This paper considers the UN efforts to introduce a legally binding Treaty on corporate accountability for human rights impacts in the context of other proposed legislation at country level, on the one hand, and existing voluntary initiatives like the UN Guiding Principles (2011), on the other. What we are interested in is whether the proposed Treaty signals a transition from voluntary initiatives (based on moral commitments) to law (that is, a focus on compliance), and the extent to which it might (...) stimulate or hinder links between judicial and non-judicial initiatives. The scholars who have explicitly addressed these two divides are – Michael Sandel, on theory v. practice; and Amartya Sen, on law v. morality. We engage with their views, in sections II and III respectively, seeking to build an integrated approach to help us overcome these dualisms. We further consider John Ruggie’s “principled pragmatism”, a strategy that he uses to build the Protect, Respect and Remedy (henceforth, PRR) Framework; and we invoke arguments from casuistry as well as a practice-focused deontology (Thomas Donaldson’s) in favour of an ethics ‘beyond cognition’, which we consider better suited than either utilitarian or principle-based theories to guide the debate on human rights. This is because it allows us to take non-rational factors into account (such as emotions and personal affiliations), when judging the kind of common good we consider worth pursuing. In the last section of the paper, we investigate whether and how might the Treaty illustrate the two divides, trying to (a) distinguish between purely legal elements and those of a wider nature, to do with morality; and (b) understand what might help bridge the gap between theoretical commitments to the universality of human rights and various practical challenges. Our aim is not to evaluate the Treaty, from a legal viewpoint, or suggest improvements to it (lawyers are better placed to do that); rather, we seek to investigate the way in which the proposed Treaty – which is the first attempt to address the challenge of transnational business and human rights in international law – combines moral and legal aspects, and what this tells us about the world we live in. (shrink)

Mary Livermore'sMy Story of the Waris a valuable piece of travel writing written from the point of view of a nurse who documented her unexpected personal and professional journey to administer the Sanitary Commission of the United States Union Army and provide nursing care during the American Civil War. Although Livermore's pre‐war background had not been solely limited to the domestic sphere, her wartime experience involved a public negotiation between the traditional domestic realm assigned to women and new nursing professional (...) functions that emerged during the war. In a context in which the general access of women to public writing was rather limited and in which nursing was not a formally regulated professional activity, Livermore's triumphal narrative reflects the increasing connection between progressively professional nursing functions that emerged in the context of war and a new women's rights leadership forged during her autobiographical journey. (shrink)

This book attempts a conceptual clarification of Kant’s approach to culture, given the lack of systematic study of this aspect of his thought. At its origin there was only a thematic interest in the manifold meanings of the term “culture”, as well as the underlying persuasion that Kant’s moral philosophy could provide us with a systematic framework to understand the increasing relevance of “culture” in modern thought. Specifically, the hypothesis was that the emergence of culture as a relatively autonomous realm (...) was implied in Kant’s refusal to let nature play a role in the constitution of the moral norm, and his requirement that the moral norm be defined through pure reason alone. As a result, culture would appear as a middle terrain: being neither empirical nature nor pure morality. Accordingly, culture can be approached either from the perspective of nature, or from the perspective of morality. Both approaches represent what can be termed “Kant’s explicit account of culture”. Behind this explicit, two-fold account of culture, however, an implicit account of culture in terms of “projection of man’s subjectivity” can be discovered. This latter account, itself a consequence of the critical enterprise, constitutes Kant’s most original contribution to the philosophy of culture. (shrink)

As the ecological crisis becomes increasingly pressing, the relation of environmentalism and democracy is spotlighted with new instancy. On one hand, the capability of present democratic governments to take adequate political action is seriously questioned. On the other hand, environmentalism is charged of being anti-democratic. This paper, in a first step, examines the “green” criticism of and sometimes actual departures from democracy. Drawing on that analysis as well as a pragmatist concept of democracy, the elements of an “ecological democracy” will (...) be outlined in a second step. Democracy, then, is not only a way of collective-problem solving, but also a form of life that has an intrinsic value, even in the face of unresolvable problems and failure. Striving for transformation and the best possible scenario nevertheless, finally, demands an attitude of ecological meliorism, which will be briefly outlined. (shrink)

