Cet article vise à rouvrir le débat à propos de l’importance du structuralisme pour la philosophie de Michel Foucault. Les transformations survenues dans la production foucaldienne entre la fin des années 1960 et le début des années 1970 sont couramment expliquées à partir de sa prise de distance par rapport au structuralisme, qui serait liée à au poids grandissant de F. Nietzsche dans ses travaux. En prenant du recul par rapport à cette interprétation, nous montrons la convergence qui joue, chez (...) Foucault, entre ces deux sources de pensée. De la problématisation du régime d’existence des objets dans l’archéologie à la systématisation des rapports de force dans la généalogie, nous verrons comment la notion de structure se réactive dans le passage d’un moment à l’autre. Dans ce parcours nous prenons appui notamment sur Le Discours philosophique, pour analyser sa notion-clé de « diagnostic ». (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é, de forma geral, discutir a noção de acontecimento enquanto uma das principais categorias para a leitura da obra de Michel Foucault, o que nos permite, a partir de uma determinada operacionalização, compreender todo seu projeto como uma acontecimentalização da história. A fim de especificar este processo, estabelecemos o diagnóstico foucaultiano da Insurreição Iraniana como mote de nossa verificação do acontecimento, em que atentaremos para dois aspectos que convergem no nexo principal do événement: o “poder pastoral” (...) e a “espiritualidade política” conduzindo às novas proposições teóricas sobre a formação do sujeito. Será, assim, a partir do grande eixo da subjetivação que desenvolveremos nossa hipótese de leitura, referente à economia da obra foucaultiana, no que diz respeito ao acento espiritual do poder pastoral e o episódio iraniano como estando já inseridos em um movimento que deveria tentar pensar, continuamente, um sujeito outro. Desta forma, tais temáticas, abarcando a questão de um governo dos outros, carregarão igualmente a necessidade conceitual do governo de si, desenvolvida por Foucault através do “cuidado de si” durante a década de 1980. Para percorrermos este caminho, de uma acontecimentalização do levante no Irã, abordaremos primeiramente o poder pastoral e as contra-condutas no contexto do curso proferido no Collège de France em 1978, Sécurité, territoire, population. Em seguida enfocaremos a noção de “espiritualidade política”, utilizada em sua análise sobre o Irã, a partir de um cruzamento conceitual advindo de estudo pontual de L’Herméneutique du sujet, curso de 1982, a fim de poder explicitar, ao final, como a própria metodologia de uma filosofia do acontecimento procura atingir seu principal alvo, o sujeito, ao pensá-lo enquanto processo, através de um questionamento singular: “como se tornar sujeito sem ser assujeitado?”.: The aim of this essay is to discuss the notion of event as one of the main categories for reading the work of Michel Foucault. In terms of the way it operates, the event allows us to understand Foucault’s entire project as an eventalization of history. In order to specify this process, we establish Foucault’s diagnosis of the Iranian Insurrection as a verification of the event, in which we attend to two aspects that converge in the main nexus of événement: “pastoral power” and “political spirituality”. Both of these lead to new theoretical propositions on the formation of subject. It is thus from the large axis of subjectivation that we develop our reading hypothesis. With reference to the economy of Foucault’s work, the spiritual tone of pastoral power and the Iranian episode are already inserted in a movement that should attempt to think continuously of an other subject. Such themes, by dealing with the question of a government of others, also bear the conceptual need of the government of self, developed by Foucault through the “care of the self” during the 1980s. To cover the path of an eventalization of the Iranian uprising, we first consider pastoral power and counter-conducts in the framework of the course given at the Collège de France in 1978: Security, Territory, Population. Then we focus on the notion of “political spirituality”, using Foucault’s analysis of Iran, from the conceptual crossing that emerges from the study of the Hermeneutic of the subject course given in 1982. Finally, we seek to explicate how the specific methodology of a philosophy of event aims to reach its main target, the subject, by thinking it as a process by means of a singular question: “how to become a subject without being subjected?”. Keywords: Event; Michel Foucault; Pastoral power; Subjectivation; Contemporary French Philosophy. (shrink)

