Kafka’s “categorical imperative” and his sense of “being and non-being”

Janus Head ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-183
Author(s):  
Ross Crisp ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Imperative ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Law

In this article, I begin with Kant’s notion of a “categorical imperative” as a framework from which to discuss the ontology of Franz Kafka’s writing. Since Kant’s moral law is a device for reflecting on our responses to challenging circumstances rather than one that tells us what we should always do in every situation, I draw inferences concerning Kafka’s own descriptions of his sense of being a writer in opposing phenomenal and spiritual worlds. Since Kafka cannot be understood exclusively from a Kantian perspective of autonomous will, I discuss Kafka’s experiencing in terms of the reciprocal interplay of being and non-being, and his awareness of finitude and the possibility of transcendence. I argue for a humanistic-existential vision of the reading of a literary text as an encounter that responds to the alterity of the Other and which, consistent with Kafka’s oeuvre, privileges being faithful to one’s own experiencing.

Elementy poetyki ludowej w powieści Rzeczy uprzyjemniające. Utopia T. Bołdak-Janowskiej

2020 ◽  
pp. 182-197
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Goral
Keyword(s):  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
The One ◽  
Cultural Features

The aim of the article is to analyse the elements of folk poetics in the novel Pleasant things. Utopia by T. Bołdak-Janowska. The category of folklore is understood in a rather narrow way, and at the same time it is most often used in critical and literary works as meaning a set of cultural features (customs and rituals, beliefs and rituals, symbols, beliefs and stereotypes) whose carrier is the rural folk. The analysis covers such elements of the work as place, plot, heroes, folk system of values, folk rituals, customs, and symbols. The description is conducted based on the analysis of source material as well as selected works in the field of literary text analysis and ethnolinguistics. The analysis shows that folk poetics was creatively associated with the elements of fairy tales and fantasy in the studied work, and its role consists of – on the one hand – presenting the folk world represented and – on the other – presenting a message about the meaning of human existence.

scholarly journals Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Meet Edward II

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boldizsár Fejérvári
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
The Real ◽  
Edward Ii

It is a common fashion in literary criticism, or 'Lit Crit,' to treat reality, human behaviour, communication, and everything else as though they were 'texts to be read.' This paper proposes to go the other way: it interprets literature (or, more precisely, one literary text, Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead) as a part of reality in which several other layers of the real combine, such as linguistics, science, or other literary texts, most notably Hamlet. While Edward II is not generally considered a direct source for Stoppard's play, this paper shows how, in the wider perspective of 'interreality,' Marlowe's tragedy might interact with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. At the same time it is proved that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, contrary to the critical conception of many, is not a parasitic work 'feeding off' Elizabethan playwrights, but a play that enters a symbiotic relationship with its host (as defined by Hillis Miller).

scholarly journals The contstructivistic defence of the objectivity of moral standards and natural law that does not require the debate on moral realism

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 653-663
Author(s):  
Slavenko Sljukic
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Moral Realism ◽  
Categorical Imperative ◽  
Moral Relativism ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Sentiments ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Social Fact ◽  
Moral Standards ◽  
Theories Of Justice

The main goal of Kenneth R. Westphal?s How Hume and Kant Reconstruct Natural Law: Justifying Strict Objectivity without Debating Moral Realism is to defend the objectivity of moral standards and natural law and thus avoid the discussion about moral realism and its alternatives by interpreting Hume and Kant in a constructivistic sense. The reason behind the author?s disagreement with both: moral realism and non-realism (its alternative) is our inability to properly understand and answer one of the two parts in Socrates? question to Euthyphro: ?Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved?? Moral realists cannot provide an answer to its second part, since it is not possible to prove that moral standards are not artificial; conversely, moral non-realists cannot provide an answer to its first part, since it is not possible to avoid the relatitvity of moral standards. The author tends to solve this problem by avoiding the confrontation between moral realism and non-realism and thus choosing the constuctivistic stance that, as he argues, can be found in both Hume?s and Kant?s theories. The main point of this stance is that moral standards are indeed artificial, yet not arbitrary. He proves this by pointing out that both Hume and Kant treat the moral standards as a social fact (that is, artificial), but also as objective. Westphal points out that Hume explicitly writes about moral standards as a social fact, while showing that, at the same time, his theory of justice, which precedes all of the moral standards, is established independently of his theory of moral sentiments (potentially leading to moral relativism). In this manner, he provides the objectivity of those standards. On the other hand, Kant?s theory is interpreted as advanced, yet similar to Hume?s in its structure. The crucial similarity is that both Hume and Kant interpret the moral standards as a social fact (that is, as an artificial) and, at the same time, as the objective ones. Kant, unlike Hume, provides this objectivity by using a specific moral criterion - a categorical imperative. Those assumptions will be used as the main premises of a distinctively inspiring interpretation of Hume?s and Kant?s theories of justice.

