se mantiene fiel al texto original en alemán tanto como es posible, protegiendo sus expresiones idiomáticas culturales, la estructura compleja de la oración y los matices particulares, con la condición de que la claridad de la comunicación se conserve. Los contenidos sustanciales y la significación de este texto, cuyo principal tema es la grandeza, se bosquejan aquí. La comunicación con los grandes filósofos puede aportar una visión de su pensamiento, haciendo posible el trascender hacia una posible Existenz auténtica. Palabras Clave: Jaspers, Karl; historia de la filosofía; traducción; grandeza; philosophia perennis; ámbito de la filosofía; razón; verdad; existencia; Trascendencia; lo Abarcador; libertad; comunicación; lenguaje. https://gladysleandraportuondo.blogspot.com/2018/05/ruth-burch-helmut-wautischer.html Agradecemos a los autores, Ruth Burch y Helmut Wautischer, presidente de KJSNA y editor en jefe de la revista Existenz, su apoyo para publicar la presente versión en español, realizada por Gladys L. Portuondo del original en inglés, según ha sido publicado en: Ruth Burch, Helmut Wautischer, Translating Jaspers on Greatness, en: Existenz, An International Journal in Philosophy, Religion, Politics and the Arts, Vol. 12, No 1, Spring 2017. En: https://www.existenz.us/volumes/Vol.12-1Burch%20and%20Wautischer.pdf
Karl Jaspers introduces the idea of a timeless realm of the great philosophers and provides a bri... more Karl Jaspers introduces the idea of a timeless realm of the great philosophers and provides a brief rationale why a mere history of philosophy cannot do justice to the greatness of these pivotal philosophers. Jaspers explains that an objectifying historical account of philosophy will not transmit the depth and wisdom of the great philosophers, since philosophizing requires subjective involvement with the goal of challenging oneself for the purpose of becoming a fellow human being who strives to attain philosophical knowledge and to live by it.
The International Journal of Science in Society (1836-6236), 2009
This paper explores the advantages of Donna Haraway’s (1944–) postmodern–socialist feminist figur... more This paper explores the advantages of Donna Haraway’s (1944–) postmodern–socialist feminist figurations which always only have a particular and specific perspective of the world. Haraway’s interdisciplinary ‘situated knowledge’ is produced by cyborgs and companion species which are continually emerging, inventive symbionts. Haraway construes a self which is embodied, dynamic, and split and whose perspectival cognition is unceasingly creative and generative of multiple, positioned knowledges. She advocates a passionate knowing in which pleasure, laughter, irony, and the ludic play an integral part. I argue that Haraway values surfaces, renegotiations of boundaries, and an experimental philosophy which draws on poetry, a rich imagination, and stuttering. For her, there is no presuppositionless knowing and for this reason she also regards her own theorising as revisable, regulative fictions. The paper concludes that Haraway’s analysis of and subversive interventions into today’s techno-linguistic code offers empowering accounts of knowledge, power, and agency which allow her and us to articulate heterogeneity and multiplicity in a future-enhancing manner. - Burch, Ruth A, 2009, "Joyful Interdisciplinary Experimenting: Donna Haraway’s Feminist Materialised Refigurations." In: The International Journal of Science in Society 1 (1): 119-132. doi:10.18848/1836-6236/CGP/v01i01/51296.
On the occasion of publishing the English translation of his book, The Great Philosophers, Karl J... more On the occasion of publishing the English translation of his book, The Great Philosophers, Karl Jaspers addresses the American readership to describe his motives and reasons for writing this study about what constitutes a great philosopher and what differentiates philosophy from science. The translation is published in: Existenz 12/1 (2017), 6-8, www.existenz.us, https://existenz.us/volumes/Vol.12-1Jaspers%20PrefaceUS.pdf
Karl Jaspers explores the criteria for recognizing human greatness in general and in philosophers... more Karl Jaspers explores the criteria for recognizing human greatness in general and in philosophers in particular. He comments on the historical process related to the selection and grouping of great philosophers. Jaspers acknowledges the questionable aspect of greatness, yet he affirms that such distinction is indispensable. The 1957 English translation by Ralph Mannheim and Hannah Arendt of Jaspers' "Die Grossen Philosophen" and all its subsequent editions did not include this Introduction. The translation offered here redresses this omission and is the first ever published English translation of Jaspers' extended Introduction. The translations are published in the 10-year anniversary edition of the Jaspers Journal “Existenz” www.existenz.us, https://existenz.us/volumes/Vol.12-1Jaspers%20Introduction.pdf, https://existenz.us/volumes/Vol.12-1Jaspers%20Preface.pdf
Translations of Karl Jaspers' work into the English language have so far not been uniform in thei... more Translations of Karl Jaspers' work into the English language have so far not been uniform in their choice of technical terminology. This scholarly rendition of Jaspers' Introduction to his seminal work The Great Philosophers stays to the original German text as true possible by upholding its idiomatic cultural expressions, complex sentence structure, and nuanced particularities provided that clarity of communication can be maintained. The substantive contents and the significance of this text, whose principal topic is greatness, are outlined here. Communication with the great philosophers can bring insight into their thought and can enable humans to transcend toward possible authentic Existenz. Full Text: https://www.existenz.us/volumes/Vol.12-1Burch%20and%20Wautischer.pdf Keywords: Jaspers, Karl; history of philosophy; translation; greatness; philosophia perennis; realm of philosophy; reason; truth; existence; Transcendence, Encompassing; freedom; communication; language.
