Jos de Mul, The possibility of an island. Michel Houellebecq's tragic humanism. Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology, Vol. 1 (2014), Issue 1, pp. 91–110.

The Possibility of an Island: Michel Houellebecq’s Tragic Humanism¹

Abstract

Various authors, including Friedrich Nietzsche and George Steiner, have argued that the tragic worldview, as we find it expressed in Greek tragedy, has become an entirely incomprehensible phenomenon for (post)modern man. The claim defended in this article radically opposes this view. It is argued that tragedy can still teach us something today, and maybe even more so now than in the many intervening centuries that separate us from her days of glory in the fifth century bce. The tragic reveals itself once more in (post)modern society, and nowhere more clearly than in technology, the domain in which we believed the tragic had been domesticated or even eliminated. Referring to the tragic humanism in Michel Houellebecq’s novels The Elementary Particles and The Possibility of an Island it is argued that it is precisely in (post)modern (bio)technologies that we experience the rebirth of the tragic.

Keywords: tragedy, technology, humanism, transhumanism, Michel Houellebecq, Friedrich Nietzsche

Jos de Mul, Comprendere la natura. Dilthey, Plessner e la bioermeneutica. Lo Sguardo - rivista di filosofia. Vol. 14, no.1 (2014), 117-134.

Abstract: In recent years, authors like Chebanov, Markŏs, and Ginev have attempted to implement hermeneutic categories in the domain of biology. Against this background, the author takes Dilthey’s scattered remarks on the notion of the organic and Plessner’s biophilosophy as his starting point for the development of a biohermeneutical theory of biological purposiveness, which aims at bridging the gulf between the natural and the human sciences. Whereas the natural and human sciences are closely connected with a third-person and a first-person perspective respectively, the author argues that the second-person perspective plays a crucial role in the life sciences. In opposition to the natural sciences, in which causality is the key notion, and the human sciences, which rest on the notion of meaning, the author argues that the central concepts that characterize the second-person perspective of the life sciences are functionality and intentionality.

Nella Lebensphilosophie di Dilthey, l’antropologia e la storia sono strettamente connesse. Come lo stesso Dilthey afferma in una sentenza spesso citata, «Was der Mensch sei, sagt ihm nur seine Geschichte»^[2]. Tuttavia, per Dilthey storia significa solamente storia culturale. Per sviluppare una comprensione adeguata della condizione storica dell’uomo, dovremmo prendere in considerazione però anche la storia naturale. Dopo tutto, in quanto unità psico-fisica, l’Homo sapiens sapiens è il prodotto storico di un’iterazione complessa tra sviluppi sia naturali che culturali. Inoltre, all’epoca delle scienze della vita, la storia naturale e quella culturale sembrano sempre di più sconfinare l’una nell’altra. Le biotecnologie quali l’ingegneria genetica, l’ingegneria metabolica e il trapianto di genoma trasformano gli organismi in artefatti culturali e nel tentativo di creare la vita artificiale (probabilmente il Santo Graal della biologia di sintesi), gli artifatti culturali manifestano via via maggiori qualità prima riservate alla vita organica.

In quanto segue argomenterò la tesi secondo cui l’ermeneutica di Dilthey, specialmente la sua analisi della triade Erleben, Ausdruck e Verstehen, offre ancora un proficuo punto di partenza per lo sviluppo di una bioermeneutica che non ha a che fare solamente con la comprensione umana e con l’interpretazione degli esseri, delle (inter)azioni e degli artifatti umani, ma che include anche la comprensione e l’interpretazione di e da parte di agenti non-umani. Il fatto che Dilthey nei suoi ultimi scritti ermeneutici distingua in maniera piuttosto dogmatica tra natura e cultura pare senza dubbio di primo acchito un ostacolo per lo sviluppo di una bioermeneutica ispirata al suo pensiero. Per esempio, Dilthey rifiuta esplicitamente la possibilità di una comprensione umana della vita delle piante: «Bedeutung oder Wert kann etwas nicht haben, von dem es kein Verstehen gibt. Ein Baum kann niemals Bedeutung haben» (GS VII, p. 259). La possibilità di una comprensione o di un’interpretazione da parte di agenti non umani non è poi nemmeno considerata da Dilthey. Eppure, sosterrò che gli scritti tardivi di Dilthey sull’ermeneutica contengono qualche traccia per lo sviluppo di una bioermeneutica. Svilupperò oltre queste tracce con l’aiuto della biofilosofia di Plessner e grazie a qualche riferimento ad alcuni recenti sviluppi negli ambiti della biologia dei sistemi e della neuropsicologia^[3].