scholarly journals Бытие и небытие смерти в смысловой картине реально- сти и художественного текста на материале романов Леонида Леонова Дорога на Океан и Максима Горького Жизнь Клима Самгина

2018 ◽  
Vol 167 ◽  
pp. 375-383
Author(s):  
Valentyna Gerasymchuk
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Space ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Transcendental Philosophy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
Physical Time ◽  
Existence And Nonexistence ◽  
The One

Existence and nonexistence of death in the semantic picture of reality and artistic text on the material of romans Leonid Leonov Road to the Ocean and Maxim Gorkogo The Life of Klim SamginIn this article the problem of death is unfolding in the semantic space of its ontological and existential conception in reality and a literary text. On the one hand, death as the concept of being is presented as its continuation, spiritual content, confirmation. On the other hand, death as a concept of non-being is considered as nothingness, rejection of being and its spiritual content.In reality the concept of death becomes an issue of the questionary and transcendental philosophy, that takes place in the physical time and metaphysical space of thought and expression. When the matter concerns the death of human being, his death acquires an ontological status of being, a status of spiritual significance. In the contrary case, it is possible to consider death and even life in terms of the concepts of being and nothingness. In literary texts the concept of death is also considered to be being or non-being, but taking into account constitutive characteristics of the text, its figurative and notional polysemant, the concept of death acquires not only aesthetic but also conceptual focus. In the article the main points of the topic of death, its being and non-being, are illustrated on the examples of specific literary texts. Буття і небуття смерті в смисловій картині реальності і художньому текстіПроблема смерті у статті розгортається в смисловому просторі онтологічного і екзистенціалістського її розуміння в реальності і в художньому тексті. З одного боку, смерть — поняття буття — постає як його продовження, його духовна наповненість, його стверждення. З другого — смерть — поняття небуття — розглядається як ніщо, як заперечення буття і його духовної наповненості.У реальності поняття смерті стає проблемою запитальної, трансцендентальної філософії, що розгортається у фізичному часі і метафізичному просторі думки і слова. І якщо йдеться про смерть буттюючої особистості, то і її смерть набуває онтологічного статусу, статусу духовної значущості, інакше можна говорити про смерть і навіть життя у поняттях небуття і ніщо. У художніх текстах поняття смерті також розглядається як буття і небуття, проте з урахуванням конститутивних особливостей тексту, його образної і смислової багатозначності, образ смерті набуває, крім онтологічної, ще й естетичну спрямованість.

Relaciones Entre las Actitudes Bellas y las Morales

1998 ◽  
pp. 133-138
Author(s):  
María Rosa Palazón
Keyword(s):  
Literary Text ◽  
The Other ◽  
Good Person ◽  
Spontaneous Behavior ◽  
Moral Beauty ◽  
Moral Rules ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

There are no a-moral texts, even though amorality may be described by them: an amoral author would not dare into the search of beauty; it depends on a game of faculties that, also, play with the form. A moralizing literary text is not due to a game of author's faculties, but only to the author's conscience. Thus, it rebounds heavy and ugly. An ugly immoral literary text assaults on a redundant and calculated way some moral rules in favor of the "forbidden". Then, it is not a beautiful text. The aesthetic function is the one treating the stimulus as a purpose and not only as a means. This spontaneous behavior is condition of possibility for the moral act (the follower of the second kantian imperative). The one who spontaneously has the attitude that considers the other (alter) as a purpose and not only as a means, is a beautiful person. Its argued that it is not yet a morally good person. Anyway, "beau-ty" on its Latin etymologies (beau-t‚ and bello) means good, which involves a project that is dialoguing, truthful, respectful and advantageous for the community. It also means that the decision of using the proper means for the goal, has been taken. Once accepted the project, the individual shall act spontaneously on a ludicrous way so that the project may become real. He will be a more meritorious beautiful person if his spontaneous goodness means the overcoming over the experiences that have hurt hi. The matter is: is the moral beauty the highest point of morality? I will work on this topic on the basis of Schiller, Kant, Gadamer, and Sartre.

Deontological International Ethics

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Formal Method ◽  
Categorical Imperative ◽  
Divine Command ◽  
Moral Law ◽  
International Ethics ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Moral Duties ◽  
Moral Nature

