Re: [ox-en] "Selbstentfaltung", "self-unfolding" or what?
- From: Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>
- Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 21:17:47 +0100
Hi Florian, Graham, Marco, Stefan, all!
First I appreciate that we agree on "self-unfolding" as the best
translation for "Selbstentfaltung" :-) .
5 days ago Florian v Samson wrote:
On Wed, Jan 02, 2002 at 03:51:27PM [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED], Marco Ermini wrote:
On Sat, 22 Dec 2001 18:16:19 -0500 (EST), Graham Seaman <graham seul.org>
wrote:
[...]
'Humanistic radicalism is radical questioning guided by insight into the
dynamics of man's nature; and by concern for man's growth and full
unfolding.'
http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~ira/illich/texts/fromm_on_illich/fromm_on_illich.html
So 'unfolding' in this sense isn't new to English after all. But it
does lead to another question: why 'self'? In the discussion of the
term on this list (ie. en-) it seemd to be necessary to explain that it
didn't refer to purely isolated individuals, or was not possible for
isolated individuals, but was something social (since the 'self-' implied
not being social, which was also the problem with 'self-development').
This is an important point, as I never liked the prefix "Selbst" in
"Selbstentfaltung" very much. You expressed the problem I had with
that prefix very clearly.
This became even more obvious, when I read Stefan Mn. writing on the
german mailing list about "indiviluelle/persoenliche Selbstentfaltung"
(individual/personal selfunfolding).
In my opinion the more generic term "unfolding" is far better. To
express what "selfunfolding" should mean, "personal unfolding" would
be appropiate. But don't we also want a new society to "unfold", didn't
OSS already "unfold"?
This would also fit into the picture we drew with the "Keimform-These":
A seed, which unfolds, sprouts and finally blossoms.
Ciao,
Florian
P.S.: I think the same thoughts are appliciable to the german terms
Hmm... From the start of our discussion two years ago we focused very
much on the individual - that's true. I like that because the
individual gain a person has from a change is something very important
if you want to bring a change about. And BTW in our times where
everybody preaches individual renunciation (usually while maximizing
their own profits :-( ), I find it important to strengthen the
opposite, to say that a good life is possible. Well, that's all pretty
strategical thinking, however...
Furthermore I think something like: Only individuals can unfold, so
it's most important to look at this. I mean what would it mean when a
society unfolds. I mean capitalism unfolded itself very well - but
this isn't what most here strive for.
Another thought is, that in some way self-unfolding is our
pronunciation of the old term freedom.
Well, some thoughts. I'm not really decided and even don't know
whether I understand every detail yet.
Mit Freien Grüßen
Stefan
_______________________
http://www.oekonux.org/