ABSTRACT‘Solidarity’ is a key concept in political movements and usually bears on matters of labour, health and social justice. As such, it is essential in the reproduction and transformation of communities that support their members and protect their interests. It is sometimes overlooked that interspecies solidarity already pertains with a number of domesticated animals, and that people are willing to carry substantial emotional, financial and social burdens to benefit them. There has been even more reluctance to acknowledge wild animals as (...) fellow members of our political communities with whom we might stand in solidarity. The purpose of this paper is to propose that solidaristic relations with certain wild animals are not only possible, but also already exist in some contexts. It explores three different understandings of solidarity, and in probing to what extent they can be applied to wild animals, it identifies some important different roles they can play in ‘animal politics’, and shows how they can help us reconceive our communities in less anthropocentric terms. (shrink)

El artículo presenta los principales estudios de Juan Carlos Rodríguez (1993, 2017), Fredric Jameson (2013, 2015) y Bolívar Echeverría (1996, 1998) que abordan el surgimiento de la modernidad, su impacto en la esfera de la cultura y la subsiguiente constitución de un tipo específico de individualidad. A partir de ciertos conceptos clave, aquellos ofrecen una explicación de las relaciones entre la economía de mercado que empieza a surgir en la transición que va del feudalismo al capitalismo y ciertas disposiciones que (...) aparecen en determinados productos culturales y comienzan a considerar al individuo como un sujeto que se autodetermina libremente, lo que da cuenta del hecho de que la ideología manifiesta un carácter constructivo. Analizando similitudes y diferencias, el texto propone una lectura complementaria de todos ellos argumentando que hacen referencia, de formas originales, a un fenómeno común. (shrink)

En el presente artículo se tratará de reflexionar acerca del estatus ontológico del concepto de identidad personal a partir de las así denominadas propuestas «narrativistas» de los filósofos Daniel Dennett y Clément Rosset. No se pretende tanto abordar la pregunta sobre la existencia última de dicha identidad cuanto hacerse cargo de cómo se nos aparece, las similitudes que presenta el proceso de construcción identitaria con el proceso narrativo y el papel activo tanto de uno mismo como de los demás en (...) su edificación. (shrink)

This article explores universal normative bases that could help to shape a workable legal construct that would facilitate a global use of advance directives. Although I believe that advance directives are of universal character, my primary aim in approaching this issue is to remain realistic. I will make three claims. First, I will argue that the principles of autonomy, dignity and informed consent, embodied in the Oviedo Convention and the UNESCO Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, could arguably be regarded (...) as universal bases for the global use of advance directives. Second, I will demonstrate that, despite the apparent consensus of ethical authorities in support of their global use, it is unlikely, for the time being, that such consensus could lead to unqualified legal recognition of advance directives, because of different understandings of the nature of the international rules, meanings of autonomy and dignity which are context‐specific and culture‐specific, and existing imperfections that make advance directives either unworkable or hardly applicable in practice. The third claim suggests that the fact that the concept of the advance directive is not universally shared does not mean that it should not become so, but never as the only option in managing incompetent patients. A way to proceed is to prioritize work on developing higher standards in managing incompetent patients and on progressing towards the realization of universal human rights in the sphere of bioethics, by advocating a universal, legally binding international convention that would outlaw human rights violations in end‐of‐life decision‐making. (shrink)

El presente trabajo propone explorar algunas de las alusiones de Tomás de Aquino al Comentario sobre las Categorías de Aristóteles del filósofo neoplatónico Simplicio, con el propósito de mostrar que algunas de las disonancias entre el Comentario de Simplicio y la interpretación que de él hace Tomás pueden deberse a la exégesis de las Categorías que circulaba en la Facultad de Artes de la Universidad de París antes de la traducción de Simplicio por Guillermo de Moerbeke (ca. 1266). El trabajo (...) se enfoca, en particular, en el capítulo 11 de las Categorías y en la primera de las Quaestiones de malo de Tomás, e incluye la discusión de algunas “incongruencias desconcertantes” puestas de relieve por R. Gaskin, traductor inglés del Comentario de Simplicio. (shrink)