The theory of mental models postulates that meaning and knowledge can modulate the interpretation of conditionals. The theory's computer implementation implied that certain conditionals should be true or false without the need for evidence. Three experiments corroborated this prediction. In Experiment 1, nearly 500 participants evaluated 24 conditionals as true or false, and they justified their judgments by completing sentences of the form, It is impossible that A and ___ appropriately. In Experiment 2, participants evaluated 16 conditionals and provided their (...) own justifications, which tended to be explanations rather than logical justifications. In Experiment 3, the participants also evaluated as possible or impossible each of the four cases in the partitions of 16 conditionals: A and C, A and not-C, not-A and C, not-A and not-C. These evaluations corroborated the model theory. We consider the implications of these results for theories of reasoning based on logic, probabilistic logic, and suppositions. (shrink)

IntroductionHistory of depression symptoms, including before and during pregnancy, has been identified as an important risk factor for postpartum depression symptoms. This condition has also been associated with diverse implications, namely, on the quality of mother–infant bonding. Moreover, the role of self-criticism on PPD has been recently found in several studies. However, the link between these factors has not been explored yet. Furthermore, anxiety symptoms in postpartum has been less studied.MethodsThis study analyzed whether the history of depression symptoms predicted mother–infant (...) bonding, via self-criticism and PPD symptoms. The same model was repeated with a history of anxiety and postpartum anxiety symptoms. A total of 550 mothers of infants <24 months old participated in this cross-sectional study and answered an online survey.ResultsThrough a parallel–serial mediation model, the results show that in a first step, self-criticism dimensions of inadequate-self, hated-self, and reassuring-self, and in a second step, PPD symptoms, mediate the relationship between the history of depression symptoms and mother–infant bonding. However, the relationship between the history of anxiety symptoms and bonding is not mediated by all the considered chain of mediators, being only mediated by one of the self-criticism dimensions, inadequate self.ConclusionsThe current study confirmed the association of history of both depression and anxiety with mother–infant bonding. While in the case of history of anxiety symptoms, the relation was only mediated by inadequate self-dimension of self-criticism, in the case of history of depression symptoms, the relation was mediated by self-criticism and postpartum depressive symptoms. The buffering effect of reassuring-self on bonding and negative affect was also evidenced. Psychological and preventive interventions should address this evidence to target interventions for mother–infant bonding problems in accordance with previous and actual current maternal risk factors. (shrink)

Tres notas para un análisis que busca situar a las mujeres y diversidades en la intersección de los territorios desde los cuales disputan las construcciones de subalternidades y omisiones. Este artículo inédito se basa en parte en algunas de las reflexiones compartidas en el panel “Arraigo y Equidad Espacial”, organizado desde el Instituto Patria de Rosario, Argentina, el 28 de abril de 2020. Aborda, desde la construcción del pensamiento feminista plural y diverso, la intersección mujeres y diversidades y los temas (...) emergentes más críticos para la vida de las mujeres en las ciudades en donde crece la pandemia y como resultado de poderes imbricados del neoliberalismo, el patriarcado xenófobo, racista y colonialista. Un aporte analítico desde la especificidad disciplinar de la arquitectura y el urbanismo, en la producción predatoria del ambiente y las injusticias espaciales, para ello las búsquedas conceptuales y la reflexión a partir de evidencias desde el marco analítico de las desigualdades urbanas. Para ello se interseccionan desde el feminismo los desarrollos conceptuales acerca del derecho a la ciudad dando cuenta de la omisión de las mujeres y diversidades en las formas de habitar y vivenciar las relaciones sociales en el espacio. La pandemia agudizó las desigualdades en las ciudades en las cuales se expresa con mayor virulencia, donde las mujeres están encerradas con los violentos y sufren el agobio del cuidado. El uso del tiempo y la división sexual del trabajo profundizan los sesgos de géneros en la epidemia del Covid-19, que evidencia más presión de tareas de cuidado, mayores asimetrías del uso del tiempo de mujeres en relación a los varones, el incremento de las violencias y de femicidios en los espacios privados y públicos. Temas que la pandemia impacta más allá de sus condiciones de estructurantes de las desigualdades, y que los cuerpos de mujeres y diversidades experimentan en distintas dimensiones territoriales, en las cuales median en sus construcciones diversas relaciones de poder y por ello en permanente disputas y resistencias. (shrink)

