The Story of Dialectics and the Trickster of History

0560633 - FLÚ 2023 RIV PL eng J - Journal Article
Feinberg, Joseph Grim
The Story of Dialectics and the Trickster of History.
Praktyka teoretyczna. Roč. 43, č. 1 (2022), s. 131-153. E-ISSN 2081-8130
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : Hegel * master-slave dialectic * narrative theory * philosophy of history * tricksters
OECD category: Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Method of publishing: Open access
https://doi.org/10.19195/prt.2022.1.6

Drawing on Hegel’s interpretation of narrative and Lyotard’s rejection of “grand” dialectical narratives, this paper addresses the relationship between emancipatory dialectics and narrative form. It begins by establishing the intimate connection between dialectical thought and narration. On this basis, the paper argues that varying conceptions of dialectics can be associated with varying structures of narrating history. Finally, the paper makes the case for identifying a specific narrative form adequate to the radical re-readings of Hegel that have replaced the perspective of the master (the subject privileged by a given system of historicity) with the perspective of the slave (who, while excluded from historicity, struggles against this exclusion). This narrative form corresponds to none of the classical Greek genres, it is best described as a trickster tale.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0333666