Paul Balogh, Cristian Ciocan: Alexandru Dragomir: A Romanian Phenomenologist (1916-2002)
IN MEMORIAM ALEXANDRU DRAGOMIR
Walter Biemel: Erinnerungen an Dragomir
Abstract: This short autobiographical text evokes the atmosphere of the years which marked the beginning of my friendship with Alexandru Dragomir: i.e. our student years in Bucharest, the circle of Romanian students studying in the 40s in Freiburg i. Br. and the intellectual intensity of Martin Heidegger’s seminars and courses, which influenced both of us for the rest of our lives. From the 15 members of Heidegger’s Oberseminar (dedicated in this period to Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit), three were from Romania: Alexandru Dragomir, Octavian Vuia and the author of these lines. The relationship between Dragomir and I became closer as we translated “Was ist Metaphysik?” into Romanian. Alexandru Dragomir was highly appreciated by Heidegger and beloved by other students for his penetrating spirit, for his spontaneity, but also for his sense of humor. After more than 30 years in which the history thrown us in parallel worlds, we had the joy to meet again in Bucharest. His texts, now published, present him as a brilliant and original thinker.
Gabriel Liiceanu: The Notebooks from Underground
Abstract: The article leads us through the life story of Alexandru Dragomir, starting from his early years as a student of Heidegger’s in Freiburg and all through the communist period, which for Dragomir meant the impossibility of openly practicing philosophy. However he never gave up his private endeavours with philosophy; instead he practiced it “underground”, revealing the results of his thinking to very few close friends. The second half of the article deals with Dragomir’s intellectual portrait: the Heideggerian heritage, the task of thinking, time. As he never actually published anything, it was only after his death that his friends discovered his notebooks, which are now being gradually published at Humanitas Publishing House.
Andrei Pleşu, James Christian Brown: Alexandru Dragomir: Fragments of a Portrait
Abstract: The article conveys the portrait of a man for whom understanding was a matter of the highest spiritual intimacy, a man who continuously disregarded his possible engagement in the public life as a philosopher, finally a man whom we find, in the twilight of his life, concerned with the intricate tension between the “muteness” of philosophy (as being able “only” to double life by means of rational discourse) and religion. Alexandru Dragomir’s portrait is portrayed in comparison to another important Romanian philosopher, Constantin Noica. The comparison is not accidental, since they both come to represent two paradigmatic ways of making philosophy: traditional ontology (centered around Descartes – Kant – Hegel) vs. modern phenomenology (centered around Husserl – Heidegger)
Horia-Roman Patapievici, Paul Balogh: The Lesson of Alexandru Dragomir
Abstract: The paper aims to clarify several key aspects of Alexandru Dragomir: his amazing “technique” of keeping his entire knowledge in perfect working condition, his exceptional precision of references and his continuous disregard concerning writing. The root of all these peculiarities is traced back to Plato’s cognitive and moral arguments against writing, as expressed in Phaedrus and Seventh Letter. Finally, the article brings to light what seems to be the lesson of Dragomir’s life as a thinker: to rely only on the living thought, that which is written “inside the soul”.
Virgil Ciomoş: Théorie et Pratique de la Phénoménologie: Une Rencontre Manquée
Abstract: In this article, the author recalls the circumstances when he first met Alexandru Dragomir, together with André Scrima and Mihai Şora, with the occasion of a conference on the phenomenology of time at the New Europe College in Bucharest. Then, the author talks about his philosophical relationship with Alexandru Dragomir during the following years, insisting upon the phenomenological debates they had and upon the specific manner of Dragomir’s thinking.
Catalin Partenie: Archive Relief: Dragomir’s Perspective
Abstract: Dragomir was not interested in writing philosophy, although his archive amounts to almost 100 notebooks, containing fragments, notes, essays and studies. This essay addresses Dragomir’s disregard for written philosophy and argues that his main message will lose its force in his posthumously published archive. His message, as it emerges from the way he lived his life, is, I argue, this: if we are to restore the lost harmony of our lives, philosophy, as essential as it may be, isn’t everything.
DOCUMENTS
Alexandru Dragomir: The Protocol of Heidegger’s Seminar of January 14, 1943 on Aristotle’s Metaphysics Book Θ
Adina Bozga: Walter Biemel – Alexandru Dragomir: A Letter (1946)
Alexandru Dragomir, Martin Heidegger: Alexandru Dragomir – Martin Heidegger: Two Letters (1947)
SECTION I: PHENOMENOLOGICAL MICROANALYSES
Alexandru Dragomir: Michelle Dobré: De l’unicité
Alexandru Dragomir: De l’erreur
Alexandru Dragomir: Michelle Dobré: De l’usure
Alexandru Dragomir, Michelle Dobré: Dans la contrée du laid-dégoûtant
Alexandru Dragomir, Michelle Dobré: Dit et non-dit
Alexandru Dragomir, Michelle Dobré: Que Signifie «Distinguer»?
SECTION II: THE WORLD WE LIVE IN
Alexandru Dragomir, James Christian Brown: Utter Metaphysical Banalities
Alexandru Dragomir, James Christian Brown: About The Ocean of Forgetting
Alexandru Dragomir, James Christian Brown: About the world we live in
Alexandru Dragomir, Michelle Dobré: De quelques manières de se tromper soi-même
Alexandru Dragomir, Michelle Dobré: L’attention et les cinq manières de quitter le présent
Alexandru Dragomir, Michelle Dobré: Du bien et du mal
SECTION III: THE PROBLEM OF TIME
Alexandru Dragomir, Michelle Dobré: Sur le non-sens du passé et de l’avenir
Alexandru Dragomir, Mădălina Diaconu: Chronos – Buch I