The Journal of Korean Nietzsche-Society (1598-9364), 2018
The aim of this article is to explore Nietzsche’s understanding of thinking as the partaking in t... more The aim of this article is to explore Nietzsche’s understanding of thinking as the partaking in transformative experimentation. In this writing, I argue that Nietzsche thinks in images. For him cognition ought to be based on new figurations that incarnate located narratives that improve the future. Nietzsche creatively synthesises in his experimental thought various domains of knowledge. He not only plays with metaphors but philosophical cheerfulness is also indispensable to his experimentations. In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche links art and science. In Daybreak and in Ecce Homo, he depicts the necessity of thinking in images and metaphors. His figurations that are a result of his right to responsibility embody future-enhancing stories. ‘Images and Figurations: Creative Cognition and Representation in Nietzsche’. ‘Images and Figurations: Creative Cognition and Representation in Nietzsche’. In: The Journal of Korean Nietzsche-Society (1598-9364), vol. 33, spring issue 2018, 195-223.
In Nietzsche, ‘European nihilism’ has at its core valuelessness, meaninglessness and senselessnes... more In Nietzsche, ‘European nihilism’ has at its core valuelessness, meaninglessness and senselessness. This article argues that Nietzsche is not replacing God with the nothing, but rather that he regards ‘European nihilism’ as an ‘in-between state’ that is necessary for getting beyond Christian morality. An important characteristic of a Nietzschean philosopher is his ‘will to responsibility’. One of his responsibilities consists of the creation of the values and the concepts that are needed in order to overcome the intermediate state of nihilism. For prevailing over nihilism in science, Nietzsche suggests drawing on philosophy for the creation of values and drawing on art in order to create beautiful surfaces that are based on these values. He regards science as a cultural system that rests on contingent grounds. Therefore, his work is concerned with the responsible construction of the narratives of science in such a way that they enhance agency and promote a life-affirming future. - The full article can be downloaded from Cambridge University Press at this link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-review/article/on-nietzsches-concept-of-european-nihilism/CB27FD58925FDE71205811752F709FF4
Michèle Le Dœuff considers the relationship between Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir as a
... more Michèle Le Dœuff considers the relationship between Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir as a paradigmatic case of what she calls an "erotico-theoretical transference" relationship: De Beauvoir devoted herself to Sartre theoretically by adopting his existentialist perspective for the analysis of reality in general and the analysis of women's oppression in particular. The latter is especially strange since Sartre used strongly sexist metaphors and adopted a macho attitude towards women. In her book Hipparchia's Choice, Le Dœuff speaks in this context of "theoretical masculinism." She convincingly shows in this book that Sartre without using images could not have closed his existentialist philosophy: without the feminine drawback he would not have been able to explain why man cannot become god. Sartre not only understands gaining knowledge as a rape of a woman he also fears that the possessed feminine (body) could reverse its position from being dominated to the dominating force by appropriating the masculine through slime. In Being and Nothingness Sartre states that "slime is the revenge of the In-itself. A sickly–sweet, feminine revenge." Despite of the fact that De Beauvoir used Sartre's heterosexist ontology and metaphysics she managed to provide a highly influential depiction of women's condition and offered an original approach to the understanding of selfhood which places woman inside the subject. Full text: https://existenz.us/volumes/Vol.11-1Burch.pdf Keywords: Le Dœuff, Michèle; de Beauvoir, Simone; Sartre, Jean-Paul; second sex; women's condition; selfhood; transference relationship; sexist metaphor; existentialist philosophy; philosophical imaginary.