Innanzitutto, riprendendo il dibattito sulla demarcazione delle Naturwissenschaften e delle Geisteswissenschaften che ebbe luogo in Germania attorno al 1900, avanzerò la tesi secondo cui in quel dibattito erano in gioco varie dicotomie ontologiche, epistemologiche, fenomenologiche e normative che non combaciano. Dirò poi che queste dicotomie precludono una comprensione adeguata del carattere peculiare delle scienze della vita, a metà strada tra le scienze della natura e quelle umane (§ 1). Mostrerò in secondo luogo che Dilthey, nonostante il suo approccio per lo più dicotomico nel dibattito su tale demarcazione, a sua volta fondato sulla distinzione tra esperienza esteriore (prospettiva alla terza persona) e interiore (prospettiva alla prima persona), in qualche occasione ha riconosciuto lo statuto speciale delle scienze della vita, connesso con la «conformità di scopo (Zweckmäßigkeit)» immanente delle entità viventi (§ 2). In terzo luogo, dirò che la comprensione del finalismo immanente richiede l’esperienza da una prospettiva alla seconda persona, incarnata e interattiva (§ 3). Al fine di sostenere tale ipotesi, farò riferimento all’analisi di Plessner della triplice dimensione corporale della vita umana in Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch (§ 4). Nell’ultima parte, fornirò una breve visione d’insieme dei differenti tipi di interpretazione intraspecie, interspecie e intraorganica e traccerò i compiti che attendono la bioermeneutica (§ 5).

Jos de Mul. The biotechnological sublime. From nature to technology and back. Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. The Institute Letter. Spring 2013, 17.

Many things are awesome, but none more awesome than man.

Sophocles

Every once in a while we experience something extraordinary. Such ‘awesome’ experiences might happen in our research, when we unexpectedly discover something really amazing, or when we come across a magnificent landscape, hear a piece of music that really moves us, or when we fall deeply in love. Traditionally these kinds of extraordinary experiences are called “sublime”. In the following I will present some reflections on one particular kind of sublimity: the technological sublime.

Jos de Mul. The biotechnological sublime. In: Ken-ichi Sasaki (ed.), Aesthetics beyond Art. Special issue of Diogenes,  Vol. 59 ( 1–2), 2013 32–40.

Abstract  The notion of the sublime, which since the nineteenth century is one of the dominant aesthetic categories, is strongly connected with (the artistic representation of) overwhelming nature. In this article it is argued that in the course of the 20^th century the sublime increasingly becomes entangled with the experience of technology. However, in the age of biotechnologies, such as genetic modification and synthetic biology, the sublime regains a natural dimension. Taking Eduard Kac’s Alba fluo rabbit (a ‘transgenic’ bunny, that resulted from the injection of green fluorescent protein of a Pacific jellyfish into the egg of an Albino rabbit) as an example, it will be argued that in the age of biotechnology the difference between nature, technology and art will gradually vanish, and new dimensions of the sublime will become manifest.

