PREAMBLE

To the meta-theoretical and philosophical journal ARCA

The Institution of Strategic Research intends to publish a meta-theoretical and philosophical journal entitled ARCA, which is planned to be a quarterly. The title comes from an expression that can be found in Didascalicon, the work of Hugo de Sancto, a prominent thinker of the Middle Ages. According to the interpretation of Ivan Illich, a significant contemporary American philosopher, the author proposes a three-dimensional memory store to those seeking to acquire knowledge, which should be built upon the model of Noah's Ark in the world of thoughts. This is nothing else but a three-dimensional space-time-consciousness matrix, a promise and opportunity to get to a higher level of consciousness, which requires openness and responsiveness to new thoughts. According to the hopes of the editors this intention renders the new publication similar to the mythical ark. The choice of name also intends to remind the audience that the name of philosophy linked with the works of Aristotle, metaphysics is the name of human thinking capable of surpassing the constraints and boundaries of ephemeral existence and of achieving a higher level, thereby meta-consciousness, whose forms of expression constitute meta-theory in the strict sense of the word.

The philosophical journal ARCA was launched with two main purposes. First, we would like to offer a forum to the authors, whose writings are related to the concept of philosophy interpreted above, and second, we aim to fulfill the expectations of the readers - and here the editors assume that they are not so few among the Hungarian audience - who require the publication of a new philosophical journal, which is not limited to the narrow professional-academic circles and at the same time it maintains high standards with respect to the language and the content of thoughts.

The thematic and internal structure of the new journal was developed in order to enlarge the circle of the future authors and readers. The central part of the journal will be the column entitled Opera rotas, which is reserved for the longer articles. Within this column - according to the original objective - we intend to publish articles, which discuss the relationship between philosophy and human and natural sciences, or reflect to the status, problems of the different disciples, apart from the traditional, internal analyses of the history of philosophy.

There will be an independent column entitled Crepusculum, which means evening twilight, and refers to the Hegelian owl, which starts its flight in the twilight. This column will introduce contemporary philosophers (of the last 30 years) by publishing parts and summaries of their work. Other column will for Hungarian thinkers (Virtus Hungaricus), for new way of physics, science and philosophy (Via Nova) and new theories of knowledge (Intelligenti Pauca). Sensus will encompass the texts addressing the questions of aesthetic reflection and experience. ARCA offers a separate column, Credo ut intelligam to the philosophy of religion while to Extra Europam we invite articles on the philosophical practice outside of the realm of European modernity (from the ancient or traditional and contemporary Eastern philosophies to postcolonialism). Review articles of Hungarian and foreign books are invited to the column entitled Visus. We also offer space to future debates and reflections that do not fit the individual columns in Troposzféra (by which we wanted to give an alternative to the words forum or agora, which have been widely overused).

The ARCA and the editors do not strive for exclusiveness in any form because they regard it as one form of domination, which they therefore reject. The practice of domination namely excludes the very openness in the intellectual field that the journal seeks to promote. According to this, the language of the articles is not exclusive: foreign articles can be also published in the journal. Similarly, the place of publication is likewise not exclusive but it will be "divided" within the triangle of Nagykovácsi-Sopron-Budapest.