The aim of this contribution is to critically explore the understanding, the goals and the meanin... more The aim of this contribution is to critically explore the understanding, the goals and the meaning of education in the philosophy of education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In his educational novel Emile: or On Education [Emile ou De l’éducation] (1762) he depicts his account of the natural education. Rousseau argues that all humans share one and the same development process which is independent of their social background. He regards education as an active process of perfection which is curiosity-driven and intrin-sic to each child. Rousseau’s educational goals are autarky, happiness and freedom. Keywords: Jean-Jacques Rousseau; education; natural man; nature; culture; science, voice of conscience; freedom; equality. The full text can be downloaded from the Philosophy Documentation Center at https://www.pdcnet.org/du/content/du_2017_0027_0001_0189_0198
42nd Annual KJSNA Meetings
scheduled to take place online
due to the pandemic
April 9 and 10, 20... more 42nd Annual KJSNA Meetings scheduled to take place online due to the pandemic
KJSNA cordially invites proposals for presentations that engage with the Psychologie der Weltanschauungen that was composed in 1919 and is published as volume six of Jaspers' works in the Karl Jaspers Gesamtausgabe (KJG), edited by Oliver Immel, scientific collaborator of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. The Psychology of Worldviews has to date not been translated into English. Looking back, Jaspers referred to the book as being his "first philosophical exposition" and "the earliest writing of the later so-called modern existential philosophy." Jaspers draws in this work on Husserls' phenomenological descriptions and on Max Weber's notion of "ideal types" and also significantly on the hermeneutics as developed by Wilhelm Dilthey. José Ortega y Gasset called Dilthey "the most important philosopher in the second half of the nineteenth century." This conference aims to explore this influence of Dilthey in the Psychology of Worldviews on Jaspers' attempt to create a typology of worldviews. Dilthey argues that the main task of the human sciences (Geisteswissenschaften) is the understanding of the organizational structures of human and historical life rather than the causal explanation of it. This also brought about a shift of the methodological focus onto the lived experience. Meaning is historical and the world is given to human beings through symbolically mediated practices. For Dilthey, the aim of the humanities is to comprehend individual experience and the embodied individual's life in its concrete cultural-historical context. Dilthey holds that history is made up of a series of world views that require a process of interpretive inquiry that is unavoidably circular. Thus, for Dilthey, understanding by humans is dependent on past worldviews, interpretations, and a shared world.
Presentations are limited to a maximum of 10 minutes followed by a 20 minutes discussion with each one of the panel members, for a total time period of 30 minutes per presenter. Emphasis is on dialogue; the event will be videotaped and an edited version of the recording will be posted online. All participants are encouraged to submit full-length versions of their final, edited papers for consideration to be published in Existenz. All contributors are welcome regardless of membership. A registration fee of $25.00 applies for all who are not an active member in the Karl Jaspers Society of North America.
Please send your working title and a brief abstract (200 words) to the program chair:
Ruth A. Burch by November 30, 2020. Earlier submissions are appreciated and will be processed in the order as they are received.
Cheerfulness and seriousness are an integral part of philosophizing in Friedrich Nietzsche and Ka... more Cheerfulness and seriousness are an integral part of philosophizing in Friedrich Nietzsche and Karl Jaspers. The main reason for this lies in the fact that both regard philosophers as being inseparable from their respective philosophies. Yet also the fact that their respective philosophies have multiple meanings shifts the focus away from truth toward style and rhetoric, that is, from the true and false to mood and laughter as well as to passionate interpretation and playful conversation.
The aim of this essay is to review Friedrich Nietzsche's "The Gay Science" in English Translation... more The aim of this essay is to review Friedrich Nietzsche's "The Gay Science" in English Translation. It compares and contrasts the translations by Thomas Common, Walter Kaufmann, Josefine Nauckhoff, and R. Kevin Hill. First, I argue in favor of translating the work's title "Die Fröhliche Wissenschaft" as "The Gay Science" or perhaps more precisely as "The Gay Knowledge". Nietzsche who is likely the greatest stylist in the German language wrote with philological precision and succinctness. This exactitude and awareness of the shaping influence of linguistic means on the contents expressed therefore needs to be reflected throughout in any kind of rendition of Nietzsche's artful texts and the evaluation and assessment thereof.