约斯·德·穆尔  著《阐释学视界——全球化世界的文化间性阐释学》麦永雄 方頠玮  译 《外国美学》第20辑 [Jos de Mul, Hermeneutic perspective: Intercultural hermeneutics in a globalized world. International Aesthetics, no. 20 (2012), 312-336]

阐释学视
界——全球化世界的文化间性阐释学[1]

约斯·德·穆尔  著 麦永雄 方頠玮   译

摘要：本文从 “经验视界”的常用隐喻出发，探讨文化间性阐释学（intercultural hermeneutics）的三种不同类型，它分别把阐释学的诠释构想成视界拓展，视界融合和视界播撒。可以认为，阐释学史上这些赓续的阶段分别源于——但并非是严格地限于——全球化的前现代、现代和后现代阶段。以中西语言和哲学相遇合的一些令人瞩目的契机为例，对文化间性阐释学这三种类型的优长和不足展开讨论。要论辩的是，尽管从理论的视野来看，这三种阐释学类型是互相排斥的，但是作为当代阐释的存在方式，我们有赖于这三种不同的阐释学实践，并且无法避免地与它们共生。

关键词：文化间性阐释学；全球化；阐释学视界；汉语；前现代主义；现代主义；后现代主义；狄尔泰；海德格尔；伽达默尔；德里达；柏拉图；孔子；徐冰

约斯·德·穆尔，里斯贝思·努尔德格拉芙 :《主权债务危机还是苏菲的抉择：论欧洲的悲剧、罪恶与责任》《新华文摘》2012年第13期全文转载 [Jos de Mul andLiesbeth Noordegraaf-Eelens, The sovereign debt crisis or Sophie’s choice. On European tragedies, guilt and responsibility),（originally published in Social Science Front no.4 2012), Xinhua Digest, no.14 2012]. 

约斯·德·穆尔 里斯贝思·努尔德格拉芙 《主权债务危机还是苏菲的抉择：论欧洲的悲剧、罪恶与责任》《社会科学战线》2012年第4期 [Jos de Mul and Liesbeth Noordegraaf-Eelens. The sovereign debt crisis or Sophie’s choice. On European tragedies, guilt and responsibility, Social Science Front, no.4 2012, 1-5]

主权债务危机还是苏菲的抉择: 论欧洲的悲剧、罪恶与责任

[荷] 约斯·德·穆尔 1  摇里斯贝思·努尔德格拉芙 2

(1作者简介: 约斯·德·穆尔( Jos de Mul), 荷兰伊拉斯谟大学哲学系教授, 研究方向: 哲学人类学; 里斯贝思·努尔德格拉芙(Liesbeth Noordegraaf-Eelens), 伊拉斯谟大学经济系副教授, 研究方向: 哲学、经济学。郾伊拉斯谟大学哲学系, 荷兰鹿特丹3000 DR; 2郾伊拉斯谟大学经济学系, 荷兰鹿特丹3000 DR)

摇摇摘要: 2011 年, 针对金融危机, 欧洲峰会叠起, 但效果不佳。 我们应该开始在金融领域之外进行深入 思考。 文章将以希腊神话中俄狄浦斯的故事及《苏菲的选择》 为例, 阐释悲剧的意义, 从而透视欧洲危机 的深层问题。 解决欧洲危机的关键在于唤起人的责任感。 新自由主义弊端开始在欧洲显现, 当前, 迫切需 要将政治与经济联系起来, 在政治和文化的意义上定义欧洲, 而不是纠结于金融政策的改革。

关键词: 欧洲; 主权债务危机; 悲剧; 责任
中图分类号: G02摇文献标识码: A摇文章编号: 0257-0246 (2012) 04-0229-05

Jos de Mul. Le sublime (bio)technologique. Diogène. No.233-234 (2011), 25-37.
 

Le sublime (bio)technologique 
 

Si le concept de sublime a été employé par le passé pour exprimer l'impuissance ressentie par l'homme dans ses tentatives de représentation de la Nature, la condition postmoderne – d'où la Nature même a été évincée – a donné lieu à une notion du sublime au sein de laquelle les êtres humains se retrouvent confrontés à leurs propres créations.

Dale Chapman.

