Videos by kirill postoutenko
Papers by kirill postoutenko
The chapter deals with the well-known but little-researched phenomenon of redundancy in communica... more The chapter deals with the well-known but little-researched phenomenon of redundancy in communication, investigating its ambivalent role in the selfmaintenance of communicative systems. The levels considered include channels (neural and muscle redundancies enabling locomoation, DNA and its mRNA transcriptions in biological information systems), codes (primary vs. secondary sex traits, parallelism of colour and position in traffic lights), messages (periodical reminders, multiple spermatozoa simultaneously sent to ovary), messengers (twoperson rule in launching nuclear weapons, duumvirate of brain and central nervous system in vertebrates, and overlapping agencies in empires and dictatorships) and information (checksums and parity checks in telecommunication, multiple
Bei all seiner wissenschaftlichen Kreativität und intellektuellen Neugierde hat Reinhart Kosellec... more Bei all seiner wissenschaftlichen Kreativität und intellektuellen Neugierde hat Reinhart Koselleck den vertrauten Bereich der Geisteswissenschaften kaum je verlassen. Dementsprechend neigte er dazu, die Ursprünge der begrifflichen Asymmetrien in einen mystischen Schleier zu hüllen. In diesem Sinne machte er die vermeintlich außersprachliche, binäre "Strukturen" dafür verantwortlich, dass Begriffspaare wie ‚Hellenen' vs. ‚Barbaren'
Building upon the extended notion of conceptual history as a diachronic study of conceptual inter... more Building upon the extended notion of conceptual history as a diachronic study of conceptual interactions, the article begins with deconstructing the paradoxical semantic core of incomparability statements that, it is claimed, endows them with a capacity of stabilizing social semantics. By declaring certain foundational values-positive (Shoah) or negative (God)-"incomparable" and thus immune to the challenges of cross-evaluation, the users of discourse uphold the boundaries of civilized society. On a smaller scale, this exclusion of competitive valuation is undergirded by the ascription of "incomparability" to the small pool of political and cultural figures, literary artifacts, social events, and representative allegories. The conclusion outlines the social contingency of conventions regulating the ascriptions of "incomparability" against the backdrop of their discursive stability across genres, epochs, and languages.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
This introduction describes the main themes of the special issue on temporal comparisons. It prov... more This introduction describes the main themes of the special issue on temporal comparisons. It provides the background for individual contributions by sketching the way in which evaluations are intrinsic to conceptions of historical time. Inasmuch as different configurations of the relationship between past, present and future imply temporal comparisons between 'now' and 'then', historical time is subject to evaluations that we project onto the differencesor similaritiesbetween the three dimensions. Practices of comparing between and across times pervade all spheres of activity: from high-level theory and historical reflection to the most trivial situations in everyday life. Tracking temporal comparisons is thus a way of exploring the broad middle ground between the consciously elaborated theories about time and the ordinary ways of dealing with time. Our introduction conveys this message in three steps. First, it provides a brief overview of the workings of historical time; second, it introduces the central notion of temporal comparisons while paying special attention to the scales in which they can be studied and their performative character; and third, it gives a quick glimpse into the main contentions of the contributions.
This volume presents a collective attempt to unfold the convoluted notion of 'asymmetrical counte... more This volume presents a collective attempt to unfold the convoluted notion of 'asymmetrical counter-concepts (AC)' proposed by Reinhart Koselleck. After some ironing out and
The notion of 'asymmetrical counter-concepts' (asymmetrische Gegenbegriffe, hereafter AC) belongs... more The notion of 'asymmetrical counter-concepts' (asymmetrische Gegenbegriffe, hereafter AC) belongs to the finest inventions of Reinhart Koselleck's creative genius. 1 In a nutshell, it traces many important cases of social, political and cultural domination to the string of
This article is an introduction to the main themes of the special issue on temporal comparisons. ... more This article is an introduction to the main themes of the special issue on temporal comparisons. It provides the background for individual contributions by sketching the way in which evaluations are intrinsic to conceptions of historical time. Inasmuch as different configurations of the relationship between past, present and future imply temporal comparisons of 'now' and 'then', historical time is subject to evaluations that we project onto the differences-or similarities-between the three dimensions. The article conveys this message in three steps. First, it provides a brief overview of the workings of historical time; second, it introduces the central notion of temporal comparisons while paying special attention to the scales in which they can be studied and their performative character; and third, it gives a quick glimpse into the main contentions of the contributions.