The International Journal of Science in Society, 2009
This paper explores the advantages of Donna Haraway’s (1944–) postmodern–socialist feminist figur... more This paper explores the advantages of Donna Haraway’s (1944–) postmodern–socialist feminist figurations which always only have a particular and specific perspective of the world. Haraway’s interdisciplinary ‘situated knowledge’ is produced by cyborgs and companion species which are continually emerging, inventive symbionts. Haraway construes a self which is embodied, dynamic, and split and whose perspectival cognition is unceasingly creative and generative of multiple, positioned knowledges. She advocates a passionate knowing in which pleasure, laughter, irony, and the ludic play an integral part. I argue that Haraway values surfaces, renegotiations of boundaries, and an experimental philosophy which draws on poetry, a rich imagination, and stuttering. For her, there is no presuppositionless knowing and for this reason she also regards her own theorising as revisable, regulative fictions. The paper concludes that Haraway’s analysis of and subversive interventions into today’s techno-linguistic code offers empowering accounts of knowledge, power, and agency which allow her and us to articulate heterogeneity and multiplicity in a future-enhancing manner. - Burch, Ruth A, 2009, "Joyful Interdisciplinary Experimenting: Donna Haraway’s Feminist Materialised Refigurations." In: The International Journal of Science in Society 1 (1): 119-132. doi:10.18848/1836-6236/CGP/v01i01/51296.
이 논문의 목표는 변형적 실험에의 참여로서의 사유에 대한 니체의 이해를 살펴보는 것이다. 본고에서 필자는 니체가 이미지 속에서 사유한다고 주장한다. 니체에 있어 인식은, 미래... more 이 논문의 목표는 변형적 실험에의 참여로서의 사유에 대한 니체의 이해를 살펴보는 것이다. 본고에서 필자는 니체가 이미지 속에서 사유한다고 주장한다. 니체에 있어 인식은, 미래를 향상시키는 상황 지어진 담론을 구체화하는 새로운 은유에 기초해야 한다. 니체는 그의 실험적 사유 속에서 다양한 지식의 영역을 창조적으로 통합한다. 필자가 그의 저서인 『도나 해러웨이(Donna Haraway)의 ‘상황 지어진 지식(Situated Knowledge)’은 니체의 ‘즐거운 학문’인가?』에서 주장하듯, 니체는 메타포와 함께 놀이할 뿐 아니라 철학적 쾌활함은 니체의 실험적 사유에 필요하다. 비극의 탄생』에서 니체는 예술과 학문을 연관시킨다. 『아침놀』과 『이 사람을 보라』에서 그는 이미지와 메타포 속에서 사유하는 것의 중요성을 역설한다. 니체의 은유는, 그의 책임에 대한 권리의 결과로서, 미래를 향상시키는 이야기를 구현한다.
Estudios sobre la filosofía de Karl Jaspers , 2018
ESTUDIOS SOBRE LA FILOSOFÍA DE KARL JASPERS 29.05.2018 - Resumen: Las traducciones al inglés de l... more ESTUDIOS SOBRE LA FILOSOFÍA DE KARL JASPERS 29.05.2018 - Resumen: Las traducciones al inglés de la obra de Karl Jaspers no han sido hasta el momento uniformes en su elección de la terminología técnica. Esta interpretación especializada de la Introducción de Jaspers a su obra seminal The Great Philosophers (Los Grandes Filósofos, nota de la traductora) se mantiene fiel al texto original en alemán tanto como es posible, protegiendo sus expresiones idiomáticas culturales, la estructura compleja de la oración y los matices particulares, con la condición de que la claridad de la comunicación se conserve. Los contenidos sustanciales y la significación de este texto, cuyo principal tema es la grandeza, se bosquejan aquí. La comunicación con los grandes filósofos puede aportar una visión de su pensamiento, haciendo posible el trascender hacia una posible Existenz auténtica. Palabras Clave: Jaspers, Karl; historia de la filosofía; traducción; grandeza; philosophia perennis; ámbito de la filosofía; razón; verdad; existencia; Trascendencia; lo Abarcador; libertad; comunicación; lenguaje. https://gladysleandraportuondo.blogspot.com/2018/05/ruth-burch-helmut-wautischer.html Agradecemos a los autores, Ruth Burch y Helmut Wautischer, presidente de KJSNA y editor en jefe de la revista Existenz, su apoyo para publicar la presente versión en español, realizada por Gladys L. Portuondo del original en inglés, según ha sido publicado en: Ruth Burch, Helmut Wautischer, Translating Jaspers on Greatness, en: Existenz, An International Journal in Philosophy, Religion, Politics and the Arts, Vol. 12, No 1, Spring 2017. En: https://www.existenz.us/volumes/Vol.12-1Burch%20and%20Wautischer.pdf
Karl Jaspers introduces the idea of a timeless realm of the great philosophers and provides a bri... more Karl Jaspers introduces the idea of a timeless realm of the great philosophers and provides a brief rationale why a mere history of philosophy cannot do justice to the greatness of these pivotal philosophers. Jaspers explains that an objectifying historical account of philosophy will not transmit the depth and wisdom of the great philosophers, since philosophizing requires subjective involvement with the goal of challenging oneself for the purpose of becoming a fellow human being who strives to attain philosophical knowledge and to live by it.