Introduction

Depuis son émergence en tant que discipline distincte dans le champ de la philosophie, au milieu du XVIIIe siècle1, l'histoire de l'esthétique manifeste deux tendances remarquables qui reflètent plusieurs développements spécifiques propres à l'art et à la culture (post)modernes en général. D'un côté, le développement de l'esthé- tique se caractérise par une spéciation remarquable ainsi que par la multiplication des catégories esthétiques. Si l'esthétique des premiers temps se concentrait essentiellement sur la catégorie du beau, une multitude de nouveaux concepts esthétiques, tels que le sublime, l'ironique, le comique, l'absurde et le banal, a émergé au début du XIXe siècle et s'impose encore aujourd'hui. Il est évident que cette expansion reflète les développements propres à l'art mo- derne lui-même qui n'a cessé d'élargir le champ de l'expérience et de l'expression esthétiques. Les beaux-arts sont devenus les arts qui ne sont plus beaux.

Tragedy and repetition. XPONIKA AIΣΘHTIKHΣ / Annales d'esthetique / Annals for Aesthetics, Vol.46. Volume B (2011), 191-202.

Abstract  According to writers such as Nietzsche, Steiner, and Oudemans and Lardinois the tragic culture of the Greeks has become entirely alien to us. They argue that within the Christian and modern worldview there is no place for tragedy anymore. In this article it is claimed that this does not entail in any shape or form that tragic events cannot take place anymore within Christian and modern culture. In modern culture this particularly happens, with no lack of tragic irony, precisely in the domain in which we believed tragedy had been eliminated: (our interaction with) technology.

Although technological tragedies differ in many respects from classical tragedies, they also show deep continuities. Just as in the case of their classical models, the behavior of the tragic heroes of our time is characterized by miscalculation (hamartia), blindness (atè) with regard to the tragic reality and foolhardiness (hybris).Now, tragic events do not automatically raise tragic awareness. Tragedies are characterized by the fact that the tragic heroes – unlike the spectators – are unaware of the fate that is befalling them, and coming about because of them. But most tragedies also have a reversal of circumstances (peripéteia), a moment at which hopeful expectation crumbles and the hero suddenly becomes aware of his tragic position. Postmodernity is another way of saying that modern culture recognizes itself as tragic.

Jos de Mul. Horizons of Hermeneutics: Intercultural Hermeneutics in a Globalizing World.  Frontiers of Philosophy in China. Vol. 6, No. 4 (2011), 628-655.

DOI: 10.1007/s11466-011-0159-x (DOI) 10.1007/s11466-011-0159-x

Abstract  Starting from the often-used metaphor of the “horizon of experience” this article discusses three different types of intercultural hermeneutics, which respectively conceive hermeneutic interpretation as a widening of horizons, a fusion of horizons, and a dissemination of horizons. It is argued that these subsequent stages in the history of hermeneutics have their origin in—but are not fully restricted to—respectively premodern, modern and postmodern stages of globalization. Taking some striking moments of the encounter between Western and Chinese language and philosophy as example, the particular merits and flaws of these three types of hermeneutics are being discussed. The claim defended is that although these different types of hermeneutics are mutually exclusive from a theoretical point of view, as interpreting beings in the current era we depend on each of these distinct hermeneutic practices and cannot avoid living on them simultaneously.

Keywords intercultural hermeneutics, globalization, horizon of interpretation, premodernism, modernism, postmodernism

Jos de Mul. Etiketten plakken op de golven van de zee: Frederik van Eeden als vitalist. Frederik van Eeden-Genootschap. Mededelingen LV. Maart 2011, 6-19.

Inleiding

Laat ik mijn voordracht beginnen met het uitspreken van enkele woorden van dank en vrees. Laat ik met de dank beginnen. Het is mij een grote eer vandaag de jaarlijkse rede voor het illustere Frederik van Eeden-Genootschap te mogen uitspreken. Vooral gezien het feit dat we dit jaar, morgen om precies te zijn, de 150ste geboortedag van Frederik van Eeden vieren. Het is mij tevens een groot genoegen, omdat Frederik van Eeden ook een van mijn grote literaire jeugdliefdes is geweest en een belangrijke stempel heeft gedrukt op mijn persoonlijke ontwikkeling gedurende mijn middelbare schooljaren, en die jaren behoren – zeker als het gaat om de artistieke, politieke en filosofische voorkeuren die men ontwikkelt – tot de belangrijkste in een mensenleven.

