Er(r)rgo...

• Authors: Wojciech Kalaga
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

Er(r)go, the inevitability of the inaugurating word which, of necessity, anticipates the future, but also binds us with the past. The space of “ergo” has always been there (given the complexities of the world, it may have been the first word uttered by the demiurge). Unlike “and,” “also,” “as well,” “between,” - “ergo” constitutes a complex space, full of folds and niches, where thought is forced into meandering, and from which it emerges transformed, so that it no longer recognizes itself. As Andrzej Chojecki writes (and we are already anticipating the next issue in which his paper will appear), in the space of “ergo” “the most amazing parallels, identifications and differentiations occur. It is here that the most dramatic ruptures take place. The obvious may appear in the realm of “ergo”, but it may also be doomed to non-existence and non-obviousness.” The space of “Er(r)go” emerged about twenty years ago, when the interdisciplinary seminar of the same name began its activities, which it continued for almost fifteen years. Many people, numerous voices, and numerous texts filled that space. “Er(r)go: Theory – Literature – Culture” reopens that space again, even though without the former innocence of origins. Essays by Tadeusz Rachwał and Tadeusz Sławek nostalgically bridge the now with the past. They join the voices coming from diverse realms of the humanities – that of the Nestor of scholarship, Stefan Morawski, as well as of Agata Bielik-Robson, Ewa Domańska, Ewa Rewers, Krystyna Wilkoszewska. They mix – frequently in polemics and debates – with the voices made accessible by translation or citation: those of Blake, Barthes, Bauman, Derrida, Heidegger, Levinas, Rorty, to mention only some of them. The space of “Er(r)go” absorbs “ergo”, but enriches it with the consciousness of Theory: of theoretical reflexivity and self-reflexivity, of the incessant need to question even the most obvious categories, presuppositions, axioms and criteria. In its methodological principle, it is an interdisciplinary space; it is thus hospitable, but at the same time demanding, because it requires the annihilation of the blind borders separating disciplines and calls for a dialogue of discourses and paradigms – for the listening to the voice of the Other. It is only when these requirements are fulfilled that one may grasp the relations and phenomena invisible to monodisciplinary thinking: to the non-reflexive binarity of self-conceited certainty of the obvious and the stable. Wojciech Kalaga

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach / Śląsk Sp. z o.o. Wydawnictwo Naukowe
• Journal: ER(R)GO: Teoria – Literatura – Kultura
• Year: 2000
• Issue: 1

Dates

published

2000-01-01

Contributors

author

Wojciech Kalaga