Deontological international ethics describes, analyzes, and assesses the principles governing the interactions of actors at and across various levels of society; focuses on the relations between states and other international actors; and is concerned with identifying and specifying the moral duties that each kind of international actor bears toward all others. The core theoretical elements of deontological international ethics include accounts of individual and collective agency, moral reason, the moral nature of action, and respect for the moral law as a necessary feature of ethical action. There are three historical phases of deontological international ethics: divine command and natural law ethics prior to Kant, late-modern thinker Immanuel Kant’s international ethics, and contemporary neo-Kantian approaches to nuclear ethics and transnational economic relations. The divine command ethical theories posit divine authority as the absolute and incontrovertible source of moral obligation. Meanwhile, natural law focuses on the intrinsically moral nature of military action and the centrality of moral agency and intention in the rightful use of force. On the other hand, Kant’s systemic deontological ethical theory posits individuals and states as autonomous and rational moral agents, identifies the categorical imperative as the supreme rational principle or morality and the concept of public right as its political corollary, describes a formal method for actors to determine their moral duty in ideal and non-ideal contexts, and applies this theory to the problems of interstate conflict and commerce.

scholarly journals Ideologie, ‘egte’ norme en literêre taalhandelinge

Literator ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-54
Author(s):  
M. Rossouw
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
South African ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
African Community ◽  
Ethical Norms ◽  
Different Levels

For many years text-immanent approaches to literature have dominated the scene of Afrikaans literary criticism. This article adds a voice to the ‘spontaneous' discourse in which ethical norms (especially socio-political guidelines), too, come into play when a literary text is studied. Since the context in which a text is written and read is of great importance in such an approach, speech act theory is used in order to determine the intentions (illocutions) of the writer in the texts, as well as the reactions (perlocutions) of readers to the text. The purpose of this is mainly to establish whether critique of ideology manifests itself in speech acts directed towards freedom and dignity for all people. On the other hand there may also be signs of unconscious ideological illocutions in the contradictions which occur within or between the different levels of communication (macro, meso and micro). These contradictions are related to socio-political contradictions which are repressed within the South African community. In order to illustrate this kind of approach, three novels of Etienne van Heerden are discussed, viz. Om te awol (1984), Toorberg (1986) and Casspirs en Campari's (1991).

Embodying “you”: Levinas and a question of the second person

2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrol Clarkson
Keyword(s):  
Literary Text ◽  
The Other ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Dynamic Potential ◽  
Third Person

AbstractIn this paper I examine the effects of considering Levinas’s philosophy of the relation to the Other as a relation to a second person “you,” rather than to a third person “he.” To think of the Other as “you” sheds further light on the ethical encounter that Levinas terms the “Saying:” it provokes us to think of the event of reading a literary text as an event of the Saying. In the dynamic potential of the literary text to instantiate an “I” and a “you” (which is to say, an addresser and an addressee) each time it is read, and in ways that cannot be exhaustively predicted or epistemologically saturated in advance, the artwork effects an open yet responsive encounter with the Other.

FROM MYSHKIN TO MARXISM: THE ROLE OF DOSTOEVSKY RECEPTION IN LUKÁCS'S REVOLUTIONARY ETHICS

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 927-960 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD WESTERMAN
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Law ◽  
Political Ethics ◽  
Fyodor Dostoevsky ◽  
Spiritual Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One

For European literati of the early twentieth century, Fyodor Dostoevsky represented a mythically Russian spirituality in contrast to a soulless, rationalized West. One such enthusiast was Georg Lukács, who in 1915 began a never-completed book about Dostoevsky's work, a model of spiritual community that could redeem a fallen world. Though framing his analysis in the language and themes of broader Dostoevsky reception, Lukács used this idiom innovatively to go beyond the reactionary implications this model might connote. Highlighting similarities with Max Weber's account of political ethics, I argue that Lukács developed an ethic derived from his reading of Dostoevsky, which focused on the idea of a hero defined by an ability to resolve the specific ethical dilemma of adherence to duty and moral law on the one hand, and, on the other, the need to restore spontaneous human community at a time when the social institutions embodying such laws had fallen into decay. Crucially, he deployed the same framework after his conversion to Marxism to justify revolutionary terror. However different his position from Dostoevsky's, it was through engagement with these novels that Lukács not only clarified his thought but also came to identify Lenin as a Dostoevskyan hero figure.

scholarly journals Kako bih mogla da budem dobra ili o ženskom pismu Jagode Truhelke

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Katarina Ivon ◽  
Josipa Blažinović
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
World View ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Traditional Society ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Education Of Women ◽  
And Gender

The work examines the concept of a woman's letter of Jagoda Tuhelka with special reference to the novels: Plain air and Vojača and the educational epistle U carstvu duše (In the empire of the soul). With respect to the socio-political context of the end of the 19th and 20th centuries, efforts have been made to analyse the idea of the author's female emancipation and how to interpolate it in literary text. Its female poetics is directed to the education of women in traditional society as the basis of female emancipation while the author remains within the framework of the traditional world view supporting the male-female dichotomy and the wife and mother role meant for women. In line with this, the author conceives her female characters as active factors of their own destiny (Plain air), assigning them the function of putting forward their own ideas and developing the polemical discourse with patriarchy, while, on the other hand, her female characters become “innocent” victims of social circumstances and gender stereotypes (Vojača).

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