Jos de Mul. Moral machines. In: Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology. Volume 14, no. 3 (2010), 226-237.

Abstract

In spite of the popularity of computer ethics, ICTs appear to undermine our moral autonomy in several ways. This article focuses on the 'delegation' of our moral agency to machines. Three stages of delegation are distinguished: implementation of moral values and norms in the design of artefacts, delegation of moral means to machines, and delegation of both moral means and goals to machines. Second, it is argued that the 'outsourcing' of moral agency does not necessarily lead to the undermining of our moral autonomy, but might enhance it as well.

Keywords: ICTs, moral autonomy, man-machine interaction, moral mediation

Jos de Mul. 约·德·穆尔《数据库建筑：对可能性艺术的人类学考察》雷礼锡译，载《襄樊学院学报》 第31卷第4期，2010年4月，第10—21页。[Jos de Mul, Database Architecture: Anthropological Reflections on the Art of the Possible. Journal od Xiangfan University, Vol. 31 (2010), no. 4, 10-21].

数据库建筑：对可能性艺术的人类学考察

[荷兰]约·德·穆尔¹著；雷礼锡²译

（1 伊拉斯谟斯大学哲学系，荷兰鹿特丹 3000； 2 襄樊学院美术学院，湖北襄樊 441053）

摘　要：康斯坦特·纽文惠斯的“新巴比伦”作为一种富有远见的建筑设计方案在赛博空间理论方面有重要发现，成为当今重组城市化与数据库建筑的典型案例。数据库建筑概念不只是一种信息论的体现，更重要的还是代表了一种面向未来的智能环境建筑理念。数据库建筑借助计算机辅助设计手段，意味着建筑发展趋向无限可能的艺术形式，并促成完全虚拟的建筑设计和建造，可能让人们居住在赛博空间，居住在完全由信息构造的建筑物里。人在本性上的有限、自由、游戏、无家可归成为重审“新巴比伦”、正视数据库建筑的重要基础。

Jos de Mul. 约斯·德·穆尔 , 激进浪漫主义 (Radical romanticism), in: 社会科学战线 (Social Science Front). 年第3期 (Issue 3, 2010), 第227-231页.

摘要:  在很多人看来 , 浪漫主义应当作为一个批判对象而存在 , 因为在本质上它是一种反启蒙 , 对扎 根于启蒙运动的现代性和民主文化构成了永久的威胁 。 文章认为 , 那些通常被归罪于浪漫主义的恶行事实 上并不是根源于过度的浪漫主义 , 而是由于浪漫主义的欠缺才发生的 , 浪漫主义并不追求绝对 , 它已经意识到绝对是一个不可企及的目标 。 也正是由于浪漫主义对待绝对的这种态度 , 使它成为介于现代性与后现代性之间的一种立场 。 如果说现代性以追求绝对的热情为特征 , 而后现代性以对这种追求的反讽为特征 ,那么 , 浪漫主义就构成了现代性的热情和后现代性的反讽之间的一种 “ 震荡 冶, 它对于保持二者之间的平衡是至关重要的 。 技术崇高( technological sublime ) 是现代性的合理结果 , 它的效应对于人类而言是喜忧参半的 。 在技术崇高咄咄逼人的现时代 , 艺术虽然不足以拯救我们 , 但是它可以使力得到舒缓 。 关键词:  激进浪漫主义 ; 艺术 ; 崇高 中图分类号: B835摇 文献标识码: A摇 文章编号: 0257-0246 ( 2010 ) 03-0227-05

Jos de Mul. Database Architecture: Anthropological Reflections on the Art of the Possible. The Journal of Asian Arts & Aesthetics. Vol.3, no.2 (2009), 1-14.

