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HORIZON 10 (1) 2021 : Introduction : I. Kivle, R. Bicevskis: 11-14
ФЕНОМЕНОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ • STUDIES IN PHENOMENOLOGY • STUDIEN ZUR PHÄNOMENOLOGIE • ÉTUDES PHÉNOMÉNOLOGIQUES
https://doi.org/10.21638/2226-5260-2021-10-1-11-14
INTRODUCTION
There are special times and places in the history of European philosophy—the "battlefields of philosophy" (Flasch, 2008)—where thought is articulated in such a way as to have a significant impact not only on a narrow circle of students but also to create a broad (and lasting) "footprint" of continuations and transformations, which also has an agonic, debate-inducing character. One such place of articulation of thought and such time is also the phenomenological movement. The philosophical heritage of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger influences not only the development of phenomenology and hermeneutics, the formation of the philosophy of existence, and even not only the development of continental philosophy in general, but also new approaches to research in a wide range of sciences and arts. Phenomenology today participates in the life sciences, interpretations of modern art, and the study of social processes to the same extent as it continues the internal conversation about its basic concepts. Although the influence of Husserl and Heidegger on the branches of science has developed over several decades, creating such interdisciplinary sub-genres as the phenomenology of music, body, religion, art, medicine, technology, etc., however, the new search for stability and self-sufficiency in today's global and fragile society also invites phenomenology to embark on another philosophical adventure accompanied by highly interdisciplinary research.
Since Husserl's Introduction to volume II of Logical Investigations, where he formulates the well-known principle of phenomenology, namely that "we want to return to the things themselves" (Husserl, 1984, 10), the conversation and competition about what are the "things" to which to return has begun. This is especially reversed and exacerbated by the question in Heidegger's text My Way in Phenomenology: "from where and how is it defined what should be experienced as a 'thing itself' according to the principle of phenomenology? Is it consciousness and its objectivity or the being of existence in its unconcealedness and concealedness?" (Heidegger, 1969, 87). This is just the beginning of a conversation about things; this conversation has continued
in discussions between the generation of Merleau-Ponty, Michel Henry, Marc Richir, Jean-Luc Marion, Bernhard Waldenfels and younger generations. The call to return to things and their being has contributed to the formation of knowledge given in immediate experience, thus being able to unlock the case under study in its changing concealed unconcealedness, while preserving its truth. However, the two dimensions outlined at the beginning of phenomenology—Husserl's quest for the perspectival uncovering of in-depth meaning-constitution processes and Heidegger's question of being—are different, but both show that the birth of new knowledge is the ability to observe, see and hear, think and understand, beginning from what "is" and how it "is." Phenomenology today is still on its way towards what "is."
The thematic coverage of this special issue was to some extent influenced by the international interdisciplinary conference "Let things be! Edmund Husserl 160, Martin Heidegger 130," which took place at the University of Latvia, Riga in December 2019, the proceedings of which can be read in the journal "Horizon. Studies in Phenomenology" (Kivle, Bicevskis & Lacis, 2020, 373-381). Any researcher of phenomenology and hermeneutics was invited to contribute to the content of this issue. As a result, the journal's topics cover issues of the history of phenomenology, the detailed application of the phenomenological method in the study of specific phenomena, Husserl's or Heidegger's concepts and the importance of phenomenology and hermeneutics in other fields of knowledge and art. The topics of the journal deviate from in-depth analysis of transcendental philosophy, fundamental ontology, and phenomenological methods, and draw attention to the understanding of certain concepts and their possible modification in specific situations and thematic areas, looking at the history of phenomenology in a regional context.
Phenomenology entered Latvia as soon as it was established. The article "One Hundred Years of Phenomenology in Latvia: 1920-2020" by Maija Küle gives a comprehensive insight into phenomenology studies and research in Latvia. The article covers a hundred years, beginning with the contributions and critiques of Husserl's pupil Teodors Celms (1893-1989) to the development of phenomenology, following with the merits of Kurt Stavehagen (1884-1951), working at the Riga Herder Institute, Heidegger's visit to Riga in 1928 up to the latest research in recent decades.
Two articles are devoted to the understanding of being, existence and man. A. Malecka's and P. Mroz's article "The Heideggerian Concept of Dasein and Its On-tological Modality: Das Man," in which, using the basic concepts of Heidegger's existential period (before Kehre) magnum opus Being and Time, an original interpretation of Heidegger's such existentials as das Man and Dasein is offered, analyzing our being-in-the-world in two different ways: DaseinS existence in the world is based on
structure of possibilities, while das Man is dedicated to a concrete choice. Kimiyo Mu-rata-Soraci views Heidegger's philosophy from middle-voice point of view. In accordance with it, the author analyses Heidegger's concept Da-sein and Derrida's concept Animot as the limit between the human and the animal in the realization of human ways to be in the world.