Depuis la publication des Dits et écrits, la place de la littérature dans l’oeuvre de Michel Foucault a une position bien assignée dans les recherches académiques, où l’on souligne surtout l’approche nietzschéenne de la lecture qu’a proposé le philosophe. Prenant appui sur des nouvelles publications et sur des manuscrits inédits, notre texte envisage ce thème sous un autre prisme, à partir du structuralisme de l’analyse littéraire et de l’enjeu philosophique de la revue Tel Quel dans son rapport avec le Nouveau (...) Roman. En repérant l’importance du concept de « distance » dans ses écrits sur la littérature, nous discuterons comment plusieurs des notions créées par Foucault se trouvent en dialogue avec cette constellation théorique plus large. Nous y établirons ainsi le rapport entre la structure et l’événement, la paire conceptuelle au centre des débats philosophiques des années 1960, qui nous guidera dans la compréhension des tensions et des adhésions de la méthodologie foucaldienne à l’égard de l’analyse structurale. A abordagem da « distância » nos escritos literários de Michel Foucault, ou como inscrever o acontecimento na estrutura Desde a publicação dos Ditos e Escritos, o lugar da literatura na obra de Michel Foucault possui uma posição bem definida nas pesquisas acadêmicas, nas quais se ressalta sobretudo a abordagem nietzscheana da leitura proposta pelo filósofo. Recorrendo a novas publicações e aos manuscritos inéditos do Fonds Foucault-BnF, este texto enfocará o tema da literatura sob um outro prisma, à partir do estruturalismo da análise literária e do contexto filosófico da revista Tel Quel em sua relação com o Nouveau Roman. Enfatizando a importância do conceito de “distância” em seus escritos sobre a literatura, discutir-se-á como várias das noções criadas por Foucault se encontram em diálogo com esta constelação teórica mais ampla. A relação entre a estrutura e o acontecimento, enquanto par conceitual que se encontrava no centro dos debates filosóficos nos anos 1960, nos guiará na compreensão das tensões e das adesões da metodologia foucaltiana no que tange à análise estrutural.Palavras-chave: Análise literária. Estruturalismo. Distância. Acontecimento. Tel Quel; BnF Inéditos. (shrink)

Em 1973, Georges Canguilhem publica, na Encyclopédie Universalis, um extenso verbete histórico do conceito “Vida” na biologia e nas ciências da vida. A seguinte tradução do verbete é baseada na segunda edição, reimpressão publicada em 1989, nas páginas 546-553.

Spiritualité.--Esthétique du gentleman.--L'homme supérieur.--La femme supérieure.--L'art de la vie.

Empirical research in bioethics has developed rapidly over the past decade, but has largely eschewed the use of technology-driven methodologies. We propose “design bioethics” as an area of conjoined theoretical and methodological innovation in the field, working across bioethics, health sciences and human-centred technological design. We demonstrate the potential of digital tools, particularly purpose-built digital games, to align with theoretical frameworks in bioethics for empirical research, integrating context, narrative and embodiment in moral decision-making. Purpose-built digital tools can engender situated engagement (...) with bioethical questions; can achieve such engagement at scale; and can access groups traditionally under-represented in bioethics research and theory. If developed and used with appropriate rigor, tools motivated by “design bioethics” could offer unique insights into new and familiar normative and empirical issues in the field. (shrink)

In this review, we present some ethical imperatives observed in this pandemic from a data ethics perspective. Our exposition connects recurrent ethical problems in the discipline, such as, privacy, surveillance, transparency, accountability, and trust, to broader societal concerns about equality, discrimination, and justice. We acknowledge data ethics role as significant to develop technological, inclusive, and pluralist societies. - - - Resumen: En esta revisión, exponemos algunos de los imperativos éticos observados desde la ética de datos en esta pandemia. Nuestra exposición (...) busca conectar problemas éticos típicos dentro de esta disciplina, a saber, privacidad, vigilancia, transparencia, responsabilidad y confianza, con preocupaciones a nivel social relacionadas con la igualdad, discrimi nación y justicia. Consideramos que la ética de datos tiene un rol significativo para desarrollar sociedades tecnificadas, inclusivas y pluralistas. (shrink)