Abstract: In 1956, the Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys started working on a visionary  architectural proposal for a future global society; he didn't stop for almost twenty years. New Babylon was elaborated in an endless series of models, sketches, etchings, lithographs, collages, architectural drawings, and photo collages, as well as in manifestos, essays, lectures, and films. New Babylon envisages a global society of total automation in which the need to work is replaced with a nomadic life of creative play, in which traditional architecture has disintegrated along with the social institutions that it propped up. Unlike most other representatives of the counter culture of the 1950s and 1960s Constant fully embraced technological progress: "Technology is the indispensable tool for realizing an experimental collectivism. To seek to dominate nature without the help of technique is pure fiction, as is collective creation without the appropriate means of communication. A renewed, reinvented audiovisual media is an indispensable aid. In a fluctuating community, without a fixed base, contacts can only be maintained by intensive telecommunications" (Constant, 1974).

However, it is not only because of the use of "intensive telecommunications" and computers that New Babylon prefigures the world of cyberspace. It is also, and more profoundly, the flexible database-like structure of New Babylon. The dynamic, endless recombination of architectonical elements that characterize New Babylon expresses the database ontology that rules our present world. It will be argued that "database architecture" of New Babylon foreshadows the ambiguous qualities of "recombinant global urbanism."

Key words: Architecture, Database, Ontology, Constant, Recombinant Urbanism

约斯·德·穆尔, 数据库美学与全球化世界，雷礼锡译，载范明华主编：《美学与艺术研究》，第2辑，武汉：武汉大学出版社，2010: 421-424  [Jos de Mul, Database aesthetics and globalizing worlds, in Research on Art and Aesthetics, Vol. 2 (edited by Fan Minghua). Wuhan University Press, 2010,  421-424]

数据库美学与全球化世界

约斯·德·穆尔¹ 撰      雷礼锡² 译

（1伊拉斯谟大学 哲学系 荷兰 鹿特丹；2 襄樊学院 美术学院 湖北 襄樊 441053）

按：约斯·德·穆尔的这篇文章旨在强调全球化背景中计算机与数字信息技术对当今艺术与美学的发展具有重大影响。他使用“数据库美学”概念来讨论这一话题，认为世界已变成巨大的数据库，艺术与美学也要基于这种数据库来谋求自身的变化与创新。作为前任国际美学学会秘书与现任国际美学学会主席，约斯·德·穆尔正努力将这一话题变成艺术与美学领域的全球性话题。在征得约斯·德·穆尔本人授权后，译者译出此文，希望对艺术与美学界的同仁有所启迪。

心理学家亚伯拉罕·马斯洛曾说过，若有人只有一把锤子，会把一切看作钉子。由于文化全球化，计算机迅速变成主要工具，世界变成巨大的数据库。

当信息技术在遗传控制领域得到展开应用时，我们知道数据库本体在运作。地球上的生命基因库不再主要构想成偶然的和实际的进化集群，而是看作无数虚拟生命形式的数据库，并能按意愿得到实现。换言之，艺术拼贴已成为逼真的创造技术。生物学家能利用计算机程序来模拟非主流的进化，以便创造适于现实的特殊替代品。过去的生命形式的新生，不仅能通过信息技术处理得到实现，而且能通过偶然的或有意的突变来实现；甚至将来的生命形式也能成为信息技术的操控对象（如一种特殊形式，A·吉登斯称作“未来殖民地化”）。虽然尚无斯皮尔伯格的《侏罗纪公园》或如《铁甲威龙》之类的科幻电影里的壮观方式，但是，我们的世界越来越多地移居着新的、转基因的生命形式（并因此伴随着后自然美与丑的新形式），它们因生物信息技术的援助而创生。

 Jos de Mul. Des machines morales. Cités (Dossier: Internet et la société de contrôle : le piège), no. 39 (2009), 27-38.