Social interactions and phenomenological problems of media are analysed in two articles. Anna Khakhalova's article "Bodily-Affective Attunement of Social Interaction" views the problem of body attunement between participants of a social interaction and shows how subjects permanently attune to each other on different levels in emotional affordances. Girts Jankovskis' paper "Norms as a Medium: Phenomenolog-ical Approach in Analysing the Perception of Social Media" analyses concept of norms as a certain mode of perception as well as an object of thoughts therefore the author shows how norms as a medium are understood in comparison to language.
Phenomenological approach to ethics, religion and God is concerned in three articles. Rihards Külis' paper "Heideggers Sein, Rahners Gott—noch immer aktuelle Frage oder fällig gewordene Antwort?" views fundamental questions about "unfinished project" of Western rationality exploring ultimate directions of "God" and "Being." Velga Vevere' paper "Radical Demans and Spontaneity in K. E. Logstrup's Phenomenological Ethics with Continuous Reference to S. Kierkegaard" explores notions of Logstrup's ethics in confrontation with Kierkegaard's basic concepts. Mara Kiope's research "Phenomenology of Cognition in the Context of Many-Sided Humanism of Stanislavs Ladusans" shows how Ladusans places phenomenology of cognition or many-sided gnoseology at the corner-stone of his programme of cultural regeneration.
There are two articles dedicated to temporality: James Mensch' research on "Temporality as a Spatial Field of Presence" and Uldis Vegners' paper "Husserl and Dimensions of Temporality: A Framework for Analyses of Temporal Experience." James Mensch shows how we experience time in the widest sense as a "field of presence" where spatial apprehension is also included. Uldis Vegners analyses temporality as one of the key components of our experience and shows how experience of time is a fluid and complex phenomenon consisting of a multitude of dimensions.
Phenomenological approach to art, listening, silence and language are presented in articles written by Maja Bjelica, "Listening: An Interdisciplinary Path Towards Lettting Things Be"; Virgil W. Brower, "Techno-Telepathy & Silent Subvocal Speech-Recognition Robotics: Do Androids Read of Electric Thoughts?"; Georgy Chernavin, "On the Impossibility of the Phenomenological Language in the Context of Wittgenstein's Manuscripts from 1929-1933"; Onur Karamercan, "Heidegger's Way
to Poetic Dwelling via Being and Time' and Patrick Martin, "Being Struck: Gadamer on the Contemporaneity of Art." These studies are different by way of phenomeno-logical and hermeneutical approach. Maja Bjelica views listening as a potential for revealing a deeper sense of being in the world and as a possible way towards inhabiting our life-world. Virgil W. Brower considers subvocal "speech" as a mode of saying and binds it with Husserl's phenomenology of language and Heidegger's warning against enframing language within calculative technics. Georgy Chernavin's article opens up new possibilities for comparison between the Wittgensteinian project of the "primal language" and Husserlian, Heideggerian and Finkian projects of "phenomenological language." Onur Karamercan touches upon "dwelling" as a concept that bridges different Heidegger's works in during the peruid of Being and Time and latter philosophy. Patrick Martin's central question concerns the relathionship between art experience and experience of understanding in the context of Gadamer's hermeneutics.
Published articles, both in terms of thematic diversity and different phenomenological approaches, form a multidimensional mosaic for the development of interdisciplinary. However, they are yet another attempt for phenomenologically schooled thinking to get closer to things. These two directions of the articles are by no means contradictory, as long as the unity of intuition and methodological rigor already established at the beginning of phenomenology is maintained.
REFERENCES
Flasch, K. (2008). Kampfplätze der Philosophie. Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann. Kivle, I., Bicevskis, R., & Läcis, Kr. (2020). The Review of the International Interdisciplinary Conference "To let things be! Edmund Husserl 160, Martin Heidegger 130" (December 10-12, 2019, Riga, Latvia). HORIZON. Studies in Phenomenology, 9 (1), 373-381. Husserl, E. (1984). Logische Untersuchungen. Bd. 2 (Hua XIX-1). The Hague/Boston/Lancaster: Mar-tinus Nijhoff.
Heidegger, M. (1969). Zur Sache des Denkens. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.
Ineta KIVLE, Raivis BICEVSKIS