Abstract:In this article, we present a pragmatic approach to neuroethics, referring back to John Dewey and his articulation of the “common good” and its discovery through systematic methods. Pragmatic neuroethics bridges philosophy and social sciences and, at a very basic level, considers that ethics is not dissociable from lived experiences and everyday moral choices. We reflect on the integration between empirical methods and normative questions, using as our platform recent bioethical and neuropsychological research into moral cognition, action, and experience. Finally, (...) we present the protocol of a study concerning teenagers’ morality in everyday life, discussing our epistemological choices as an example of a pragmatic approach in empirical ethics. We hope that this article conveys that even though the scope of neuroethics is broad, it is important not to move too far from the real life encounters that give rise to moral questions in the first place. (shrink)

Worldwide interest in understanding art and creative practices as valid forms of knowledge production has led to the establishment of research-creation as an interdisciplinary academic field in the last twenty years in Canada as elsewhere. Its establishment relates to a growing interest in critical making and technological innovation and to the legacies of feminism(s) and its critique of the power dynamics of knowledge production within academia. This article outlines a series of interactive projects that bring visibility to Latin American women (...) in art, science and technology and speculates on the legacies of feminism(s) in the emergence of research-creation. The four projects discussed build on each other and explore re-mediation, re-activation and re-enactment as part of a collaborative feminist research-creation methodology. I theorize their potential to activate political memory by highlighting how these three approaches to creation share a preoccupation for revisiting the past through repetition, iteration and the facilitation of intergenerational encounters among humans, non-humans and across media and technologies. While discussing the feminist orientation of these approaches, I suggest a critique of dominant modes of knowledge production that have obscured the contributions of Latin American women and offer four research-creation interventions in the media arts archive. (shrink)

Este trabajo se propone mostrar cómo la Teoría Neoclásica de la Ley Natural fundamenta la existencia de normas morales absolutas, cuál es su relevancia para la filosofía moral, y qué críticas pueden ser formuladas a la argumentación de los autores. Ellos postulan que la ley natural, mediante normas, lleva a elegir y proteger bienes humanos básicos, correspondientes a los diversos aspectos de la naturaleza humana, evitando su destrucción, daño o impedimento. Aunque la mayoría de las normas morales admiten excepción, nunca (...) lo hacen las que prohíben realizar un acto que siempre daña directamente un bien básico, pues tal acto no puede compatibilizarse con la propia autorrealización, y atenta contra la dignidad humana. La división del trabajo tomará la siguiente forma: en los primeros cuatro apartados se abordarán los conceptos clave para la defensa de una norma absoluta en la Teoría Neoclásica, en el quinto se enlazarán los conceptos al modo que los autores lo hacen para demostrar la existencia de absolutos morales y someter el consecuencialismo a crítica, y en el sexto se hará una breve revisión crítica de los argumentos presentados. (shrink)

El objetivo de esta reseña es presentar un libro que reflexiona acerca de los procesos históricos de constitución de la identidad masculina y femenina, buscando explicaciones posibles para la desigualdad de género y la dominación sexista que se ha evidenciado a lo largo de la historia y en distintas sociedades.

Posiblemente el turismo es una de las pocas actividades humanas que encierra la ambivalencia de ser a la vez, negocio y ocio. Habitualmente, es analizado en la primera perspectiva como sector productivo y en pocas ocasiones se hace referencia a este concepto desde el punto de vista del ocio. Menos aun, se ahonda en la idea de que por ser una actividad de ocio tiene una dimensión educativa. Por ello, y desde esa reflexión pedagógica, se plantea este artículo, como una (...) aproximación conceptual a la experiencia educativa para el turista, para el profesional anfitrión y para la comunidad de recepción que encierra una modalidad concreta del turismo, la cultural. (shrink)

The theory stating that oxidative stress is at the root of several diseases is extremely popular. However, so far, no antioxidant is recommended or offered by healthcare systems neither approved as therapy by regulatory agencies that base their decisions on evidence-based medicine. This is simply because, so far, despite many preclinical and clinical studies indicating a beneficial effect of antioxidants in many disease conditions, randomised clinical trials have failed to provide the evidence of efficacy required for drug approval. In this (...) review, we discuss the levels of evidence required to claim causality in preclinical research on OS, the weakness of the oversimplification associated with OS theory of disease and the importance of the narrative in its popularity. Finally, from a more translational perspective, we discuss the reasons why antioxidants acting by scavenging reactive oxygen species might not only prevent their detrimental effects but also interfere with essential signalling roles. We propose that ROS have a complex metabolism and are generated by different enzymes at diverse sites and with different timing. Aggregating this plurality of systems in a single theory of disease may not be the best way to develop new drugs, and future research may need to focus on specific oxygen-toxifying pathways rather than on non-specific ROS scavengers. Finally, similarly to what is nowadays required for clinical trials, we recommend making unpublished data available in repositories, as this will allow big data approaches or meta-analyses without the blinders of the publication bias. (shrink)