The International Journal of Science in Society (1836-6236), 2009
This paper explores the advantages of Donna Haraway’s (1944–) postmodern–socialist feminist figur... more This paper explores the advantages of Donna Haraway’s (1944–) postmodern–socialist feminist figurations which always only have a particular and specific perspective of the world. Haraway’s interdisciplinary ‘situated knowledge’ is produced by cyborgs and companion species which are continually emerging, inventive symbionts. Haraway construes a self which is embodied, dynamic, and split and whose perspectival cognition is unceasingly creative and generative of multiple, positioned knowledges. She advocates a passionate knowing in which pleasure, laughter, irony, and the ludic play an integral part. I argue that Haraway values surfaces, renegotiations of boundaries, and an experimental philosophy which draws on poetry, a rich imagination, and stuttering. For her, there is no presuppositionless knowing and for this reason she also regards her own theorising as revisable, regulative fictions. The paper concludes that Haraway’s analysis of and subversive interventions into today’s techno-linguistic code offers empowering accounts of knowledge, power, and agency which allow her and us to articulate heterogeneity and multiplicity in a future-enhancing manner. - Burch, Ruth A, 2009, "Joyful Interdisciplinary Experimenting: Donna Haraway’s Feminist Materialised Refigurations." In: The International Journal of Science in Society 1 (1): 119-132. doi:10.18848/1836-6236/CGP/v01i01/51296.
On the occasion of publishing the English translation of his book, The Great Philosophers, Karl J... more On the occasion of publishing the English translation of his book, The Great Philosophers, Karl Jaspers addresses the American readership to describe his motives and reasons for writing this study about what constitutes a great philosopher and what differentiates philosophy from science. The translation is published in: Existenz 12/1 (2017), 6-8, www.existenz.us, https://existenz.us/volumes/Vol.12-1Jaspers%20PrefaceUS.pdf
Karl Jaspers explores the criteria for recognizing human greatness in general and in philosophers... more Karl Jaspers explores the criteria for recognizing human greatness in general and in philosophers in particular. He comments on the historical process related to the selection and grouping of great philosophers. Jaspers acknowledges the questionable aspect of greatness, yet he affirms that such distinction is indispensable. The 1957 English translation by Ralph Mannheim and Hannah Arendt of Jaspers' "Die Grossen Philosophen" and all its subsequent editions did not include this Introduction. The translation offered here redresses this omission and is the first ever published English translation of Jaspers' extended Introduction. The translations are published in the 10-year anniversary edition of the Jaspers Journal “Existenz” www.existenz.us, https://existenz.us/volumes/Vol.12-1Jaspers%20Introduction.pdf, https://existenz.us/volumes/Vol.12-1Jaspers%20Preface.pdf
Translations of Karl Jaspers' work into the English language have so far not been uniform in thei... more Translations of Karl Jaspers' work into the English language have so far not been uniform in their choice of technical terminology. This scholarly rendition of Jaspers' Introduction to his seminal work The Great Philosophers stays to the original German text as true possible by upholding its idiomatic cultural expressions, complex sentence structure, and nuanced particularities provided that clarity of communication can be maintained. The substantive contents and the significance of this text, whose principal topic is greatness, are outlined here. Communication with the great philosophers can bring insight into their thought and can enable humans to transcend toward possible authentic Existenz. Full Text: https://www.existenz.us/volumes/Vol.12-1Burch%20and%20Wautischer.pdf Keywords: Jaspers, Karl; history of philosophy; translation; greatness; philosophia perennis; realm of philosophy; reason; truth; existence; Transcendence, Encompassing; freedom; communication; language.
The Journal of Korean Nietzsche-Society (1598-9364), 2018
The aim of this article is to explore Nietzsche’s understanding of thinking as the partaking in t... more The aim of this article is to explore Nietzsche’s understanding of thinking as the partaking in transformative experimentation. In this writing, I argue that Nietzsche thinks in images. For him cognition ought to be based on new figurations that incarnate located narratives that improve the future. Nietzsche creatively synthesises in his experimental thought various domains of knowledge. He not only plays with metaphors but philosophical cheerfulness is also indispensable to his experimentations. In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche links art and science. In Daybreak and in Ecce Homo, he depicts the necessity of thinking in images and metaphors. His figurations that are a result of his right to responsibility embody future-enhancing stories. ‘Images and Figurations: Creative Cognition and Representation in Nietzsche’. ‘Images and Figurations: Creative Cognition and Representation in Nietzsche’. In: The Journal of Korean Nietzsche-Society (1598-9364), vol. 33, spring issue 2018, 195-223.