Psycholinguistics as a discipline can be traced back further than one would think, but what we refer to as modern psycholinguistics emerged in the 1950s. The gradual accumulation of interdisciplinary knowledge, cross-linguistic research, and the development of ideas formed the foundation for new approaches. Indeed, interdisciplinarity, multi-methodology, and linguistic diversity are to this day inevitable and integral parts of psycholinguistics. The aim of this paper is to argue the interplay of different approaches and methodologies, namely in relation to syntactic processing. (...) The paper provides a general overview of former state-of-the-art and newer research trends, discusses the challenges of new approaches, and presents them in the context of a recently performed attachment preference study in Croatian. Using multiple methodologies, the study shows that Croatian is a high attachment preference language. More importantly, it illustrates the significance of a carefully planned research design and the relevance of obeying the properties of the studied language. These considerations are crucial in order to avoid that someone’s choice of theoretical framework and methods influences results. (shrink)

_Review of: Consani, Cristina Foroni; Klein, Joel T.; Nour Sckell, Soraya, _Cosmopolitanism: From the Kantian Legacy to Contemporary Approaches_, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 2021, pp. 327. ISBN 978-3-428-58460-4._.

Apresenta-se os resultados de projeto de pesquisa desenvolvido entre os anos de 2014-2020 relacionado as narrativas didáticas de história no Brasil, Paraguai e Uruguai e, pertinentes ao conteúdo Guerra Guasu. Embora tenha ocorrido um significativo avanço historiográfico acerca do tema tais narrativas apresentam um perfil tradicional, descritivo e com enfoque nos feitos daqueles tidos como “grandes homens”. No caso, sobretudo, das narrativas brasileiras foram incorporadas distintas categorias de fontes históricas, entretanto os sujeitos subalternizados elencados para esta análise: mulheres, crianças, indígenas (...) e os negros libertos e escravizados continuam invisibilizados pela escrita de uma narrativa didática oficial e que reverbera os cânones do vencedor. (shrink)

Reflexión sobre el desafío al que nos enfrentamos los docentes si deseamos integrar la inteligencia artificial (IA) en la educación, sin perder de vista los valores humanos y la esencia de la enseñanza. La importancia de encontrar un equilibrio entre la tradición y la innovación, con el objetivo de apoyarnos en la tecnología como una herramienta para enriquecer la interacción humana en el aula. La clave está en aprovechar el potencial de la IA para reforzar la experiencia educativa, sin perder (...) de vista el valor insustituible del vínculo humano en el proceso de aprendizaje. (shrink)

O objetivo do presente artigo é examinar os desdobramentos que as determinações das crises econômicas no nível do capital em geral adquirem no processo global da produção capitalista tratada no Livro III d’O capital de Karl Marx, passando pelas compreensões relativas à lei tendencial da queda da taxa de lucro e à sobreacumulação cíclica de capital, bem como pelas figuras do capital portador de juros e do capital fictício, a fim de culminar na compreensão da dinâmica exercida pelas formas jurídicas (...) nesse contexto. (shrink)

Studies of non-standard, project-based forms of work prevalent in the creative industries have typically theorized the relational dynamics of work as a competitive process of social capital accumulation involving an individualistic, self-enterprising, zero-sum, and winner-takes-all struggle for favourable social network-positioning. Problematizing this prevailing conceptualization, our empirical case study draws on fifty in-depth interviews and two focus groups with creative workers in Ghana to show how relations of mutual aid, including elaborate efforts to live harmoniously with others, are intricately intertwined with (...) economic practices of getting by and getting ahead. Our analysis abductively mobilizes insights from Afro-communitarian ethics to theorize the mutual aid we observed as a complex socio-economic practice of relational resource redistribution contingent on degrees of social proximity. In applying “a theory from the South” to foreground the role of moral obligations, social harmony, and hands-on practices of mutual aid in non-standard forms of work, we contribute a “decolonial critique” of relationality of relevance to scholars of creative work and business ethicists. (shrink)