Mary Midgley belongs to a small group of most inspiring women philosophers of the 20th and early 21st century. Her impressive oeuvre, characterised by an exceptionally clear and witty style, combines contributions to such different fields of philosophical inquiry as moral philosophy, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of science in general and of biology in particular, as well as philosophy of religion. With her early article “The Concept of Beastliness”, we have something like a germ cell of her philosophy, introducing a range (...) of concerns that will remain central to her work. The commentary focuses on five of them, traces how they show up in later works of Midgley’s, and suggests how they could inform philosophizing about humans and animals today. These are, first, Midgley’s adherence to the concept of ‘human nature’. Second, her insistence that a comparative, ethologically informed perspective on humans and animals helps to refute myths about both the animal and the human animal. Third, her alerting us to the fact that concepts of ‘human nature’ always influence our moral self-understanding. Fourth, her focus on the positive, open instincts in humans like caring, friendship, loyalty, or sociality that exist not only alongside but in a complex interplay with negative, open instincts such as aggression, and the idea that both classes of instincts can be shaped to some extent. And, finally, her focus on the conditions of social life that are important for people to be able to structure their lives in meaningful ways. (shrink)

This article analyses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s most recent novel, Americanah (2013), which brings to the fore the complex issues faced by female migrants in a globalized world. Given the centrality of digital platforms in Americanah and their impact and ubiquity in modern societies, the essay examines cyberspace as a tool for identity formation, specifically of Ifemelu, the novel’s Nigerian female protagonist, and as a platform that enhances transnational solidarity by offering female migrants the opportunity to be heard and gain agency. (...) By examining different forms of social discrimination Ifemelu encounters during her long stay in America, and the agency she gains by setting up a blog to openly express her views and those of her readers, my analysis shows the importance of an intersectional approach for understanding and encompassing the multidimensionality of women’s experiences in today’s interconnected world. The article concludes that Americanah is a representative example of transmodern fiction that captures both the challenges and the opportunities created by the mobility, transnational and transcultural reality of our times. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta los argumentos principales esgrimidos por el teórico de la literatura español Juan Carlos Rodríguez a propósito de lo que dentro de los círculos marxistas se conoce como el debate sobre la transición. Atendiendo a su comprensión del funcionamiento ideológico de la literatura, se estudia su teoría sobre la emergencia del sujeto libre como forma histórica de la individualidad específica del modo de producción capitalista, su concepción de la lucha de clases en el periodo de transición y sus (...) críticas a la interpretación weberiana del protestantismo como movimiento impulsor del capitalismo. (shrink)

This article explores universal normative bases that could help to shape a workable legal construct that would facilitate a global use of advance directives. Although I believe that advance directives are of universal character, my primary aim in approaching this issue is to remain realistic. I will make three claims. First, I will argue that the principles of autonomy, dignity and informed consent, embodied in the Oviedo Convention and the UNESCO Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, could arguably be regarded (...) as universal bases for the global use of advance directives. Second, I will demonstrate that, despite the apparent consensus of ethical authorities in support of their global use, it is unlikely, for the time being, that such consensus could lead to unqualified legal recognition of advance directives, because of different understandings of the nature of the international rules, meanings of autonomy and dignity which are context-specific and culture-specific, and existing imperfections that make advance directives either unworkable or hardly applicable in practice. The third claim suggests that the fact that the concept of the advance directive is not universally shared does not mean that it should not become so, but never as the only option in managing incompetent patients. A way to proceed is to prioritize work on developing higher standards in managing incompetent patients and on progressing towards the realization of universal human rights in the sphere of bioethics, by advocating a universal, legally binding international convention that would outlaw human rights violations in end-of-life decision-making. (shrink)

