What is to Be Properly Called the 'Subject' - Genealogy of a Concept

• Authors: Blandzi S. , Facca D.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The contemporary debate about the 'crisis of the subject' has inspired this article. Its aim is to offer some indications concerning genealogy of the notion of 'subject'. Current epistemology which uses this term tends to employ it interchangeably with 'active subjectivity', 'soul', 'mental substance', 'person', 'mind', 'consciousness', 'the self'. In the opinion of the authors such uses are confusing, mutually contradictory and collectively too broad. The tendency to such lax employment of the term 'subject' can be traced back to Cartesian commitment to the self-conscious 'I', and the ensuing efforts in the modern times to accommodate the 'objective' with the 'subjective'. Critics of Descartes, regardless of whether they represented the analytic or the continental traditions, took over the concept of subject from the 'Meditations', which ultimately resulted in departing from the ancient and medieval practice of resting the subject on ontological foundations. Moreover, the new practice led to a radically novel treatment of the concept of 'person', a treatment that is also by no means free from vagueness and contradiction.

Keywords

EN

'SUBJECT' - NOTION'S GENESIS; CONCEPT OF 'PERSON'; CRISIS OF 'SUBJECT'

Discipline

• PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk
• Journal: Przegląd Filozoficzny. Nowa Seria
• Year: 2007
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 1(61)
• Pages: 189-205
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Blandzi S.

author

Facca D.

• S. Blandzi, Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii PAN, Zespol Badan nad Filozofia Antyczna i Historia Ontologii, ul. Nowy Swiat 72, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08PLAAAA03827658