Des machines morales

Du fait de sa programmabilité, l’ordinateur est souvent qualifié de machine universelle. Si la machine classique est la représentation d’un programme unique et spécifique, l’ordinateur est un mécanisme qui représente physiquement n’importe quel programme installé comme une procédure d’exploitation parmi d’autres possibles. En raison de cette versatilité et de cette flexibilité fondamentales, l’ordinateur peut être utilisé d’innombrables manières, y compris dans le domaine de l’action morale. Il est impossible de donner ne serait-ce qu’une vue d’ensemble de ces possibilités. C’est pour cette raison que je me contenterai d’étudier ce que je considère comme les trois types fondamentaux de délégation du jugement moral et de l’action aux ordinateurs. Ces trois types fondamentaux sont présentés dans un ordre qui vise à montrer la diminution progressive de l’autonomie morale de l’homme et l’accroissement constant de l’autonomie morale des ordinateurs.

Jos de Mul. Zeitenwende. Wie die digitale Revolution unsere Wahrnehmung von Geschichte verändert. Kulturaustausch. Zeitschrift für internationale Perspektiven. 59. Jahrgang, no. 3 (2009), 76

Der Computer ist eine Zeitmaschine. Er verwandelt unsere Wahrnehmung und er verändert unser Verständnis von Zeit. Mehr noch: Er untergräbt unser historisches Bewusstsein. Die digitale Welt revolutioniert unsere Zeiterfahrung.

In der westlichen Kultur ist das aus dem Altertum stammende zyklische Geschichtsverständnis unter Einfluss der christlichen Heilsgeschichte zunehmend der Überzeugung gewichen, dass sich Geschichte in einer unumkehrbaren, geradlinigen Bewegung vollzieht. Dieses historische Bewusstsein, das seinen Ursprung im 19. Jahrhundert hat, begreift die Wirklichkeit nur in ihrer chronologischen Entwicklung. In den Geisteswissenschaften interpretierte man Sprache, Moral oder Kunst aus ihrer Geschichte heraus. 

Jos de Mul. Denken aan de Maas. (Inleiding tot themanummer "Wijsbegeerte in Rotterdam").Tijdschrift voor Filosofie, nr. 71 (2009) 5-9.

Toen ondergetekende, na wijsbegeerte te hebben gestudeerd in Utrecht en  Amsterdam en promotieonderzoek te hebben verricht in Nijmegen, in 1988 als universitair docent wijsbegeerte aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR) werd benoemd, behoorde de in 1973 gestichte Faculteit der Wijsbegeerte tot de jongste en - met een instroom van krap twintig studenten - kleinste filosofische faculteiten van Nederland. Ook met betrekking tot het onderzoek werd er door de ‘grote zussen’ soms wat meewarig naar de jonge telg gekeken. Twintig jaar later is de Rotterdamse faculteit wijsbegeerte uitgegroeid tot een van de grootste en – volgens de meest recente visitatierapporten Onderwijs (2003) en Onderzoek (2005) - beste van Nederland. De jaarlijkse instroom van nieuwe studenten is gestegen tot honderdveertig en de faculteit is reeds geruime tijd opvallend succesvol in het verwerven van onderzoeksubsidies, met name bij NWO. De onderzoekers publiceren in prestigieuze, op vakgenoten gerichte tijdschriften en boekseries, maar zijn ook opvallend present in culturele tijdschriften en dag- en weekbladen en op het internet, radio en tv.

Jos de Mul. The Tragedy of Finitude. Dilthey's Hermeneutics of Life. Analecta Hermeneutica, Vol. 1, no. 1 (2009), 248-251.

The publication of substantial parts of Wilhelm Dilthey’s philosophical legacy in volumes 17 (1977), 19 (1982), 20 (1990), 21 (1997), and 23 (2000) of his Gesammelte Schriften necessitates a thorough reinterpretation of his entire philosophy. The Tragedy of Finitude. Dilthey''s Hermeneutics of Life aims to contribute to such a reinterpretation by reconstructing the ontological foundation of Dilthey’s hermeneutics of life.