The main objective of this work is to discuss the materiality of relationships and experiences of infants in early childhood education, based on a dialogue with the Brazilian curriculum guidelines for Early Childhood Education in 3 municipalities in the state of São Paulo, and with the concepts of technical objects and individuation developed by Simondon. This is a qualitative research that uses bibliographic and documentary research as a methodology and the production of cartographies of scenes in which relationships between babies (...) and objects are observed. The cartography used here is inspired by the records developed by Fernand Deligny (2015) and its appropriation for research with babies, as proposed by Julia Oliveira (2016). Research was carried out on this topic in the field of education, going through scientific articles and guiding documents for early childhood education. The authors mapped the paths and affections of babies and their relationships with objects in two distinct scenes that were collected within the scope of a collective project. It is a work that contributes to early childhood education in general and, specifically, to baby studies (Infantology, Babyhood studies). (shrink)

Bien qu'il soit critique à son endroit, Deleuze invente une nouvelle histoire de la philosophie conçue comme un art du portrait conceptuel, une forme de collage et de théâtre, où il ne s'agit pas de brosser un tableau fidèle, mais de produire la ressemblance en éprouvant la puissance des concepts.

Il est assez rare qu’un concept philosophique s’échappe de l’arène académique. C’est pourtant le cas du concept de spécisme, qui a fait une entrée remarquée dans la sphère publique au cours de la dernière décennie. Il est désormais au cœur du débat de société sur nos devoirs envers les animaux non humains. Hélas, ce concept et les enjeux qu’il soulève sont souvent mal compris. Nombreux sont les auteurs qui contestent sa légitimité alors qu’ils le maitrisent mal. D’autres l’utilisent plus volontiers (...) sans toutefois mieux le comprendre. Les confusions qui entourent cette notion l’empêche de contribuer à la discussion autant qu’elle le pourrait. Le présent ouvrage entend remédier à cet état de faits en donnant de la notion de spécisme une présentation à la fois assez précise pour rendre justice aux discussions philosophiques dont elle fait l’objet et suffisamment claire pour être accessible à quiconque s’intéresse au statut moral des animaux. Il se divise en deux parties. La première aborde des questions ontologiques : Qu’est-ce exactement que le spécisme ? À quelles conditions existe-t-il ? Ces conditions sont-elles remplies dans les faits ? Quant à la seconde, elle porte sur des questions éthiques : Le spécisme peut-il être justifié ? Faut-il au contraire le condamner au même titre que le racisme et le sexisme ? (shrink)

The prevalent view in animal ethics is that speciesism is wrong: we should weigh the interests of humans and non-humans equally. Shelly Kagan has recently questioned this claim, defending speciesism against Peter Singer’s seminal argument based on the principle of equal consideration of interests. This critique is most charitably construed as a dilemma. The principle of equal consideration can be interpreted in either of two ways. While it faces counterexamples on the first reading, it makes Singer’s argument question-begging on the (...) second. In response, Singer has grasped the first horn of this dilemma and tried to accommodate Kagan’s apparent counterexamples. In my opinion, this attempt is unpersuasive: the principle of equal consideration is inconsistent with common-sense intuitions on Kagan’s cases. Worse, Singer’s argument begs the question anyway. It therefore faces two serious objections. This is not to say that there is nothing wrong with speciesism, however. In the second half of the paper, I propose another, better argument against speciesism, which I argue is immune to both objections. According to this other argument, speciesism is wrong because it involves discriminating on the basis of a merely biological property. (shrink)