This paper is written in the continental tradition – facing the analytic one – and advocates the knowledge first thesis, reviewing the entailment thesis (where believing is knowing, because to know entails to believe). It starts from the ancient distinction between knowledge and opinion and develops criteria for distinguishing knowledge, opinion and belief. The demonstration necessarily arrives to the kinds of beliefs and thus, to the relationships between knowledge and these kinds. While the distinction of kinds of beliefs leads to (...) the understanding of why the knowledge belief problem did appear in epistemology, the analysis with this distinction is not rigid and can be approached dialectically. This standpoint is aiming at contributing to the debate of knowledge belief problem and to warmer relations between the continental and the analytic philosophy. (shrink)

Bergson sustenta que a ordem vital é essencialmente um processo inesgotável de criação. A vida é um aspecto expressivo do tempo que, por sua vez, é autônomo e independente do espaço e do sujeito, bem como irredutível às funções quantitativas de medida. Trata-se da natureza qualitativa e virtual de toda diferença que devém natureza viva por uma atualização irresistível. Contudo, não é menos verdade que a vida se apresenta comumente menos em sua essência movente do que por meio de seus (...) acidentes de percurso, recortando individualidades e se hipnotizando em generalizações ou repetições diversas, que imitam antes a ordem física, quiçá a geométrica. Pretendemos nesse Artigo acompanhar o movimento do impulso vital - responsável por conduzir o processo de diferenciação de virtual à atual - em sua força explosiva, em suas nuances, obstáculos encontrados e sua inevitável superação ao compor novidades radicalmente imprevisíveis. Desse modo, compreenderemos que o traço característico da evolução biológica não é a capacidade de adaptação das formas vivas ao meio que lhes impõe condições de existência, mas, sim, sua intrínseca potência criadora que prolifera composições entre a matéria e o espírito - direções diversas e até extremas de duração. (shrink)

Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht den philosophischen Begriff der epistrophé im ursächlich-metaphysischen Kontext. Die epistrophé bildet das letzte Element der berühmten neuplatonischen Trias von moné, próodos und epistrophé (Verharren, Hervorgang und Rückwendung). Das zentrale Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, den Begriff der epistrophé bei Proklos, seinem paganen Nachfolger Damaskios und Dionysios Pseudo-Areopagita, dem wirkungsmächtigsten christlichen Rezipienten von Proklos, vergleichend zu untersuchen. Beide Denker bewegen sich in unterschiedlicher Abhängigkeit von der Philosophie des Proklos, die ihre Grundlage darstellt, und entwickeln gleichzeitig ihre eigene (...) Autonomie. Die vergleichende Analyse des Begriffs der epistrophé dient auch dazu, die Eigenheiten dieser drei Denker herauszuarbeiten und die komplexen Beziehungen zwischen ihnen aufzuzeigen. Der Artikel beginnt mit einer Darstellung des Proklischen Begriffs der epistrophé, wobei besonders auf seine Theologische Grundlegung Bezug genommen wird. Anschließend wird auf die Kapitel 75-77 von Damaskios’ Aporien und Lösungen bezüglich der ersten Prinzipien eingegangen. Damaskios thematisiert hier einige Probleme und Schwierigkeiten, die den neuplatonischen Begriff der epistrophé betreffen und sich aus Proklos’ Formulierungen ergeben. Durch seine Problemstellungen klärt und vertieft er den von Proklos geprägten Begriff der epistrophé, wobei seine Grundanschauung im Wesentlichen mit der des Proklos übereinstimmt. Im Gegensatz dazu erfolgt bei Dionysios eine Neuinterpretation des Begriffs der epistrophé. Um Dionysios’ Transformation des Begriffs zu verdeutlichen, werden drei Schlüsselstellen aus dem Werk Über göttliche Namen ausführlich analysiert. Dabei werden auch relevante Passagen aus dem späten Neuplatonismus und der Patristik herangezogen. Hierdurch wird gezeigt, dass Dionysios den Begriff der epistrophé vom Ontologischen ins Christlich-Soteriologische umdeutet. Auf diese Weise überschreitet er die neuplatonische triadische Kausalstruktur und entwickelt eher eine Tetrade, in der die epistrophé bereits als apokatástasis verwendet und mit der Totenauferstehung verbunden wird. In diesem Zusammenhang wird auch der fundamentale Unterschied zwischen den Begriffen der epistrophé und der apokatástasis in Proklos’ Philosophie beleuchtet. (shrink)