In Nietzsche, ‘European nihilism’ has at its core valuelessness, meaninglessness and senselessnes... more In Nietzsche, ‘European nihilism’ has at its core valuelessness, meaninglessness and senselessness. This article argues that Nietzsche is not replacing God with the nothing, but rather that he regards ‘European nihilism’ as an ‘in-between state’ that is necessary for getting beyond Christian morality. An important characteristic of a Nietzschean philosopher is his ‘will to responsibility’. One of his responsibilities consists of the creation of the values and the concepts that are needed in order to overcome the intermediate state of nihilism. For prevailing over nihilism in science, Nietzsche suggests drawing on philosophy for the creation of values and drawing on art in order to create beautiful surfaces that are based on these values. He regards science as a cultural system that rests on contingent grounds. Therefore, his work is concerned with the responsible construction of the narratives of science in such a way that they enhance agency and promote a life-affirming future. - The full article can be downloaded from Cambridge University Press at this link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-review/article/on-nietzsches-concept-of-european-nihilism/CB27FD58925FDE71205811752F709FF4
Michèle Le Dœuff considers the relationship between Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir as a
... more Michèle Le Dœuff considers the relationship between Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir as a paradigmatic case of what she calls an "erotico-theoretical transference" relationship: De Beauvoir devoted herself to Sartre theoretically by adopting his existentialist perspective for the analysis of reality in general and the analysis of women's oppression in particular. The latter is especially strange since Sartre used strongly sexist metaphors and adopted a macho attitude towards women. In her book Hipparchia's Choice, Le Dœuff speaks in this context of "theoretical masculinism." She convincingly shows in this book that Sartre without using images could not have closed his existentialist philosophy: without the feminine drawback he would not have been able to explain why man cannot become god. Sartre not only understands gaining knowledge as a rape of a woman he also fears that the possessed feminine (body) could reverse its position from being dominated to the dominating force by appropriating the masculine through slime. In Being and Nothingness Sartre states that "slime is the revenge of the In-itself. A sickly–sweet, feminine revenge." Despite of the fact that De Beauvoir used Sartre's heterosexist ontology and metaphysics she managed to provide a highly influential depiction of women's condition and offered an original approach to the understanding of selfhood which places woman inside the subject. Full text: https://existenz.us/volumes/Vol.11-1Burch.pdf Keywords: Le Dœuff, Michèle; de Beauvoir, Simone; Sartre, Jean-Paul; second sex; women's condition; selfhood; transference relationship; sexist metaphor; existentialist philosophy; philosophical imaginary.
The aim of this contribution is to critically explore the understanding, the goals and the meanin... more The aim of this contribution is to critically explore the understanding, the goals and the meaning of education in the philosophy of education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In his educational novel Emile: or On Education [Emile ou De l’éducation] (1762) he depicts his account of the natural education. Rousseau argues that all humans share one and the same development process which is independent of their social background. He regards education as an active process of perfection which is curiosity-driven and intrin-sic to each child. Rousseau’s educational goals are autarky, happiness and freedom. Keywords: Jean-Jacques Rousseau; education; natural man; nature; culture; science, voice of conscience; freedom; equality. The full text can be downloaded from the Philosophy Documentation Center at https://www.pdcnet.org/du/content/du_2017_0027_0001_0189_0198
42nd Annual KJSNA Meetings
scheduled to take place online
due to the pandemic
April 9 and 10, 20... more 42nd Annual KJSNA Meetings scheduled to take place online due to the pandemic
KJSNA cordially invites proposals for presentations that engage with the Psychologie der Weltanschauungen that was composed in 1919 and is published as volume six of Jaspers' works in the Karl Jaspers Gesamtausgabe (KJG), edited by Oliver Immel, scientific collaborator of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. The Psychology of Worldviews has to date not been translated into English. Looking back, Jaspers referred to the book as being his "first philosophical exposition" and "the earliest writing of the later so-called modern existential philosophy." Jaspers draws in this work on Husserls' phenomenological descriptions and on Max Weber's notion of "ideal types" and also significantly on the hermeneutics as developed by Wilhelm Dilthey. José Ortega y Gasset called Dilthey "the most important philosopher in the second half of the nineteenth century." This conference aims to explore this influence of Dilthey in the Psychology of Worldviews on Jaspers' attempt to create a typology of worldviews. Dilthey argues that the main task of the human sciences (Geisteswissenschaften) is the understanding of the organizational structures of human and historical life rather than the causal explanation of it. This also brought about a shift of the methodological focus onto the lived experience. Meaning is historical and the world is given to human beings through symbolically mediated practices. For Dilthey, the aim of the humanities is to comprehend individual experience and the embodied individual's life in its concrete cultural-historical context. Dilthey holds that history is made up of a series of world views that require a process of interpretive inquiry that is unavoidably circular. Thus, for Dilthey, understanding by humans is dependent on past worldviews, interpretations, and a shared world.
