“Epystemologically Different Worlds”: from J. Uexküll to G. Vakariu
RUDN Journal of Philosophy January 9, 2025 Egor V. Falev 1 citation
The paper examines the concept of 'epistemologically different worlds' introduced by Gabriel Vacariu and argues that plagiarism accusations against Marcus Gabriel are unfounded because Gabriel's 'semantic fields' differ from Vacariu's concept, and similar ideas appeared earlier, starting with Jakob Uexküll's 'Umwelt' in 1909. The author traces how Uexküll's Umwelt influenced Husserl's 'lifeworld', Heidegger's 'world-formation', and Varela's 'structural coupling', all of which can be grouped under the notion of epistemologically different worlds. While denying Vacariu priority, the term is deemed productive. A classification of five stages of overcoming representativism is proposed, with Heidegger's interpretation of the phenomenon of world considered logically superior, concluding that 'existence' applies only within the human world, not to animal umwelt.