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From Cloud to Chorus: Nietzsche and Saussure on Pre-Linguistic Indeterminacy

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Rauschberg’s portrait of Nietzsche and Saussure. AI art     “In itself, thought is like a swirling cloud, where no shape is intrinsically determinate.” — Saussure ( Course in General Linguistics , 1916/1983, p. 110) “As Dionysian artist he is one with the Primordial Unity, its pain and contradiction.” — Nietzsche ( The Birth of Tragedy , 1872/1967, §5) Introduction Two philologists writing at the turn of the twentieth century reach an uncanny consonance. Ferdinand de Saussure pictures the mind before language as a vaporous continuum; Friedrich Nietzsche dramatizes artistic genesis as an ecstatic immersion in a pre-formal abyss. Although they never met, each suggests that shape, articulation, and meaning arrive only after an underlying murk is carved into segments. This essay compares their accounts, arguing that both theorists cast language as a secondary imposition on formlessness. Yet they diverge in the frameworks that guide this view: Nietzsche pursues a metaphys...

The Soul in the Prompt: AI, Studios, and Authorship as Idea

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The Secret Weapon. AI art Introduction For centuries, creating a work of art did not always require the artist’s direct intervention. Today, it may not even require a human hand. The figure of the creator as the material executor has historically been more the exception than the rule. From Renaissance workshops to digital installations — and more recently, works generated by artificial intelligence — authorship has proven to be an elusive and deeply cultural notion. What difference is there between a painter giving instructions to an assistant and one composing a prompt for an AI? Where, ultimately, does the artistic act reside? From Studios to Scripts: A Historical Continuity In the 16th and 17th centuries, painters began their careers as apprentices in the workshops of established masters. Once they gained recognition, they opened their own studios and hired assistants, who executed most—sometimes all—of the work under their supervision. Today, museums and galleries distinguish...

What’s in a Name? “Nomen est Omen”—From Ancient Belief to Literary Subversion

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Wilde and Shakespeare in The Globe. AI art Introduction From baby names to brands or corporate logos, from novels to news headlines, people often act as if names carry a hidden charge—a sign of fate, character, or truth. This age-old belief is distilled in the Latin maxim nomen est omen , which translates to “the name is a sign” or more evocatively, “the name is a prophecy.” It suggests that names are not mere labels, but potent clues to the nature or destiny of their bearers. This article explores the roots of nomen est omen and then examines how this notion is treated—and ultimately undermined—in two canonical literary texts: Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet . Wilde satirizes the performative allure of naming, while Shakespeare poetically denies its power, offering two distinct critiques of the belief that names reveal essence. The Origins of a Belief The phrase nomen est omen can be traced back to Roman literatur...