NAME: SAMANNEETA CHAKRABORTY

REGISTRATION NUMBER : 1830621009

SUBJECT :

ROLL NO : HIST24.
TITLE :
ABSTRACT.

INTRODUCTION.

Human sciences has been governed following the model of natural sciences, although John

Stuart Mill acknowledges the fact that human sciences has its own logic and self-reflection is a

part of it. To Mill, the term ‘ Geistewissenschaften’ implies that the conclusion of an argument is

probable , based upon the evidence given. Human sciences are inheritors of the intellectualism of

German classicism which not only brought to light criticizing aesthetic art but gave birth to the

idea of reasoning.1However, it is wrong to assume that philosophy is a natural science and

philosophers main aim remains to identify the fundamental questions that make philosophy.

.THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TECHNOLOGIES OF THE SELF IN ACQUIRING

TRUTH.

Pliny, the Greek Philosopher asserts that one could take care of onself by engaging in writing.

Michael Foucault states that the self became a subject of writing activity, whose origin can be

traced to Greco- Roman philosophy. ‘Alcibiades’, Plato’s first treatise contends that dialogue is

an important feature in discovering truth in the soul. However, by the time of Plutarch, the art of

listening and silence becomes crucial in finding out the difference between falsehood and truth.2

On the other hand, H.G Gadamear uses the term ‘gehoren’ whose root word is ‘horen’ which

1
Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall, eds., Truth and Method( New York :Continuum Publishing House,
1989),pp.3-8.
2
Luther H.Martin, Mark Gutman and Patririck H. Hutton, eds., Technologies of the Self (London :Tavistock
Publications, 1988),pp.16-27.
means listening to. Hence, listening reads to reasoning, as pointed out by Plutarch. Stoicism, is a

school of Hellenistic philosophy contends that human beings are social beings and the only path

to happiness is accepting the moment as it presents itself, and not being controlled by pleasures

and using logic to understand the mind. Hence , Gadamear argues that the author and the reader

engages in a conversation with each other , as they discuss the subject of their discussion and

become part of a dialogical process.

‘Askesis’ is only obtained through the acquisition and assimilation of truth The principal feature

of askesis is where the subject puts himself in situation and question his preparedness to confront

them ,where as ‘paraskeuazo’ are a set of practices by which one is able to transform truth into a

principle of action. The Greeks used two binary terms to describe these exercises known as

‘melete’ and ‘ gymansia’. The term ‘melete’ means “meditation” or meditatio deriving its root

from the Latin translation and has the same root as ‘epimelestbai’ which means “taking pains

with oneself”. Melete is a task which one undertakes to prepare a trajectory by thinking over

previous arguments. This is an imagined situation were one would think about past memories

and imagine oneself reacting a particular way. Judging one’s reasoning in order to test an event

or action is known as reasoning. The most famous meditation exercise had been practiced by the

Stoics known as ‘premeditatio mallorum’ . This exercise would preach a pessimistic version of

the future and has three parameters to it. The first parameter tells one to imagine the worst to

happen in future. The second warns us that these worst events are already taking place in our

present. The third teaches us to accept these misfortunes and this eidectic reduction consists of

present as well as future events. Thus, melete trains our thought process through the creation of

an imagined situation. Gymansia, on the other hand is an exercise of training oneself in a real
situation even if it is artificially created. However, for the Stoics this exercise measures an

individual’s response in accordance with the external world. 3

Epicetus, the Greek philosopher teaches us to evaluate our idea by vigilantly testing them

through some rules. The first exercise he uses is question and answer games whose end motive is

to teach us a moral lesson, where as the second exercise is self-examination. Hence, Stoicism

asserts that the examination of self is achieved through self-knowledge which one can gain

through memory. Thereafter, Seneca’s “De Ira” is an examination of conscience is achieved

through errors which have been committed throughout the day by distinguishing what has

already taken place and what measures can be taken to correct these errors. This is coined by the

Greeks as “logismoi” which can be defined as cognitions and reasoning.4

In Plato’s treatise ‘Alcibades I’ , Socrates seeks to lead Alcibades to a knowledge of himself who

wishes to enter political life and hence, self-knowledge becomes the core of Western ethical

thought, might be termed as the theoretical knowledge of self. This tradition emphasizes seeing

oneself in the eyes of the other. The Eastern tradition asserts the deciphering of the self by

listening and later, through reading .

