Dean Komel

The question of the contemporaneity of Europe appears in the context of dialogue on the common European future, which, on the one hand is an achievement of the encounter of diverse cultural languages and, on the other, dictated through reflection on what is re-establishing the Europe of today as a world view. Views on “opening the future” and “enabling development” cannot be mutually harmonized, since there is a lack of experience of contemporaneity in the jointing of horizons. From this experience also comes the common interest in European dialogue. The diversity of European languages does not prove to be an obstacle to re-establishing this dialogue, but its vital condition. It is, namely, the historically mediated possibility that brings the essential diff erence into the uniform process of the expansion of power without difference.

The question of the contemporaneity of Europe appears in the context of dialogue on the common European future, which, on the one hand is an achievement of the encounter of diverse cultural languages and, on the other, dictated through reflection on what is re-establishing the Europe of today as a world view. Views on “opening the future” and “enabling development” cannot be mutually harmonized, since there is a lack of experience of contemporaneity in the jointing of horizons. From this experience also comes the common interest in European dialogue. The diversity of European languages does not prove to be an obstacle to re-establishing this dialogue, but its vital condition. It is, namely, the historically mediated possibility that brings the essential diff erence into the uniform process of the expansion of power without difference.

The paper considers the nihilism of history in relation to the concepts of the “crisis of modernity”, “the end of history” and our “contemporary situation”. The problem is that the disposedness of nihilism itself determines our existential and coexistential situation, since it erases its historical horizon. On the other hand, the pressure of the situation demands that we adopt an open attitude towards our own contemporaneity, which includes not only ourselves but also the world between and around us. Finally, in relation to Hegel’s introduction to his Lectures on the History of Philosophy, the question of the immanent historicity of philosophy and the nihilism of history is raised. In this context, I also discuss some of the assumptions of Jon Stewart’s historical-philosophical consideration of nihilism in his book The History of Nihilism in the Nineteenth Century from 2023.

The comparative study of the philosophical terminologies can be considered as an important contribution to the intercultural discussion in the contemporary philosophy. The main goal of such terminological investigations is to recognize different philosophic traditions and to found the basis for their dialog. The author examines the Slavic word for the truth »resnica«, which remains present only in the Slovenian language. The Slovenian language as well as the Slovenian philosophical terminology was only partly influenced by the Cyril-Methodian tradition and has retained a lot of terminological possibilities, which take their origins from pre-Cyril-Methodian time. The word »resnica« is examined first by etymology as well as by its historical presence in some other Slavic languages. The grammatical and semantic characteristics of the word are important to understand its philosophical context. In the last part of the article, the author analyses the terminological use of »resnica« by some Slovenian philosophers.