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} This article aims to examine the phenomenon of social services in post-1989 Romania, underscoring the role of the religious factor in the establishment and operation of nongovernmental organisations active in the area of family and child protection/child welfare. The results are based on empirical data collected from interviews with representatives (...) of NGO-s in Iaşi that correspond to the profile of faith-based organisations and which have been included in the list of accredited providers of social services. We used an assessment grid that allowed us to highlight a number of specific characteristics to the Romanian space, found among faith-based organisations involved in the development of social and medical services. One direction that Romanian organisation took was to dilute in time the religious message and to secularise their practices under the influence of the Orthodox majority, as well as following the requirements imposed by secular donors and especially by public ones. The channelling of private resources donated to religious cults predominantly towards building and restoring establishments (churches, monasteries) rather than towards the development of social faith-based programmes aimed at vulnerable populations has caused in faith-based organisations a high level of dependency on secular donors. The process in which the practices and the discourse are secularised is accompanied by a trend towards the fragmentation of the Christian-based civil society. (shrink)

Barbara Vetter, Potentiality. From Dispositions to Modality, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015, 321pp., ISBN: 978–0–19–871431–6.

In this paper, classical pragmatism is used as a method, not as a substantial ethical theory, to develop “moral pragmatics.” Moral pragmatics offers a constructive approach for making progress where traditional ethical theories converge, and it innovates ethical deliberation. Assuming widespread agreement that real moral problems need practical solutions, the paper addresses two related problems: the missing link between ethical theories and moral practice, and the question of who is in charge of finding such solutions. It argues that “conscience” can (...) create a link between ethical knowledge and moral practice, and that this partly discharges “the ethicist” from the task of solving problems that are not really, or not only, hers. Two specific methodological innovations are suggested that go beyond admonitions to render ethics sensitive to context. Instead, a reevaluation of “casuistry” and a sensitivity for “finding the right words” give an idea of how to achieve this goal. (shrink)

El año 2001 representó un momento de quiebre en la historia reciente argentina. Las repercusiones de la crisis económica, social y de representatividad política se hicieron presentes en todo el espectro cultural. El presente artículo parte de una hipótesis central: la omnipresencia del sonido durante la crisis explica el giro hacia lo sonoro en la producción musical posterior. Nuestro estudio se estructurará en tres partes: en una primera sección, examinaremos los sonidos de la crisis y su historicidad. En las otras (...) dos secciones, analizaremos las obras de compositores y colectivos artísticos durante la crisis y la poscrisis – BAS (Buenos Aires Sonora), Nicolás Varchausky, Juan Pampín y Carmen Baliero, entre otros ejemplos. Este análisis nos permitirá evaluar cómo los sonidos de la crisis y esta particular experiencia de la escucha permearon dentro del campo sonoro y musical. (shrink)

This article approaches social projectionism as an orientation within the new post-modern epistemologies, starting from its principles. At the same time, the author presents some phenomena generated by the post-modern perspectives opened by the new ideologies that produce new ethical orientations in social practice. These visions have made profound changes in the way the social services user is seen, the contextualisation of social practice, the volatility of social programmes and the development of the public-private partnership from the point of view (...) of social constructionism. The marketisation of social services has conditioned the development of equality relations between the public service providers and the private providers, the adaptation of programmes to the local needs and resources and a permanent change, giving up the illusion of progress, recognising and using to their full potential the multilinear evolutions of the existing situations. (shrink)

El artículo aborda las narrativas locales sobre la inseguridad de los habitantes de un barrio del sur de Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. A partir de un estudio cualitativo basado en entrevistas en profundidad, se analizan las características de las narrativas locales sobre la problemática. El trabajo busca aportar a los estudios sobre percepción del delito y la inseguridad, mediante una suerte de doble corrimiento: por un lado, recupera los aportes de estudios sobre narrativas personales; por otro, se inscribe en (...) la sociología de los problemas públicos. No obstante, al centrarse en las narrativas locales de un barrio, se profundiza en el modo en que los actores urden narrativas que otorgan sentido e inteligibilidad a la problemática. Así, se hallan dos miradas antagónicas, que trazan diagnósticos diferenciales en torno al “villano”, las causas que generan el problema, así como los responsables de erradicarlo y las medidas que deben implementarse. Las denominamos narrativas macrosociales acerca del problema y narrativas micro y mesosociales. (shrink)