Este artículo examina el concepto filosófico de _epistrophé_ en un contexto causal-metafísico. La _epistrophé_ forma el último elemento de la famosa tríada neoplatónica: _moné_, _próodos_ y _epistrophé_ (permanencia, procesión y retorno). El objetivo central de este trabajo es examinar comparativamente el concepto de _epistrophé_ en Proclo, su sucesor pagano Damascio, y Dionisio Pseudo-Areopagita, el más influyente receptor cristiano de Proclo. Ambos pensadores operan en distintos grados de dependencia respecto de la filosofía de Proclo, que constituye su fundamento, mientras que al (...) mismo tiempo desarrollan su propia autonomía. El análisis comparativo del concepto de _epistrophé_ será también útil para resaltar las peculiaridades de estos tres pensadores y para mostrar las complejas relaciones entre ellos. Este artículo comenzará con una presentación del concepto procleano de _epistrophé_, particularmente a partir de los _Elementos de teología_. Luego se discutirán los capítulos 75-77 de las _Problemas y soluciones acerca de los primeros principios_ de Damascio. Allí Damascio aborda algunos de los problemas y dificultades que conciernen al concepto neoplatónico de _epistrophé_ y que surgen de las formulaciones de Proclo. A través de su planteamiento del problema aclara y profundiza el concepto de _epistrophé_ acuñado por Proclo, siendo su concepción fundamental esencialmente correspondiente a la procleana. Por su parte, Dionisio reinterpreta el concepto de _epistrophé_. Para ilustrar esta transformación dionisiana, en el siguiente estudio se explicarán en detalle tres pasajes clave de la obra _Sobre los nombres divinos_, incluidos otros pasajes relevantes tanto del neoplatonismo tardío como de la patrística. Esto deberá mostrar que Dionisio reinterpreta el concepto de _epistrophé_ desde una perspectiva ontológica hacia una cristiana-soteriológica. De esta manera trasciende la estructura causal triádica neoplatónica y desarrolla más exactamente una tétrada en la que utiliza _epistrophé_ como _apokatástasis_ y la vincula a la resurrección de los muertos. Con ello se iluminará, asimismo, la diferencia fundamental entre los conceptos de _epistrophé_ y _apokatástasis_ en la filosofía de Proclo. (shrink)

Este artículo reseña: David SAN MARTÍN SEGURA, La intrusión jurídica del riesgo.

Este texto busca discutir conceitualmente a relação entre olhares e dispositivos nas intervenções urbanas. Parte-se do recorte das obras artísticas que intervêm no espaço urbano pela fotografia para refletir sobre a deflagração de modalidades de olhar. Compreende-se a existência de três modalidades; os “olhares-invisibilidade”, “olhares-emancipação” e “olhares-circulação” que se associam, respectivamente, ao “dispositivo urbano”, “dispositivo artístico” e “dispositivo internet”, deflagrando diferentes formas de experiência.

Since the cessation of Mapuche guerrilla warfare against Chileans in 1881, machis who are predominantly women, have progressively incorporated aspects of traditional warring into their shamanic healing and performance of collective nguiUatun rituals. Guns, knives, war cries, and male pre‐war bonding acts are used by machis to "kill" or "defeat" illness, evil, and the effects of acculturation on their patients and the community. Acculturation is often seen by the Chilean Mapuche as the root of illness, evil, and alienation. All three (...) are conceived as enemies that threaten the Mapuche self from the outside and are detrimental to the physical and spiritual well‐being of the individual or group. While ritual played an important role in gaining supernatural help to strengthen warriors in the past, the warring complex in ritual, and healing in particular, is crucial in reinforcing contemporary Mapuche identity, traditions, and wholeness. I analyze the performance of spiritual warfare in healing and collective ritual as the Mapuche way of aggressively advocating the opposition between self, tradition, and life on one hand, and otherness, acculturation, and death, on the other. (shrink)

