Ethics of Writing

Carlo Sini, Brian Schroeder, Silvia Benso

Description

In this groundbreaking work, Carlo Sini, one of Italy's leading contemporary philosophers, brings American pragmatism to the Milan school of phenomenology. Appearing in English for the first time, this book explores the constitutive role of alphabetic writing in the emergence of dominant forms of knowledge in the Western world (philosophy, mathematics, science, and historiography). Taking stock of the contingent nature of what are held as logical truths, he offers an ethical framework for considering different ways of thinking about writing, focusing on possibilities involving "practice" as a basis for a renewal of theoretical philosophy. Such a framework, Sini argues, opens the door for more productive and ethical communication with non-Western cultures, and indeed for a reconsideration of forms of knowledge beyond mere writing.
Introduction by Silvia Benso

PART I. Logic and Writing: The Content of the Form

1. The Question

2. Writing

3. Archewriting

4. The Content of the Form

PART II. The Tradition of Thought

5. The Tradition of Philosophy

6. The Task of Thinking Practices

7. The Ethics of Thinking

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Épistémologie
• Philosophie de l'esprit
• Éthique et morale
• Ethique et morale
• Epistémologie
• Epistémologie
• Epistémologie
• Pragmatism

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 02 juillet 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438428574
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

Ethics of Writing

Carlo Sini y Silvia Benso Translated b with Brian Schroeder

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Ethics of Writing

SUNY S  C I P

Silvia Benso and Brian Schroeder, editors

Ethics of Writing

Carlo Sini

Silvia Benso Translated by with Brian Schroeder

Publised by S U  N Y P A

© 2009 State University of New York

All rigts reserved

Printed in te United States of America

No part of tis book may be used or reproduced in any manner watsoever witout written permission. No part of tis book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mecanical, potocopying, recording, or oterwise witout te prior permission in writing of te publiser.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Sini, Carlo, 1933-  [Etica della scrittura. Englis]  Etics of writing / Carlo Sini ; translated by Silvia Benso wit Brian Scroeder.  p. cm.—(SUNY series in contemporary Italian pilosopy)  Includes bibliograpical references and index.  ISBN 978-1-4384-2851-2 (ardcover : alk. paper)  1. Etics. 2. Writing—Moral and etical aspects. 3. hougt and tinking.  BJ1134.S5613 2009  175—dc22  2009003933

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I. Title.

Contents

Introduction by Silvia Benso

PART I Logic and Writing: he Content of te Form 1. he Question 2. Writing 3. Arcewriting 4. he Content of te Form

PART II he Tradition of hougt 5. he Tradition of Pilosopy 6. he Task of hinking 7. Practices 8. he Etics of hinking

Notes Bibliograpy Index

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3 17 35 53

79 91 103 141

155 165 171

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Introduction

Among te most recognized contemporary Italian pilosopers, Carlo Sini (1933–) as been Professor of heoretical Pilosopy at Milan State University since 1976. After studying Plato, Aristotle, and Hegel, Sini began is pilosopi- cal career under te guidance of Enzo Paci, arguably te most prominent Italian scolar of Husserl’s penomenology. It is to Husserl tat Sini first devoted is researc and work, moving later to a study of American pragmatism, especially Peirce’s tougt, but also Witeead and George Herbert Mead, in particular wit reference to te (Husserlian) teme of self-consciousness. his very same topic later lead Sini to a confrontation wit Nietzsce and wit Frenc struc- turalism and post-structuralism, most remarkably Lévi-Strauss and Foucault, wereas is concern for te pilosopy of language resulted in a deep pilo- sopical involvement wit Wittgenstein. His major interest in te linguistic concepts of sign and interpretation brougt Sini to te interesting project of building a bridge between ermeneutics and semiotics in te figures of Heide- gger and Peirce respectively. It is along te lines of a semiological ermeneutics or of a ermeneutic pragmatism tat Sini’s tougt in fact unfolds in its own original manner, and provides its most creative contribution. he teme tat as arguably interested Sini te most, or at least most constantly in te course of is pilosopical career, is tat of interpretation, wic in te 1980s e recognizes, in agreement wit oter contemporary Ital- ian pilosopers suc as Vattimo, as te central issue in contemporary tink- ing. Wereas Vattimo’s pilosopy elaborates te Nietzscean concept of interpretation in terms of its ultimately ungrounding and niilistic aspects, Sini concentrates instead on te notion of sign, as already suggested in te name of te journal e as directed for many years,L’uomo, un segno [Human Being, a Sign].In is tougt Sini brings tus togeter in a igly original and innovative teoretical project various pilosopical perspectives, spanning ermeneutics (Nietzsce, Heidegger, and Gadamer) and penomenology (Husserl, but also Merleau-Ponty) pragmatism, semiology (Peirce, Saussure, and various contem- porary writers on semiotics), and language analysis of various kinds.

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

Sini’s peculiar understanding of ermeneutics does not rel y on an ultimately relativistic notion of interpretation for wic, in a Nietzscean–Heideggerian move, tere are no facts outside teir interpretations, and all interpretations are constantly canging, dependent on teir context, and terefore ungrounded. Rater, for Sini, ermeneutics concerns te problematic relation of te ori- zontal and vertical dimensions of trut; tat is, te various interpretations of trut (te orizontal dimension) occur because of te self-eventuation of trut (vertical dimension), of its incision or incidence in te ways of living and know- ing. Interpretations of trut, wic are transient, and te event of trut remain for Sini separate concepts, albeit linked troug te concept of event as eventua- tion of (vertical) trut in specific (orizontal) ways of inabiting it. he event becomes tus sign—sign of trut. Sini is particularly interested in te specific signs tat caracterize West- ern civilization—namely, tecnological signs tat develop in parallel wit and even sape Western istorical–scientific rationality. Heidegger’s influence can be easily recognized in te need, manifested also by Sini, to enact a step-back toward te tinking of te origins in order to understand our own times. Sini’s originality, owever, brings im to focus on a topic left untougt by Heidegger (and taken up instead by Derrida, wit wom Sini in fact often converses, albeit to distance imself from te Frenc tinker): not te oblivion of te trut, but rater te activity of writing as te tecnical mode in wic te content of te form of trut presents itself. Sini’s pilosopical inquiry does not stop wit a descriptive or interpreta- tive analysis of tecnology and te tecnical world as it as delineated itself in Western culture. Rater, is pilosopical project tat brings im to unfold a genealogy (and not simply a reconstruction unable to explain, for example, te passage of trut fromaleteiatoveritas, as in Heidegger) of Western tec- nological tougt seeks beind its modes of development te possibility of a different experience of te world, language, and even trut. Witin te con- text of is igly fruitful contamination of penomenology, pragmatism, and ermeneutics, Sini develops te teoretical proposal of an etics of writing (to wic te present book is devoted) as a way of tinking te finite caracter of trut, tat is, of tinking trut as practice. his is in fact te real core of a work suc asEtics of Writing, wic in many senses gaters in one single volume te entirety of Sini’s pilosopy: tat is, te recognition tat trut sould certainly not be flattened on te notion ofveritas, as Heidegger as already warned us. But neiter sould trut be equated witaleteia, wit te disclosure or coming to presence of te idden trut of Being, wit te “voice of silence” troug wic Being reveals itself asLictung,as Heidegger imself advances. Rater, and tis is Sini’s original proposal, trut sould be understood on te basis of te content of te logical form as defining linear- ization of te voice. In oter words, te ultrasensible vision of trut as as its ground te emergence of te “logical” meaning oflogostat in turn is te result of a concrete practice tat translates previous ancient vocal and gestural