Most countries are facing the societal challenging need for a new quarantine period due to the increasing number of COVID-19 infections, indicating a second or even third wave of disease. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the surface existential issues that are typically less present in people's focal attention. The first aim of this study was to identify some of these existential struggles such as increased feelings of loneliness, death obsession, and preoccupation with God. Secondly, we explored the association of (...) these factors with the increased fear of coronavirus during the quarantine. Data was collected from 1,340 Romanian adults using a cross-sectional web-based survey design in the midst of the national lockdown period of COVID-19. Participants completed measures of COVID-19 related loneliness, death obsession, and preoccupation with God twice; first, thinking about the period before the pandemic, and second, for the current situation during the quarantine. Then, they completed a fear of COVID-19 measure. Participants perceived an increase in the feelings of loneliness, death obsession, and preoccupation with God during the confinement. Furthermore, gender, knowing someone diagnosed with COVID-19, loneliness, death obsession, and preoccupation with God predicted fear of COVID-19. Interestingly, days in isolation did not predict fear of COVID-19 nor were associated with feelings of loneliness. In line with existential positive psychology, these results highlight the importance of policies and interventions targeting the experience of loneliness, spiritual beliefs, and particularly those aimed to promote death acceptance, in order to alleviate intense fear of COVID-19. (shrink)

Desde una perspectiva compleja aparecen claros cuestionamientos a los fundamentos y los razonamientos de la Economía Neoclásica (que es lo que se enseña en Chile cuando se enseña Economía), por ejemplo, la noción de emergencia: “el todo es más y menos que la suma de la partes” (Morin, 1981), la sociedad no es sólo un agregado de individuos. El conocimiento es incompleto: no hay información absoluta. Los contextos son determinantes para la comprensión de lo estudiado. Las esferas del conocimiento no (...) están aisladas, surge la necesidad de la transdisciplinariedad. Desde el teorema de la incompletitud de Gödel las demostraciones matemáticas no aseguran la veracidad de los resultados ni la ausencia de subjetividad (además de haber comportamientos, como el humano, que no son reductibles a la lógica matemática). Es necesario replantearse las comprensiones de la Economía y su enseñanza. Diseñar nuevas cátedras de economía que incluyan otros contenidos, metodologías y reflexiones epistemológicas, ya que, dada la complejidad de los tiempos que afrontamos, y la importancia de las decisiones que se toman en nombre de la Economía, no podemos contar con profesionales que cuenten con una visión reduccionista de los fenómenos económicos. (shrink)

A nivel nacional e internacional los desembarques de pesca se han incrementado cuantiosamente en los últimos decenios generando el colapso de diversas pesquerías. Los testimonios de los miembros de la comunidad de pescadores artesanales de la V región son uno de los ejemplos concretos de este proceso. Se argumentó que estas crisis eran provocadas por la “Tragedia de los Comunes” y que era necesario establecer Cuotas Individuales Transferibles (CIT) para asegurar los derechos de propiedad. La versión nacional, con la ley (...) 19.713, estableció la privatización del acceso a la pesca con los Límites Máximos de Captura por Armador (LMCA), para el sector industrial, y, posteriormente, con la ley 19.849, los Regímenes Artesanales de Extracción (RAE), para el sector artesanal. El 2012 vencen estas leyes y los pescadores artesanales deberían tener un rol significativo en la determinación de la nueva administración pesquera, por cuanto ellos, al depender de los ecosistemas marinos para su subsistencia, tienen genuino interés en la sustentablidad del manejo pesquero. (shrink)

Legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania establish several types of material liability of workers engaged in labour (professional) relations: material liability applied pursuant to the Labour Code of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as the LC) and material liability applied pursuant to the Law on Public Service of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as the LPC). In the present article, theoretical and practical aspects of material liability of Lithuanian public servants for material damage caused are (...) analysed. The authors of the article study the conditions for the application of the material liability and identify the main circumstances that must be determined in applying this type of legal compulsion. Furthermore, the authors investigate the relation between the material and disciplinary liabilities, study the limits of the application of labour law norms (that regulate material liability of employees) and civil law norms (regulating personal civil liability) in professional legal relations, identify the means and procedure for solving disputes arising in the application of the material liability. Practical mistakes in the application of the material liability of public servants and violations are analysed on the basis of a rather sparse case-law of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania related to the material liability. (shrink)

This article explores the phenomenological analytics strategies ofmentally ill subject. With the help of phenomenological method the ontological conditions for the existence of the subject in a clinical discourse of philosophizing of twentieth century and meaning of its existence were revealed. The use of phenomenological descriptions provided an opportunity to describe how the mentally il lsubject is represented. It is shown that the world of feelings of the mentally ill can be understood with the assistance of methodology, based on the (...) Husserl's studies of human existence mode. The author disparated the methodological positions of phenomenology of L. Binswanger, M. Boss and Karl Jaspers about the studies of mentally ill subjects. In the submitted paper these methodologies are specified in clinical areas of philosophizing of Dasein-analysis and phenomenological psychiatry. L. Binsvanher's Dasein-analysis is considered as a synthesis of phenomenology, psychoanalysis and existential ideas transformed into a new paradigm. It is revealed that L.Binsvanher considers the reason of the mental illness of the subject as a narrowed horizon in which the subject builds its possible projects. Boss methodology is based not only on the phenomenological reduction for understanding of essential, but on the articulation of the organic unity of separate subject existence with being of others and being in general. Psychiatric pathology is considered as a consequence of the loss of openness and freedom. Jaspers phenomenology as a thorough description of the subjective experiences of patients is synthesized with method of comprehension. Involvement of phenomenology enabled the reconstruction of the inner world of the mentally ill subject through the study of the way he is going through categories of time, space, materiality and other categories. The article reveals that phenomenology for many professionals today is an alternative to the physiological direction of psychiatry. (shrink)

The purpose is to identify common and distinctive features of concepts and methodology of the problem of subject within different discourses, implicitly or explicitly relevant to the definition of "clinical" mode of human existence. The research methodology combines techniques of discourse analysis and basic principles of historical and philosophical studies. Scientific novelty of the research lies in definition of the clinical philosophical discourse as a special communicative process, where utterances not only focus on disease syndromes, and reveal phenomenology of inner (...) experience of a pathological self, but also structure a certain type of sociality. Clinical discourse represents the space where the patient is treated not as a subject but as an object of disease. Ontology of clinical discourse prevails over ontology of disease, since its structures determine the notion of disease as such. Categorization of the disease, the idea of disease as a phenomenon subdued to professional authority leads to the idea of the need for patient's isolation from the natural environment and removing him to special social institutions. A great while authenticity of the individual had been determined through the testimony of others and manifestation of one's connection to others; then authenticity begun to establish trough the discourse, which individual was able or obliged to deliver about himself/herself. The clinicist doctrines share the intention to reduce the patient's self to its bodily dimension, while ignoring social determinants of psychological deviations. Conclusions of the study are summarized in the following positions: the current clinical discourse is based on the positivist-biological trend in humanitarian knowledge and it is the basis for the production and reproduction of medical and pharmaceutical repressive ideology; philosophical clinical discourse opens the possibility of overcoming the dominance of purely clinicist discourse; such a transformation is possible only after a paradigm shift in understanding the category of subject. (shrink)