Animal ethicists have been debating the morality of speciesism for over forty years. Despite rather persuasive arguments against this form of discrimination, many philosophers continue to assign humans a higher moral status than nonhuman animals. The primary source of evidence for this position is our intuition that humans’ interests matter more than the similar interests of other animals. And it must be acknowledged that this intuition is both powerful and widespread. But should we trust it for all that? The present (...) paper defends a negative answer to that question, based on a debunking argument. The intuitive belief that humans matter more than other animals is unjustified because it results from an epistemically defective process. It is largely shaped by tribalism, our tendency to favor ingroup members as opposed to outgroup members. And this influence is distortive for two reasons. First, tribalism evolved for reasons unrelated to moral truths; hence, it would at best produce true moral beliefs accidentally. Second, tribalism generates a vast quantity of false moral beliefs, starting with racist beliefs. Once this intuition is discarded, little evidence remains that speciesism is morally acceptable. (shrink)

Common sense has it that animals matter considerably less than humans; the welfare and suffering of a cow, a chicken or a fish are important but not as much as the welfare and suffering of a human being. Most animal ethicists reject this “speciesist” view as mere prejudice. In their opinion, there is no difference between humans and other animals that could justify such unequal consideration. In the opposite camp, advocates of speciesism have long tried to identify a difference that (...) would fit the bill, but they have consistently seemed to fail. In light of this, some naturally began to appeal to Moorean arguments: the case against speciesism must be flawed somehow, these philosophers maintain, because speciesism is supported by a strong and widespread intuition. This chapter draws on recent findings in social psychology to criticize this defence of speciesism. It argues that the strong and widespread intuition that humans count more than animals is epistemically defective because it is causally shaped by a pair of irrelevant influences: cognitive dissonance and tribalism. Accordingly, it is no suitable basis for a Moorean argument. (shrink)

Many people believe that human interests matter much more than the like interests of non-human animals, and this “speciesist belief” plays a crucial role in the philosophical debate over the moral status of animals. In this paper, I develop a debunking argument against it. My contention is that this belief is unjustified because it is largely due to an off-track process: our attempt to reduce the cognitive dissonance generated by the “meat paradox”. Most meat-eaters believe that it is wrong to (...) harm animals unnecessarily, yet they routinely and deliberately behave in ways that cause great unnecessary suffering to animals. As recent research suggests, this practical inconsistency puts them in an unpleasant state of dissonance, which they try to escape by resolving the paradox. And they do so in part by adopting the speciesist belief—if animal suffering matters much less than human suffering, then harming animals cannot be so wrong after all. Since this belief-forming process does not track moral truth, I conclude that we are not justified in believing that human interests matter more than the similar interests of non-humans. (shrink)

Patentowanie ludzkich genów jest zjawiskiem, które w obecnych czasach nabrało intensywności i znaczenia. Jest jedną z kluczowych form zabezpieczania praw własności przemysłowej, zwłaszcza dla ośrodków badawczych i koncernów farmaceutycznych. Ze względu na naturę produktu podlegającego opatentowaniu, pomysł patentowania genów budzi wiele kontrowersji i rodzi spory na różnych płaszczyznach. Celem artykułu jest naszkicowanie ram prawnych dla tego zjawiska (m.in. porównanie regulacji europejskich i amerykańskich) oraz krytyczne omówienie argumentów przemawiających zarówno w obronie tej procedury, jak i przeciwko niej, wysuwane z różnych perspektyw: (...) prawnej (kwestia posiadania przez geny tzw. zdolności patentowej, kontrowersje związane z prawem własności do ludzkiego ciała), społeczno-ekonomicznej (wpływ zjawiska na rozwój badań naukowych oraz na ceny leków i dostępność różnych terapii) oraz etycznej (omówionej na podstawie wybranych kazusów). Artykuł zarysowuje również kilka propozycji rozwiązań praktycznych, które mają usuwać przynajmniej niektóre kontrowersje związane z patentowaniem genów. (shrink)

Revisiting the generally accepted notion of psycho-physical parallelism in Spinoza, Chantal Jaquet offers a new analysis of the relation between body and mind. Looking at a range of Spinoza's texts, and using an original methodology, she analyses their unity in action through affects, actions and passions.