Issues in bioethics often turn, at least in part, on the law and regulatory requirements. Consisting of chapters that address particular bioethics topics from the law’s perspective, this fascinating book includes: an introduction to the American legal system papers identifying the principal ways in which the law influences discussions and decisions concerning each of the topics highlighted supplemental papers on certain areas that address the influence and status of the law in countries other than the United States. Covering traditional topics (...) in bioethics, such as determinations of death and health care decisions for vulnerable groups, this study also explores emerging areas such as conflicts of interest in research, genetics, and privacy and confidentiality in the electronic age. Incisive and thought-provoking, this volume provides readers with a rich context for understanding the intersection between the law on bioethics and the central issues in bioethics. (shrink)

Michel Foucault’nun çalışmalarının merkezi noktalarından birisini, Batı kültüründe insanların, özneye dönüştürülmesinin tarihini ortaya çıkarmak oluşturmaktadır. Diğerini ise, özneye dönüştürme tekniklerine karşı verilen mücadeleler, çeşitli iktidar tekniklerinin dayattığı bireysellik ve kimlikten kurtulmanın, özgürleşmenin imkânı oluşturmaktadır. İnsanları, öznelere dönüştüren süreçleri bir bütün olarak ele almak yerine, çeşitli nesneleştirme kipleri üzerinden incelemenin daha akıllıca bir yol olduğunu düşünen Foucault, çalışmalarında insanı özneye dönüştüren üç ayrı nesneleştirme kipine yoğunlaşır. Bunlar; kendilerine bilim statüsü kazandırmaya çalışan filoloji gibi araştırma kipleri, deli ile akıllı, hasta ile sağlıklı, (...) suçlular ile “iyi çocuklar” gibi “bölücü pratikler” olarak adlandırılan pratiklerde ortaya çıkan nesneleştirilme kipleri ve son olarak cinsellik gibi alanlarda bir insanın kendini özneye dönüştürme biçimindeki nesneleştirme kipleridir. İnsan, özneye dönüştürme süreçlerine girerken, iktidar ilişkilerine de dâhil olur. Çünkü bireyleri özne yapan iktidar teknikleridir. Özne sözcüğünün taşıdığı bütün anlamlar, boyun eğdiren ve tabi kılan bir iktidar biçimi telkin etmektedir. Bundan dolayı, özneye dönüşme süreçlerine karşı mücadeleler söz konusudur. Özne, iktidar ve şiddet arasındaki ilişkinin nasıl kurulduğuna dair düşünen Foucault, öznesi olarak tanıtıldığımız deneyimlerin kurulmasını gerçekleştiren bir iktidar alanı olduğunu, şiddetin de modern iktidarın kurumsal ağı içerisinde gelişen öznellik deneyimleri çerçevesinde her yere sirayet ettiğini belirtmektedir. İktidarın kurumsal düzeyde, düzenleyici ve denetleyici mekanizmalar sayesinde toplumsal ağın en uç yerlerine kadar sirayet etmesiyle birlikte şiddet, normlar, tüzükler ve prosedürler aracılığıyla belirli bir kapatma içinde gelişmektedir. Ancak, Foucault, şiddetin, iktidarın etkili bir aracı olduğunu kabul etse de, iktidarın esasını oluşturmadığını belirtmektedir. Bu çalışmada, Foucault’nun kuramsal çözümlemelerinden hareketle, özne, iktidar ve şiddet arasındaki ilişkiyi nasıl ele aldığı tartışılacak, onun düşünsel serüveni açısından önemli olan bu kavramların kendi tarih anlayışı bağlamında bir çözümlemesi yapılacaktır. Ayrıca, modern iktidar ilişkilerinin dayatmış olduğu öznellik deneyimlerine ve inceltilmiş şiddet araçlarına karşı verilecek direnişin imkânları sorgulanacaktır. -/- . (shrink)

Resumen Este texto se centra en la concepción de la Kaaba de una mujer excepcional por su relación con Dios y por su conocimiento místico (ma‘arifa), Rābi‘a al-‘Adawiyya (m. 801). Ella protagonizó el paso de la ascética a la mística en la Basora del siglo VIII y marcó una diferencia respecto a los ascetas de su tiempo: realizó el viaje al interior de sí misma y ejerció una continua introspección para buscar el profundo deseo del corazón y purificarlo. Los relatos (...) de la peregrinación a la Kaaba, la Casa o morada de Dios, se comparan a los grados de oración descritos por Teresa de Jesús en el Libro de la Vida.Palabras clave: Kaaba, mística, Rābi‘a al-‘Adawiyya, Teresa de Jesús. (shrink)

