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DariuszKubok
tosomeextent,maybeattainedinthecourseofthestudyofnarra-
tivecontexts,inwhichlexisrelatedtocognitionfunctionsinsurviv-
ingancienttexts.Tograsptheessenceofcriticism,therefore,weshould
firstfamiliarizeourselveswiththeetymologicalrootsofthisconcept.
Aboveall,itisnecessarytofocusupontheadjectivekritikÒg(crit-
ical,abletodistinguish,decisive,etc.),upontheverbkr…nw(tosep-
arate,distinguish,judge,explain,elucidate,study,etc.),and,subse-
quently,uponotherconceptstiedwithphilosophicalcriticismandtheir
derivatives(amongothers:z»thsig,œlegcog,ØpÒqesig,skšyig,¢por…a,
prÒblhma).Thus,intheanalyzedtextsweshouldfocusuponthose
contextsofusage,whichjbearinginmindourpreliminaryhypoth-
esisderivedfromtheanalysisofPyrrhonianphilosophicalstancej
mightreflectthelimitsofthehistorically-conditionedsemanticfield,
or,effectively,thesourcemeaningoftheancientGreekconceptofcriti-
cism.Itisonsuchbasisthatwewillbeabletoofferaninitialinsight
intoextanttexts,asmallsteptowardsmorespecializedandmorethor-
oughlinguistic(cognitivist/pragmatist)research,whichmightinspire
amoreprofoundphilosophicaljepistemologicaljreflection.
Wemaybeginourexplorationbyadoptingthepremisethatphilosophi-
calcriticisminthebroadestand,asitturnsout,also(historically)earliest,
and(conceptually)mostrudimentarysense,
6
istantamounttotheability
todifferentiate,distinguish,separate.Thisabilityisindeedrudimentary
becauseitmakesallotheractions,includingreflection,possible.
7
Being
criticalmeansbeingabletodistinguish,thatistoplaceproperpe{rata
betweenthings,spheres,abilities,thingscognized,values,etc.Allphilo-
sophicalreflectionmustfollowfromsomepreliminarypremise(s),which
involvestheconceptofaseparationbecauseitisinevitablytiedtoapro-
posalofsome(fundamental)distinction.Inthissense,wecouldsaythat
6—asdocumentedbytheusageofvocabularylistedabove.
7InDeanima(432a)Aristotleassertsthatthesoulofanimalsmaybedefinedwiththehelp
oftwofaculties:thefacultyofdifferentiation(tùtekritikù)andthefacultyofmotion(tùkine‹n).
Thefirstispropertothefunctionsofthoughtandperception.InDemotuanimalium(700b),
inturn,hewritesthatsense-perceptionisjustascritical(kritik£)asthought.