This article purports to demonstrate that the transition from the mainstream narrative to the int... more This article purports to demonstrate that the transition from the mainstream narrative to the interactional history of concepts promises tangible benefits for the students of social time in general and temporal comparisons in particular. It is shown that the traditionally close alignment of narration with the production of historical consciousness at various levels hinders the study of time as a semantic variable perpetually contested, amended and upheld across society. Alternatively, the references to time made in public settings, allowing for more or less instant reactions (turn-taking) as well as expression of dissenting opinions (stance-taking), offer a much more representative palette of temporal semantics and pragmatics in a given socio-political environment. In a particularly intriguing case, the essentially deliberative venue where contestation is supported by both institutional arrangements and political reasons (British House of Commons) is put to test under circumstances commonly known as "the postwar consensus"-the unspoken convention directing opposing political parties to suspend stance-taking regarding the past actions of the government during WWII, its immediate aftermath and the future prospects. As a reliable indicator of this arrangement, the contestation of temporal comparisons between relevant pasts and futures is tested in oppositions reflecting party allegiances (Conservatives vs. Labour vs. Liberals) and executive functions (government vs. opposition) between 1946 and 1952. It is shown that, notwithstanding the prevalence of non-contested statements aimed at preserving interactional coherence and pragmatic functionality of the setting, the moderately active contestation of the adversary's temporal comparisons in the House of Commons at that time helped all parties, albeit to a different degree, shape their own political and institutional roles as well as delegitimise their respective adversaries. Temporal concepts between narration and interaction Why study the semantics of temporal comparisons in interaction? Why take the topic safely belonging in the time-honored narrative tradition of conceptual research into the uncharted territory on the crossroads of history, sociology and communication studies? Perhaps the most urgent reason for trying to reshape historical semantics is its relative lack of interest to the dialogical foundations of human communication (Buber 1954; Schegloff 2006), lamented
First of all, the paper outlines the difference between comparisons as internal psychological pro... more First of all, the paper outlines the difference between comparisons as internal psychological processes and comparative practices as social events. Furthermore, the key role of interaction in both shaping practices of comparison and making them pragmatically efficient in society is outlined. The special attention is paid to the comparative practice particularly dependent on social and communicative cooperation: while making an offer of comparison, a messenger proposes collaboration on a comparisons to the recipient, typically highlighting comparata and/or tertia but withholding comparative judgement itself. The pendant hanging of Noël Hallé's two alike paintings at the Paris Salon of 1759 (evaluated by Denis Diderot) and Michale Moore's movie Bowling for Columbine (2002) are presented and analyzed as examples of comparative offers. Kurzfassung: Zuallererst verdeutlicht der Aufsatz den Unterschied zwischen dem Vergleichen als einem innerpsychologischen Vorgang und der Praktik des Vergleichens als einer sozialen Tätigkeit. Darüber hinaus wird die besondere Rolle der Interaktion in der kommunikativen Formierung und der pragmatischen Anwendung der Vergleichspraktiken im sozialen Leben besprochen. Eine besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt in diesem Zusammenhang der Praktik des Vergleichens, die eine enge Verzahnung mit der kommunikativen Organisation der Gesellschaft aufweist: Während im Vergleichsangebot comparata und/oder tertia möglichst explizit dargelegt werden, wird die eigentliche Aussage über die Differenzen und Ähnlichkeiten innerhalb der angezeigten Reihe dem Adressaten (Leser*innen, Zuhörer*innen, Zuschauer*innen usw.) überlassen. Eine detaillierte Fallbeispielanalyse erfolgt anhand zweier Bilder, die Noël Hallé 1759 als Pendant im Pariser Salon aufhängte (und die Denis Diderot rezipierte), sowie anhand des 2002 erschienenen Dokumentarfilms von Michale Moore Bowling for Columbine. Vom Vergleichen zur vergleichenden Interaktion Ein Vergleich liegt vor, wenn einer Gruppe von Objekten eine mehr oder weniger bestimmte Kombination von Ähnlichkeiten und Differenzen unterstellt wird. Solange diese Unterstellung subjektiv bleibt und nicht an die Gesellschaft weitergegeben wird, ist zunächst gleichgültig, ob dies mithilfe einer Introspektion, einer Beobachtung oder einer empirischen Messung zustande kam. Eine Praktik des Vergleichens ist hingegen eine intersubjektive Tätigkeit, die kommunikativ vollzogen wird. Sie stellt einen Vergleich zur Schau, indem sie diesen mithilfe eines Codes ausdrückt, der in der betroffenen Gesellschaft eine relativ stabile, allgemein 1 Ich danke Joris Heyder und Olga Sabelfeld für Vorschläge, Anregungen und Kritik.
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Videos by kirill postoutenko
Papers by kirill postoutenko