The subject of this paper is the debate between externalism and internalism about mental content presented by Tim Crane in Chapter 4 of his book Elements of Mind. Crane’s sympathies in this debate are with internalism. The paper attempts to show that Crane’s argumentation is not refuting the Twin Earth argument and externalism, and that in its basis it does not differ much from externalism itself Crane’s version of the argument for externalism features two key premises: (1) The content of (...) a thought determines what the thought is about/what it refers to (the Content Determines Reference Principle); and (2) Twins are referring to different things when they use the word “water”. From these, in a few simple steps, Crane’s externalist infers: Therefore, their thoughts are not “in their heads”. Crane suggests denying the Content Determines Reference Principle in the light of indexical thoughts. In the first stage, Crane reduces “content” to “some aspect of content”, although he needs all aspects of content to secure identity of thoughts. However, his view then comes close to something acceptable to externalists. In the second stage, Crane makes content relative to context, but then reference still determines content. (shrink)

DISCURSOS DE LA SUBJETIVIDAD: LA CRÍTICA DE LOS ESCRITORES.

Michel Foucault’nun çalışmalarının merkezi noktalarından birisini, Batı kültüründe insanların, özneye dönüştürülmesinin tarihini ortaya çıkarmak oluşturmaktadır. Diğerini ise, özneye dönüştürme tekniklerine karşı verilen mücadeleler, çeşitli iktidar tekniklerinin dayattığı bireysellik ve kimlikten kurtulmanın, özgürleşmenin imkânı oluşturmaktadır. İnsanları, öznelere dönüştüren süreçleri bir bütün olarak ele almak yerine, çeşitli nesneleştirme kipleri üzerinden incelemenin daha akıllıca bir yol olduğunu düşünen Foucault, çalışmalarında insanı özneye dönüştüren üç ayrı nesneleştirme kipine yoğunlaşır. Bunlar; kendilerine bilim statüsü kazandırmaya çalışan filoloji gibi araştırma kipleri, deli ile akıllı, hasta ile sağlıklı, (...) suçlular ile “iyi çocuklar” gibi “bölücü pratikler” olarak adlandırılan pratiklerde ortaya çıkan nesneleştirilme kipleri ve son olarak cinsellik gibi alanlarda bir insanın kendini özneye dönüştürme biçimindeki nesneleştirme kipleridir. İnsan, özneye dönüştürme süreçlerine girerken, iktidar ilişkilerine de dâhil olur. Çünkü bireyleri özne yapan iktidar teknikleridir. Özne sözcüğünün taşıdığı bütün anlamlar, boyun eğdiren ve tabi kılan bir iktidar biçimi telkin etmektedir. Bundan dolayı, özneye dönüşme süreçlerine karşı mücadeleler söz konusudur. Özne, iktidar ve şiddet arasındaki ilişkinin nasıl kurulduğuna dair düşünen Foucault, öznesi olarak tanıtıldığımız deneyimlerin kurulmasını gerçekleştiren bir iktidar alanı olduğunu, şiddetin de modern iktidarın kurumsal ağı içerisinde gelişen öznellik deneyimleri çerçevesinde her yere sirayet ettiğini belirtmektedir. İktidarın kurumsal düzeyde, düzenleyici ve denetleyici mekanizmalar sayesinde toplumsal ağın en uç yerlerine kadar sirayet etmesiyle birlikte şiddet, normlar, tüzükler ve prosedürler aracılığıyla belirli bir kapatma içinde gelişmektedir. Ancak, Foucault, şiddetin, iktidarın etkili bir aracı olduğunu kabul etse de, iktidarın esasını oluşturmadığını belirtmektedir. Bu çalışmada, Foucault’nun kuramsal çözümlemelerinden hareketle, özne, iktidar ve şiddet arasındaki ilişkiyi nasıl ele aldığı tartışılacak, onun düşünsel serüveni açısından önemli olan bu kavramların kendi tarih anlayışı bağlamında bir çözümlemesi yapılacaktır. Ayrıca, modern iktidar ilişkilerinin dayatmış olduğu öznellik deneyimlerine ve inceltilmiş şiddet araçlarına karşı verilecek direnişin imkânları sorgulanacaktır. (shrink)

