Stupid, or ‘Other’: The Subject of a Mystical Experience
Natalia STENCEL
Department of the Philosophy of Cognition, The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow, ul. Kanonicza 9/203, 31-002 Cracow, Poland , PolandAbstract
The article is an attempt to describe mysticism in the context of stupidity. Particular emphasis is placed on the subjectivity manifested in a text comprising a mystical testimony. The methodological frame of the considerations is provided by Gadamer’s and Ricoeur’s hermeneutics, as well as by elements of the philosophy of dialogue. ‘Otherness,’ as conceived by Levinas, Buber, and Lacan, is an important point of reference. It is pointed out that, once expressed, the message of a mystic (which is naturally inaccessible to his or her community), becomes estranged also to its subject. The mystic remains distant from both the sacred and the profane: within either of these realms, he turns out to be different, i.e., stupid.
Keywords:
stupidity, mysticism, otherness, hermeneutics, narrationSTENCEL, N. (2021). Głupi, czyli inny. Podmiot w mistyce przeżyciowej. Ethos. Kwartalnik Instytutu Jana Pawła II KUL, 34(1 (133). https://doi.org/10.12887/34-2021-1-133-07
Natalia STENCEL
Department of the Philosophy of Cognition, The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow, ul. Kanonicza 9/203, 31-002 Cracow, Poland
Department of the Philosophy of Cognition, The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow, ul. Kanonicza 9/203, 31-002 Cracow, Poland