Jos de Mul. [荷兰]约斯·德·穆尔：《数字化操控时代的艺术作品》，吕和应译，《学术研究》（广州），2008年第10期，第132－140页 (The work of art in the age of digital recombination", translated by Lü Heying, Academic Research Journal (Guang Zhou), 2008, No.10, p. 132-140.

约斯·德·穆尔 （荷兰 鹿特丹 伊拉斯谟大学，国际美学会主席）
吕和应 译 （复旦大学历史系 200433）

1. 导论

艺术家总是在利用媒体（media），不管是那些创作壁画的史前绘画者，还是那些依靠计算机技术工作的新媒体艺术家。在此处作广义使用的媒体，意即“传达信息的方式”[1]，它们决不是可有可无的手段而已。从康德的哥白尼革命起，我们知道了，经验是由感性的诸形式和人类知性的诸范畴组成和构造的，而在哲学界所谓“语言学和媒体转向”之后，人们普遍认为，媒体对塑造人类的心灵和经验起着关键作用。媒体是各种界面，不仅是我们与世界（命名）、还是我们与同伴（交流）以及我们与自身（自我理解）的中介。审美经验也不例外：艺术媒体也是不仅构造艺术家的想象力、也是构造艺术品和审美接受的界面。[2]

Jos de Mul. De Homo erectus à Homo zapiens : le Cyber espace pour les Darwinistes. Sens [public] 7-8: L’Internet, entre savoirs, espaces publics et monopoles. (Septembre 2008), 127-144.

Jos de Mul. Europe - the tragic continent. Michigan Paper Series. International Institute, University of Michigan, 2008.

Jos de Mul

Two weeks ago, in his lecture in this series on Europe, Neal Ascherson asked two intriguing questions: ‘Where is Europe?’, and ‘When is Europe’. Intriguing because it turned out that these seemingly simply questions are very hard to answer. Today I want to add a third question, as simple as the other two and as difficult to answer. This question is: Whatis Europe? In a sense, we may regard this third question as the primordial one, as we can start our search for Europe in time and space only when we at least have a slight idea of whatwe are actually looking for. So the question I want to address this afternoon is: what is it that makes Europe European? And as the title of my talk already indicates, the answer I will defend today is that Europe first and foremost is a tragic continent.

Jos de Mul. Onzingeving. Moedwil en misverstand in Hermans' Wittgenstein-interpretatie. De Gids (Mei 2008), 451-459.

Van de doden niets dan goeds. Voor de filosoof W.F. Hermans maak ik graag een uitzondering. Kan de kwaliteit van Hermans’ literaire werk moeilijk worden overschat, zijn verdiensten als lezer, interpreet en vertaler van filosofische werken worden naar mijn mening door zijn bewonderaars schromelijk overschat. Op filosofisch terrein slaat hij de bal vaak en hartstochtelijk mis. Ik zal deze stelling staven door een korte beschouwing over Hermans’ door moedwil en misverstand gekenmerkte lectuur van Wittgenstein. Ik zal voorts betogen dat deze smalle, door het neo-positivisme geïnspireerde interpretatie van Wittgenstein Hermans weliswaar heeft geïnspireerd tot een aantal literaire meesterwerken, maar dat deze de auteur tevens, en onvermijdelijk, aanzette tot de verloochening van de betekenis van de literatuur, en daarmee van zijn eigen levenswerk. Ten slotte zal ik laten zien dat deze verloochening een belangrijke bron vormt voor Hermans’ literaire zelfhaat. 

Jos de Mul. 约斯·德·穆尔，“禅宗与电脑维护的艺术”，《东方丛刊》2008年第1期，总第63期 (Zen and the Art of Computer Maintenance. Dongfang Congkan, Vol. 63 , 2008 No. 1).

Jos de Mul. Echo's van een laatste God. Filosofie & praktijk Jrg. 28. nr. 1 (2007): 16-24.

Jos de Mul. Verheven onder de waterspiegel. In: Subliem Zeeland. Zeeuws tijdschrift (1-2).

Jos de Mul. The Tragedy of Finitude (Books in summary). History and Theory, Vol. 45 (February 2006), 148-149.