As is well known, Heinrich Scholz and his academic society maintained good scientific contacts with Polish logicians before, during, and after the Second World War. My interest here is to examine the details of their collaboration by presenting Scholz’s unpublished correspondence with Fr. Józef M. Bocheński. The following topics are discussed here: Polish logicians who survived the war and their current place of work; reorganization of the scholarly environment, didactic activities, duties, scholarly trips; current research topics, prospects for post-war publications, (...) and future publishing plans; information about Jan Łukasiewicz, Bolesław Sobociński, and Joachim Metallmann; personal matters. (shrink)

Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books offers insights into the cultural and historical transmission and practices of martial arts, based on the corpus of the Fight Books (Fechtbücher) in 14th- to 17th-century Europe. The first part of the book deals with methodological and specific issues for the studies of this emerging interdisciplinary field of research. The second section offers an overview of the corpus based on geographical areas. The final part offers some relevant case studies. This is the first (...) book proposing a comprehensive state of research and an overview of Historical European Martial Arts Studies. One of its major strengths lies in its association of interdisciplinary scholars with practitioners of martial arts. Contributors are Sydney Anglo, Matthias Johannes Bauer, Eric Burkart, Marco Cavina, Franck Cinato, John Clements, Timothy Dawson, Olivier Dupuis, Bert Gevaert, Dierk Hagedorn, Daniel Jaquet, Rachel E. Kellet, Jens Peter Kleinau, Ken Mondschein, Reinier van Noort, B. Ann Tlusty, Manuel Valle Ortiz, Karin Verelst, and Paul Wagner. (shrink)

El propósito del presente artículo es el explorar la connotación que el vocablo ¿democracia¿ presenta para Alexis de Tocqueville, en particular en su obra paradigmática, La democracia en América. Para ello, se establecerán comparaciones con las diversas acepciones previas de dicha palabra, a fin de establecer continuidades y rupturas con las mismas. De éstas últimas es preciso rescatar principalmente el hecho de que el bisnieto de Malherbes utilizase el apelativo de democrático en función de una experiencia de vida que él (...) percibía de forma absolutamente divergente con cualquier modo de convivencia implementado en el pasado. La democracia será a su juicio un nuevo estado social, y en su carácter de tal, modificará los patrones de conducta político-sociales de manera radical. Si el pasado deja de iluminar el porvenir, si nos encontramos en una situación crítica, si la oposición entre democracia directa y representativa pierde su validez, debemos tratar de comprender lo que nos rodea con una palabra que refleje un mundo enteramente nuevo. (shrink)

How do we reevaluate the role of individuals whose contributions have not been erased—they are still visible—but whose labor has been demoted in the historical narrative because of their gender, class, or ethnicity? This brief essay is about more than simply bringing in overlooked actors; instead, it ponders why the act of mislabeling a person’s labor merits further deliberation. Mislabeled archival evidence, such as the erroneous description accompanying a photograph that this essay discusses, might uphold problematic assumptions in the history (...) of science about who can perform certain labors. Such mistakes, careless or otherwise, produce enduring historiographic harm because such errors make it harder to construct other versions of the past. (shrink)

Im dargestellten Aritkel wurde das Motiv der Nacht in der Poesie von Leopold Staff besprochen. Hier wurde die Analyse dieser Tageszeit und ihrer Requisiten eingeführt. Der Artikel präsentierst auch die Reichtum der mit der Nacht verbunden Motive und die Anwesenheit des Themas in der Kultur und der Literatur in verschiedenen Epochen. Die besondere Acht wurde auf die Koexistenz der Problematik der Nacht mit den christlichen Motiven der Liebe, des Todes und der Leidenschaft gerichtet. Man kann hier die Beispiele der Analogie (...) zwischen den Methoden der Realisierung von diesem Thema in der Bildung von Leopold Staff und den anderen finden. Im Artikel wurde die Bedeutung der Problematik der Nacht sygnalisiert, die mit der Natur verbundene Überlegungen mit wichtigen für das polnische Volk historischen Ereignissen und das Suchen des wichtigen “Ich” des Menschen enthalten. Es wurde auch die Affirmation des Autors und Aktualität der besprochenen Probleme betont (ohne Unterschied der Zeit und geographischer Lage). (shrink)