Presentations are limited to a maximum of 10 minutes followed by a 20 minutes discussion with each one of the panel members, for a total time period of 30 minutes per presenter. Emphasis is on dialogue; the event will be videotaped and an edited version of the recording will be posted online. All participants are encouraged to submit full-length versions of their final, edited papers for consideration to be published in Existenz. All contributors are welcome regardless of membership. A registration fee of $25.00 applies for all who are not an active member in the Karl Jaspers Society of North America.
Please send your working title and a brief abstract (200 words) to the program chair:
Ruth A. Burch by November 30, 2020. Earlier submissions are appreciated and will be processed in the order as they are received.
Uploads
Papers by Ruth A Burch
Keywords: Jaspers, Karl; history of philosophy; translation; greatness; philosophia perennis; realm of philosophy; reason; truth; existence; Transcendence, Encompassing; freedom; communication; language.
paradigmatic case of what she calls an "erotico-theoretical transference" relationship: De Beauvoir devoted herself
to Sartre theoretically by adopting his existentialist perspective for the analysis of reality in general and the analysis
of women's oppression in particular. The latter is especially strange since Sartre used strongly sexist metaphors
and adopted a macho attitude towards women. In her book Hipparchia's Choice, Le Dœuff speaks in this context of
"theoretical masculinism." She convincingly shows in this book that Sartre without using images could not have closed
his existentialist philosophy: without the feminine drawback he would not have been able to explain why man cannot
become god. Sartre not only understands gaining knowledge as a rape of a woman he also fears that the possessed
feminine (body) could reverse its position from being dominated to the dominating force by appropriating the masculine
through slime. In Being and Nothingness Sartre states that "slime is the revenge of the In-itself. A sickly–sweet, feminine
revenge." Despite of the fact that De Beauvoir used Sartre's heterosexist ontology and metaphysics she managed to
provide a highly influential depiction of women's condition and offered an original approach to the understanding of
selfhood which places woman inside the subject.
Full text: https://existenz.us/volumes/Vol.11-1Burch.pdf
Keywords: Le Dœuff, Michèle; de Beauvoir, Simone; Sartre, Jean-Paul; second sex; women's condition; selfhood; transference relationship; sexist metaphor; existentialist philosophy; philosophical imaginary.
Conference Presentations by Ruth A Burch
scheduled to take place online
due to the pandemic
April 9 and 10, 2021
Dilthey in Jaspers' Psychology of Worldviews
https://www.karljaspers.us/papercall.html
KJSNA cordially invites proposals for presentations that engage with the Psychologie der Weltanschauungen that was composed in 1919 and is published as volume six of Jaspers' works in the Karl Jaspers Gesamtausgabe (KJG), edited by Oliver Immel, scientific collaborator of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. The Psychology of Worldviews has to date not been translated into English. Looking back, Jaspers referred to the book as being his "first philosophical exposition" and "the earliest writing of the later so-called modern existential philosophy." Jaspers draws in this work on Husserls' phenomenological descriptions and on Max Weber's notion of "ideal types" and also significantly on the hermeneutics as developed by Wilhelm Dilthey. José Ortega y Gasset called Dilthey "the most important philosopher in the second half of the nineteenth century." This conference aims to explore this influence of Dilthey in the Psychology of Worldviews on Jaspers' attempt to create a typology of worldviews. Dilthey argues that the main task of the human sciences (Geisteswissenschaften) is the understanding of the organizational structures of human and historical life rather than the causal explanation of it. This also brought about a shift of the methodological focus onto the lived experience. Meaning is historical and the world is given to human beings through symbolically mediated practices. For Dilthey, the aim of the humanities is to comprehend individual experience and the embodied individual's life in its concrete cultural-historical context. Dilthey holds that history is made up of a series of world views that require a process of interpretive inquiry that is unavoidably circular. Thus, for Dilthey, understanding by humans is dependent on past worldviews, interpretations, and a shared world.
