“Auf dem goldenen Grund aller Finsternis”— Erkenntnis-, Handlungs- und Seinsgründe in Hermann Brochs Die Verzauberung

Julia Mansour

Abstract

Hermann Broch’s Die Verzauberung (The Spell) embodies a demanding philosophical content, which is not solely expressed in the narrator’s comments, but is additionally thematized through the protagonists’ actions. Broch’s narrator, tragically confronted with various limitations of human cognitive capacities, tries to develop an ‘epistemic ethics,’ which aims at reconciling human rational and intuitive capacities. With the help of the intricate semantics of “Grund” (German for soil, foundation, reason), Broch thus addresses three interrelated philosophical problems: the foundations of knowledge, action, and existence. (JM; in German)

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