Discourse and Chaos: the Problem of the Titular Councillor Golyadkin

Abstract

The author makes use of Dostoevsky’s novella, «The Double», in order to analyse the relationship between two popular concepts, «discourse» and «chaos». Many postmodern interpretations burden the former term, discourse, which impedes its efficient use in philosophy and the human sciences. The latter term — chaos — is heavily overused and made into yet another absolute category by contemporary proponents of synergetic. A bizarre conceptual mixture of these terms is a product of contemporary theoretical mentality, which itself is a combination of more stable elements of human thought and actual fashion. Every time when the world appears incomprehensible and the language is awkward to handle, it can be useful to remind about an acute and permanent confrontation between the language and the world.