Antropomorphies: Contemporary transformations of the world and the human

Institute of Philological Studies of the University of Kujawy and Pomorze in Bydgoszcz, Poland, invites chapter contributions to an interdisciplinary volume:

Antropomorphies: Contemporary transformations of the world and the human

 “What has long since been threatening man with death, and indeed with the death of his own nature, is the unconditional character of mere willing in the sense of purposeful self-assertion in everything. What threatens man in his very nature is the willed view that man, by the peaceful release, transformation, storage, and channeling of the energies of physical nature, could render the human condition, man’s being, tolerable for everybody and happy in respects. But the peace of this peacefulness is merely the undisturbed continuing relentlessness of the fury of self-assertion which is resolutely self-reliant.”

Martin Heidegger, “What Are Poets for?”

Transformations of the world, transformations of the human being, transformations of the world by the human being, transformations of the human being by the world. All the possible permutations of the phrase resonate with the thought of the Dark philosopher – τ? π?ντα ?ε? –if the present time at all allows for the hearing of the echo in the ceaseless clatter of the ceaseless change. “Things change” – in the English paraphrase of the Greek sentence, the metaphor of the natural fluidity of a river which albeit different in every moment does not cease to remain a river, is replaced by a much more surprising, perhaps even sinister, image of a change of things. Things which are naturally, by default, denied autonomy, and positioned in a simple but reality-clarifying opposition to human entities. Yet, “things change” speaks language, thus granting things an incomprehensible, disquieting dimension of subjectivity, perhaps even agency. By doing so, it unambiguously indicates that the nature of things and their relations with the humankind are more complicated than a simple diagram demarcated by a line which separates a subject from an object, a human being from the world. Skoteinos and Heidegger, whose intertwined thought leads the bass section of the contemporary harmonia mundi, reveal the impoverished, almost primitive simplicity of the message contained in the truism “man changes the world.” Which, nevertheless, in no way prevents this truism from shaping the frames of the present reality and providing content towards which modern (and old) humanities must (and probably always had to) attune and stay attuned. One of the ways is perhaps an attempt at capturing, describing the fleeting and ephemeral by (tautological) definition concept of transformation:

Transformation, thus change, movement, relocation, displacement. Sometimes departure, yet also an advent.

Transformation is also a passing, replacement, where the old, the present and the new are reshuffled, but also, through a slightly different perspective, cycles, cyclicality and the return of that which was and is once again.

Transformation or reshaping. Change, yet sometimes illusory, or true, or permanent or fleeting exchange, replacement, sometimes simply a swap.

Transformation, but also, as its opposition: stability, permanence, persistence.

Departure, yet not without its consequences, for there is a trace, a mark, a track, a memory, a record, a remnant, a transmission, a message.

Advent, but not in a vacuum, for there is a sign, a call, a summon.

Transformation is a process, an event, or as the author of Pathmarks would put it an “eventing,” which needs a context to clear. Thus, the simplest yet simultaneously most complex coordinates of a context: time and space. Absolute time, relative time, individual time, zeitgeist. Atemporality. The space of the world and the space of the human. Inner space, spiritual space. Space-time continuum.

We invite responses to the above call from all areas of the humanities. 250–300 word proposals, together with a short bio, should be sent for considerations by 20 May 2020 to the editor.

Editor: Tomasz Kalaga, t.kalaga@kpsw.edu.pl

Notification of acceptance: 31 May 2020

Complete chapter submission deadline: 31 August 2020