Presentations are limited to a maximum of 10 minutes followed by a 20 minutes discussion with each one of the panel members, for a total time period of 30 minutes per presenter. Emphasis is on dialogue; the event will be videotaped and an edited version of the recording will be posted online. All participants are encouraged to submit full-length versions of their final, edited papers for consideration to be published in Existenz. All contributors are welcome regardless of membership. A registration fee of $25.00 applies for all who are not an active member in the Karl Jaspers Society of North America.
Please send your working title and a brief abstract (200 words) to the program chair:
Ruth A. Burch by November 30, 2020. Earlier submissions are appreciated and will be processed in the order as they are received.
Notification of placement will take place by January 10, 2021. https://www.karljaspers.us/papercall.html
Keywords: Jaspers, Karl; history of philosophy; translation; greatness; philosophia perennis; realm of philosophy; reason; truth; existence; Transcendence, Encompassing; freedom; communication; language.
paradigmatic case of what she calls an "erotico-theoretical transference" relationship: De Beauvoir devoted herself
to Sartre theoretically by adopting his existentialist perspective for the analysis of reality in general and the analysis
of women's oppression in particular. The latter is especially strange since Sartre used strongly sexist metaphors
and adopted a macho attitude towards women. In her book Hipparchia's Choice, Le Dœuff speaks in this context of
"theoretical masculinism." She convincingly shows in this book that Sartre without using images could not have closed
his existentialist philosophy: without the feminine drawback he would not have been able to explain why man cannot
become god. Sartre not only understands gaining knowledge as a rape of a woman he also fears that the possessed
feminine (body) could reverse its position from being dominated to the dominating force by appropriating the masculine
through slime. In Being and Nothingness Sartre states that "slime is the revenge of the In-itself. A sickly–sweet, feminine
revenge." Despite of the fact that De Beauvoir used Sartre's heterosexist ontology and metaphysics she managed to
provide a highly influential depiction of women's condition and offered an original approach to the understanding of
selfhood which places woman inside the subject.
Full text: https://existenz.us/volumes/Vol.11-1Burch.pdf
Keywords: Le Dœuff, Michèle; de Beauvoir, Simone; Sartre, Jean-Paul; second sex; women's condition; selfhood; transference relationship; sexist metaphor; existentialist philosophy; philosophical imaginary.
scheduled to take place online
due to the pandemic
April 9 and 10, 2021
Dilthey in Jaspers' Psychology of Worldviews
https://www.karljaspers.us/papercall.html
KJSNA cordially invites proposals for presentations that engage with the Psychologie der Weltanschauungen that was composed in 1919 and is published as volume six of Jaspers' works in the Karl Jaspers Gesamtausgabe (KJG), edited by Oliver Immel, scientific collaborator of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. The Psychology of Worldviews has to date not been translated into English. Looking back, Jaspers referred to the book as being his "first philosophical exposition" and "the earliest writing of the later so-called modern existential philosophy." Jaspers draws in this work on Husserls' phenomenological descriptions and on Max Weber's notion of "ideal types" and also significantly on the hermeneutics as developed by Wilhelm Dilthey. José Ortega y Gasset called Dilthey "the most important philosopher in the second half of the nineteenth century." This conference aims to explore this influence of Dilthey in the Psychology of Worldviews on Jaspers' attempt to create a typology of worldviews. Dilthey argues that the main task of the human sciences (Geisteswissenschaften) is the understanding of the organizational structures of human and historical life rather than the causal explanation of it. This also brought about a shift of the methodological focus onto the lived experience. Meaning is historical and the world is given to human beings through symbolically mediated practices. For Dilthey, the aim of the humanities is to comprehend individual experience and the embodied individual's life in its concrete cultural-historical context. Dilthey holds that history is made up of a series of world views that require a process of interpretive inquiry that is unavoidably circular. Thus, for Dilthey, understanding by humans is dependent on past worldviews, interpretations, and a shared world.
Presentations are limited to a maximum of 10 minutes followed by a 20 minutes discussion with each one of the panel members, for a total time period of 30 minutes per presenter. Emphasis is on dialogue; the event will be videotaped and an edited version of the recording will be posted online. All participants are encouraged to submit full-length versions of their final, edited papers for consideration to be published in Existenz. All contributors are welcome regardless of membership. A registration fee of $25.00 applies for all who are not an active member in the Karl Jaspers Society of North America.
Please send your working title and a brief abstract (200 words) to the program chair:
Ruth A. Burch by November 30, 2020. Earlier submissions are appreciated and will be processed in the order as they are received.
Notification of placement will take place by January 10, 2021. https://www.karljaspers.us/papercall.html