John Staurt Mill in his book ‘Logic’ states that the human sciences is not independent in having

its own logic but the inductive method is applicable in this field too. David Hume, on the other

hand argues that human sciences works with predicting individual phenomena. According to

H.G.Gadamer , the main aim of the human or moral sciences is to understand the individual

3
Luther H.Martin, Mark Gutman and Patririck H. Hutton, eds., Technologies of the Self (London :Tavistock
Publications, 1988),pp.28-38.
4
Luther H.Martin, Mark Gutman and Patririck H. Hutton, eds., Technologies of the Self (London :Tavistock
Publications, 1988),pp. 20-46.
phenomena in its historical context. Herman Helmholtz asserts that human sciences arrives at

conclusions through psychological conditions such as memory.

HERMENUTICS : THE ART OF INTERPRETATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE

TECHNOLOGY OF SELF.

Hermenutics is defined as the science of interpretation and stresses the individuality of each

human expression and allows us to choose the meaning of utterance. However, hermeneutics

plays a major role in the interpretation of religious texts. F.D.E Schleiermacher argues that

language is a fluid, growing medium whose meaning cannot be completely known, although he

uses hermeneutics to understand an author’s words. Nevertheless, Schleimermacher hermeneutic

ambition is to find a language of creativity, which is not determined by rationalized scientific

procedure to gain insight of one’s vocation. William Dithley, on the other hand asserts that the

aim of hermeneutics is to understand what the author might have said by judging oneself

aesthetically and historically.

Bildung is defined by Herder as ascending to humanity through culture and is associated to

developing one’s natural talents and capacities. The word Bildung evokes a mysticism according

to which man carries in his soul the image of God after whom he is shaped and which man must

nourish in himself. G.W.F. Hegel asserts that Bildung defines the concepts of Universality. To

Hegel, a man who is unable to turn himself towards something universal, he is lacking in the

power of abstraction. Hence, he points out that acquiring a skill, man gains a sense of himself.

Every single individual raises himself out of his own natural desires and needs to the spiritual

finds in language, customs which he makes his own. However, to Hegel, Bildung can only be

achieved through alienation and appropriation of surrending one’s desires and the dissolution of
it reaching only in the absolute knowledge of philosophy. Helmholtz , on the other hand

describes how human sciences work such as philosophy and history based on artistic feeling and

memory which he terms as ‘tact, formed and is an essential element in the of the “ finite”

element of a man. Humanism brought with itself the revivalism of the Greek language and an

emphasis on rhetoric. However, Vico asserts the importance of “sensus communis” or common

sense as an ideal which the Greek philosophers proclaimed. By referring to the epistemetic

tradition of the Greeks, were Aristotle distinguishes between practical (phronesis ) and

theoretical knowledge which is based on circumstances. Hence, phronesis is an intellectual virtue

which co- exists with ethical vitues . This leads man to a code of conduct and formation of his

moral attitude by which he judges what is right and wrong. Bacon, on the other hand argues that

historia exists in its own right as human passions cannot always be governed by reason and sees

history as a philosophy.5 Fredrich Meinecke states that in Europe arose a resistance to the idea

that human beings observe laws of their own nature that are invariable and constant. Voltaire

writing a history on Universal history argues that citizens in different socities aimed to govern

with the help of natural law.The development of the concept of common sense is closely

intertwined with common understanding whose feature is marked by judgement and plays an

important role in aesthetics. Taste, on the other hand marks a balance between sensory

judgement and intellectual capability as man distinguishes between the necessities of life through

cognition and sense.

AESTTHETICS AS THE WORK OF GENIUS AND THE CONCEPT OF EXPERIENCE.