In this article the relations between philosophy and applied ethics are considered. The presented deliberation is concentrated on the question whether philosophy has contributed to applied ethics, especially to business ethics. Trying to find an answer to this question I will refer to the discussion which was started by R. Rorty in which he presented his own point of view on the issues related to moral development and the role of philosophy and philosophers in the modern world. Rorty points at (...) proper tools which, in his opinion, can be helpful to business ethicists and formulates the goal they should try to aim at. His opinions has started a vivid discussion. Patricia H. Werhane, Daryl Koehn and Richard T. De George try to discuss with Rorty’s statement. They oppose Rorty’s argument that philosophy is not more relevant to applied ethics than any other academic disciplines. They point to the facts which document philosophers’ contribution in forming business ethics. This article presents their arguments as well as an attempt of their critical assessment. (shrink)

How have contemporary media artworks been proposing hybrid experiences, discussing the ontological implications from the experimentation with emerging techniques that alter our way of being-in-the-world? These experiences dialectically articulate aesthetic relations between real and virtual, visible and invisible, human and technological. In this article, we develop a participant observation of two specific works: Generation 244 (2011), by Scott Draves, and Zee (2008), by Kurt Hentschläger. This observation establishes a dialogue with phenomenology as it considers experience and perception as needed prerequisites (...) for the analysis, as proposed by Merleau-Ponty. In this scenario, we have observed that a whole way of partitioning the sensible resets itself and points in the direction of a trans-immanence, generating an integrated knowledge that not only relies on reason, but in a collective wisdom where we can find, according to Didi-Huberman, a ‘light of survival’. (shrink)

Although a great deal has been written on Plato's ethics, his cosmology has not received so much attention in recent times and its importance for his ethical thought has remained underexplored. By offering accounts of Timaeus, Philebus, Politicus and Laws X, the book reveals a strongly symbiotic relation between the cosmic and human sphere. It is argued that in his late period Plato presents a picture of an organic universe, endowed with structure and intrinsic value, which both urges our respect (...) and calls for our responsible intervention. Humans are thus seen as citizens of a university that can provide a context for their flourishing even in the absence of good political institutions. The book sheds light on many intricate metaphysical issues in late Plato and brings out the close connections between his cosmology and the development of his ethics. (shrink)

Oscar Horta has argued that speciesism is wrong by definition. In his view, there can be no more substantive debate about the justification of speciesism than there can be about the legality of murder, for it stems from the definition of “speciesism” that speciesism is unjustified just as it stems from the definition of “murder” that murder is illegal. The present paper is a case against this conception. I distinguish two issues: one is descriptive and the other normative. Relying on (...) philosophers’ use of the term, I first answer the descriptive question negatively: speciesism is a purely descriptive concept. Then, based on both its main functions in the philosophical and public debates and an analogy with racism, I answer the normative question negatively: speciesism should remain a purely descriptive concept. If I am correct, then speciesism neither is nor should be wrong by definition. (shrink)

This article begins by examining the importance that critical intercultural dialogues have within the Modernity/Coloniality Research Program toward reaching an alternative geopolitics and body-politics of knowledge, in order to raise the question whether the colonial difference creates conditions for dialogical situations that bring together critiques of coloniality emerging from different experiences of coloniality. The answer it offers is twofold. On the one hand, if one imagines such situations to be communicative exchanges à la Bakhtin that put logos at the center, (...) given what is termed the coloniality of language and speech, the possibility of such exchanges is feasible only as an abstract gesture. On the other hand, when one faces the complications of the erasure of dialogue produced by coloniality, the kind of decolonial communicative relations that seem possible among people thinking and acting from the colonial difference are less conscious or agential than emotive. By articulating the relations between coalitional methodologies and a global sense of connection the article proposes a nondialogical theory of decolonial communication: a way of orienting ourselves with a sense of permeability and recognition of being on the same side that doesn't need to be politically motivated but is always active. (shrink)

Este trabajo se propone leer la obra autobiográfica de Rousseau como el resultado de un litigio que opone al escritor y al público. Ambos se disputan la identidad del autor. Veremos que el proyecto autobiográfico nace como una reivindicación de la soberanía de autor sobre el texto pero culmina instituyendo la soberanía del lector. En el transcurso de la obra autobiográfica de Rousseau el autor deviene un efecto de la lectura. This paper aims to read the autobiographical work of Rousseau (...) as the outcome of a dispute between the writer and the public. Both parts dispute the author's identity. We will see that the autobiographical project starts as the claim of sovereignty of the work by the author, but culminates by establishing the sovereignty of the reader. In the autobiographical writings, the author is an effect of the reading. (shrink)