It is possible to talk about dominant concepts in modern political definitions. Among these concepts; power, violence, hierarchy, security and resource allocation are the prominent ones. For many, politics is how power and authority is distributed and used. When politics is defined in relation to pure power, violence appears to be one of the effective means of politics. Even, with a further extent, violence is seen as an expression of power. As said by C. W. Mills’ “politics is a struggle (...) for power, the ultimate kind of power is violence” or the way Mao Zedong puts it “politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed” are the most typical examples of violence and politics together. It is inevitable for politics, which is defined as art of ruling, obtaining power and maximizing power, to see violence as legitimate. User of this formulation most commonly tend to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate violence. Making this distinction confirms the legitimization of violence as a political action. There are also criticisms of the dominant approach that defines politics through power and violence. These criticisms, by asking whether it is possible to provide a different definition, try to emerge an alternative understanding of politics. Hannah Arendt is one of the prominent thinkers of this current. Through distinguishing the fake and authentic politics, she places action at the center of authentic politics. Action is the ability to initiate and interrupt processes that enables people to realize themselves, make them authentic and live with other humans. In this respect, politics is the act of living together, discussing public issues and taking action for the common world. Acting in the public sphere before their peers causes the person to show uniqueness. In this respect, equality and plurality are the condition of politics. Arendt places not only action, but also “speech” at the center of politics. For Arendt, political life is based on action. The association of politics with the speech clearly excludes violence. According to Arendt, violence is mute and never has the ability to initiate and be creative of the process caused by action, which is the center of politics. The aim of this paper is to rethink politics through Arendt’s views and discussing the possibility of a new definition for politics. (shrink)

Contribution to a symposium on Kostas Gavroglu and Ana Simões, Neither Physics nor Chemistry, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1988, as the TV cycle ‘Decalogue’ was finished by Krzysztof Kieslowski, one of the most intriguing appearances throughout its episodes was the character of the silent witness, a young man played by Arthur Barciś. He is the first character who appears at the beginning of Decalogue I and therefore of the whole series and who returns in eight from the ten films of the cycle in very different hypostases: as nomadic camper, surveyor, nurse, bus driver, or rowboat driver, traveler on (...) foot or by bike etc. The film critics were intrigued by this character and interpreted him in different ways, especially in key either religious or ethical. They all and Kieslowski himself agreed that the silent witness is a strange and symbolic appearance that comes out from the frames of everyday life. It is as if a curtain would break or be torn and from beyond it something foreign and strange would appear, difficult to integrate into our categories, but which is surprisingly so eloquent for us. The phenomenology, that Kieslowski describes, is broken in this manner, but, paradoxically, also consolidated by this presence, that gives it meaning and content. (shrink)

El objetivo de este artículo es evaluar dos fundamentos morales que permiten enmarcar la discusión acerca de la justicia social y el desarrollo humano. Por un lado, Amartya Sen parte de presupuestos éticos como la libertad para brindar un marco evaluativo que analice la pobreza y la calidad de vida. Por el otro, Martha Nussbaum, desde presupuestos filosóficos como la dignidad, establece una guía práctica para el correcto funcionamiento y desarrollo de la vida humana. Ambos autores convergen en la idea (...) según la cual la pobreza es una condición de vulnerabilidad ante la vida y que, además, sus consecuencias transgreden las distintas dimensiones políticas, económicas y sociales de la vida humana. De ahí que se pueda decir que la pobreza transgrede y obstruye el pleno goce de los derechos políticos, económicos, sociales y culturales de los ciudadanos. A pesar de sus diferencias conceptuales, ambas posturas brindan nuevas herramientas interpretativas a la hora de tematizar el desarrollo humano y analizar la pobreza. Estas amplían y enriquecen el concepto de justicia social. Esta ampliación da un nuevo sentido a lo concebido como desarrollo humano, toda vez que este puede ser considerado como un derecho. Ahondar sobre el carácter vinculante de considerar el desarrollo humano como un derecho, se convierte en una herramienta conceptual eficaz en la lucha contra la pobreza. (shrink)