David B. Zilberman: Selected Essays

This book is a selection of articles by David Zilberman, a prolific author, whose tragic untimely death did not allow to finish many of his undertakings. Zilberman’s work represents a fresh word in the way of philosophizing or philosophy-building and the technique of modal methodology. This book comprises of thirteen independent articles that are not related by content. The point of thematic convergence of these articles is the way they reflect the new way of methodological thinking through the application and benefits of modalization or modal methodology that unfolds unbound possibilities of philosophic elaborations. By shifting constantly from one position to another, Zilberman disclosed the antinomicity of all types of thought. Such an approach led him to outline for the first time his major attempt to start creating not "systems" but "sums" of philosophies so that the philosophical activity would be able to re-emerge on the slopes of such "sums." The book can be used as a starting point of a discussion, especially in study of philosophy. We imagine it can be used in undergraduate classes on World Philosophies or Intercultural Philosophy courses. With that, it can serve as a useful resource for adding intercultural elements into Western-centered courses. A Few Words About David Zilberman Preface “Philosophology” of David Zilberman, I Introduction Methodological and Epistemological Priority of the Text with Structural Design: David B. Zilberman (1938–1977) as Philosopher-Methodologist The Birth of Meaning in Hindu Thought: How Is History of Indian Philosophy Possible? In Search of Vedic Philosophies: What Made Indian Philosophy Possible? Hermeneutic Distance: Being of Culture, Text, and Structural Design Conclusion Editorial Note Acknowledgments Contents Part I: Philosophic Elaborations Semantic Shifts in Epic Composition (On the ‘Modal’ Poetics of the Mahābhārata) Preamble The Emergence of Semiotics in India: Some Approaches to Understanding Lakṣaṇā in Hindu and Buddhist Philosophical Usages On the Philosophical Work of Zilberman (First Brief Introduction) Approaching Discourses Between Three Persons About Modal Methodology and Summa Metaphysicorum On Cultural Relativism and “Radical Doubt” Culture-Historical Reconstruction and Mythology in the Anthropology of Paul Radin Semiotic Function of Kabbalah Mystical Experience in the Interpretation of Historical Situations Part II: Philosophic Contemplations Hegel and Mīmāṃsā: Thinking as Ritual (Outlines of the Imperative Grammar) The Anticipation of Awakening Reflections on Ontology in Six Darśaṇas Discussion on the Vaiśeṣika-Sūtras of Kaṇāda Vaiśeṣika’s Standpoint A Symphony of Looking-Glasses: Hindu Systems of Thought as Cultural “Existents” Dialectical Psychology (Some Notes on Aristotle’s De Anima) I II III 1-St Categorial Suspension: Metastasis 2-Nd Ontological Suspension: The Conceptual Composition of the Soul Taken into the Organization of the Science of Psychology Part III: Sociological Studies Orthodox Ethics and the Matter of Communism 1 Types of Rationality and the Problem of Different Ends in Historical Development 2 The Old Believers’ ‘Rationalism’ Against the ‘Anti-structure’ of Fundamental Orthodoxy 3 Marxism and the ‘Asiatic Mode of Thinking’ 4 The Social and the Individual Aspects of Freedom 5 Mysticism East and West and the Schema of Historical Action 6 The Semiotics of ‘Easternization’: The Esthetic and the Actionist Conceptions of Holiness 7 Hesychasm and the Philosophy of Power in Historical Perspective 8 The Christocentric Predicament: an Antinomy of Meaning and Signification 9 The Logic of Ascent from Abstract Religious Belief to Concrete Political Power in the Russian/Soviet Socio-cultural Tradition Bibliography Works of David Zilberman In English Articles; Reviews; Books; In Russian Articles; Articles in Great Soviet Encyclopedia 1969–1978. 3rd Ed. (Moscow: Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya); Translations; Books; Unpublished Articles Works About David Zilberman Index