CRITIQUE

The Honor of Thinking : Critique, Theory, Philosophy

RODOLPHE GASCHE. Palo Alto, Stanford University Press

"Critique" comes from the Greek krinein which means: "to sort" (sorndern), "to sort out" and thus to "lift out that of special sort" (das Besondere herausheben). This contrast [Abheben] against others [gegen anderes] arises from an elevation [Hinaufheben] to a new order. The sense of the word " critique" is so little negative that it means the most positive, the positing of what must be established in advance [im voraus angesetzt] in all positing [Setzung] as what is determinative and decisive. Therefore, critique is a separation and lifting out of the special, the uncommon and, at the same time, decisive [des Massgebenden], therefore, and only in consequence, is it also a rejection of the commonplace and unsuitable. 

notes: critique, catalog, collage