5
Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall, eds., Truth and Method( New York :Continuum Publishing House,
1989),pp.3-17
Kant states that the beautiful engages our interests and emphasizes the advantage of natural over

artistic beauty. Therefore beautiful depends on suitability of the thing represented to our

cognition and this arouses interest leading to the cultivation of moral sensibility. According to

Kant, natural beauty teaches man that he is the ultimate goal of creation. This he coins as

“aesthetic ideas” which lies beyond all concepts.

CANNONISATION AS ‘GEISTESGESCHIHTE’.

Contemporary philosophers wish to reconstruct the arguments of great dead philosophers in the

hope of able to understand their views. According to Richard Rorty, one should describe the

philosophers of the past in their own context were their thoughts had flourished. However, the

reader is influenced by his own opinions and thought process in which he describes the dead,

while reading the text of the author who attempts to construct his predecessor in his own

approach. Rorty coins the term ‘un-reudacted’ or original.6 Hence, knowing what the great

philosophers would have talked about helps in knowing an epistemtic tradition. However, who is

counted as a great philosopher is of great importance to the history of philosophy.

Quentin Skinner asserts that a historian who enquires into intellectual traditions asks himself

what the fundamental question is while he is interpreting a text. However, to Skinner there are

two conflicting answers; one been that religious, political and economic ideas play a role and the

second been the autonomy of the text which allows it to be an object of inquiry and

understanding. For a historian it is essential to concentrate on Greek philosophers such as

Aristotle , to understand fundamental questions of their time and their opinion on politics. This

has a problematic outcome that the opinion of the classical writer is given the position of a

doctrine and the immediate focus being on the individual thinker.7 However, the philosopher was

confined in his time and therefore his ideas need to be re-interpreted. This is described as

“geistesgeschichlitch” . On the other hand, “geistesgeschihte” can be defined as seeing the

philosopher’s work as a totality rather than focusing on his arguments.

6
Richard Rorty, “The historiography of philosophy :four genres”, in Philosophy in History, ed. Richard Rorty, J.B.
Scheenewind and Quentin Skinner ( New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984) pp. 49-51.
7
Quentin Skinner, “Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas”, History and Theory, Vol.8, No.1 (1969):
pp.3-5.
Nevertheless, it is true that cannon- formation can be synonymously defined as a norm when

contemporary philosophers refer to great dead philosophers while pointing to a philosophical

question or a debate.

DOXOGRAPHY AS A GENRE .

Hermann Diels coined the term ‘doxographers’ or writer of opinions as a binary against

‘biographus’ or writer of lives. The origin of Greek doxography can be traced to Theophratus’s

work “ Tenets in Natural Philosophy”. 8 Michael Focault asserted that doxography can be traced

to the dialectical method of Aristotle who had sought to argue that one should begin an inquiry

on onself by reflecting on the opinion of others.9 According to Olle Qvarnstrom, doxography in

the Indian context can be seen as writings who attempted to provide a comprehensive and

impartial account of an opponent’s views. Scholars of Indian philosophy define doxography as a

genre of Indian texts using the Sanskrit term “samuccaya” or collection. The Jaina doxographer,

Haribhadra classifies the philosophical schools according to deity.

Richard Rorty claims that the great late philosophers should be discerned in the light of the

fundamental problems that are now being scrutizined by contemporary philosophers. In Rorty’s

view, philosophy is not a natural science as it deals with metadhological and conceptual issues

that are posed by other disciplines, such as history. Nevertheless, philosophy is believed to deal

with fundamental philosophical questions and therefore, each generation of philosophers is

assumed to study these questions just as their predecessors.10 However, the reader is equally

8
Andrew J.Nicholson Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History(New York:
Columbia University Press, 2010),pp.144-146.
9
Luther H.Martin, Mark Gutman and Patririck H. Hutton, eds., Technologies of the Self (London :Tavistock
Publications, 1988),pp.
10
Richard Rorty, “The historiography of philosophy :four genres”, in Philosophy in History, ed. Richard Rorty, J.B.
Scheenewind and Quentin Skinner ( New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984) pp.61-65.
imfluenced by their own intellectual tradition while reading texts that are criticizing another

author’s opinion on a certain argument that they envisioned as the principal problem of their

time.