Мета роботи полягає в аналітиці сучасних когнітивних та філософських досліджень патологічності суб’єкта. За допомогою феноменологічного методу були досліджені онтологічні умови конституювання суб’єкта в філософсько-клінічному дискурсі та смисл його існування. Проте, виявилося, що феноменологія не долає об’єктність фізикалізму, формально стверджуючи унікальність Dasein, але фактично ізолюючи девіантів у межах особистісного внутрішнього простору. У статті використовувалися методи міждисциплінарної епістемології насамперед структурно-семіотичні, які дозволили осмислити матеріали, де традиційна філософська проблематика суб’єкта синтезована із клінічними текстами. Науковою новизною є філософсько-клінічна аналітика патологічності суб’єкта, яка спрямована на (...) елімінацію категоріальної матриці фізикалізму в контексті інтеграції різноспрямованих філософських дискурсів. У діахронічному зрізі філософської традиції визначені діагностичні та терапевтичні стратегії переосмислення метафізики суб’єкта, що утворили предмет парадигмального узагальнення філософсько-клінічного дискурсу у горизонті сучасності. Показана необхідність трансформація концептуалізацій суб’єкта з орієнтованих на власне ствердження та автономію (тобто патологічних суб’єктів) у теорії, які нормальність суб'єкта пов'язують із відповідальністю та турботою про суще. Досліджено, що когнітивістська реставрація біологізму в клінічних теоріях суб’єктивності є симптомом того, що сучасна філософія втратила актуальний зв’язок з дискурсом клініки. Проаналізований філософський дискурс патології суб’єкта, який сформований доробками екзистенціально-феноменологічної традиції та представниками соціокультурної антропології хвороби парадигми. Доведено розуміння вад особистісного розвитку, за виключенням органічних патологій, як вкорінених не в тілесності особистості, а як похідних від системи відносин, у яких даний суб’єкт бере участь. (shrink)

Butler, Judith (2022)¿Quina mena de món és aquest?: Fenomenologia i pandèmia Barcelona: Arcàdia, 136 p.ISBN 978-84-124717-2-4.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Confessions of an American PsychoJames Hogg’s and Bret Easton Ellis’s Anti-Heroes’ Journey from Vulnerability to ViolenceDaniel Cojocaru (bio)My vitals have all been torn, and every faculty and feeling of my soul racked, and tormented into callous insensibility.... I could perceive no bottom, and then—not till then, did I repeat the tremendous prayer!—I was instantly at liberty; and what I now am, the Almighty knows! Amen.—James Hogg, The Private (...) Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner1My conscience, my pity, my hopes disappeared a long time ago (probably at Harvard) if they ever did exist.... My pain is constant and sharp.... But even after admitting this... and coming face-to-face with these truths, there is no catharsis. I gain no deeper knowledge about myself.... This confession has meant nothing.—Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho2A hundred and sixty-seven years lie between the publication of James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) (henceforth referred to as Confessions) and Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho (1991). Yet one cannot but be amazed at the striking similarities of the main [End Page 185] protagonists’s insights at the end of these two novels. Although connections between works of Gothic Romanticism and postmodern narratives have been duly noted, the possible reasons for the analogies remain largely unexplored.3It will be argued here that both novels are representations of worlds immersed in what René Girard, in Deceit, Desire, and the Novel (henceforth referred to as Deceit), has termed “deviated transcendency,” resulting in similar stages of narrative progression, which in turn can be analyzed in terms of Girard’s mimetic cycle of violence.At a first glance, the two pieces seem to be concerned with themes that to a secularized age must appear most disparate. But as Girard has noted: “The very idea of mediation encourages literary comparisons at a level which is no longer that of genre criticism or thematic criticism.... It may illuminate the works through each other.”4 Hogg’s narrative deals with the problem of antinomianism and the resulting spiritual pride. The anti-hero of the narrative, Robert Wringhim, relies on his belief that he is one of the elect and cannot fall from grace and consequently is convinced by his elusive friend Gil-Martin to become a murderer without having to fear punishment. American Psycho on the other hand is concerned with the consequences of the crass materialism of the U.S. yuppie generation, culminating at the end of the 1980s, as experienced by the serial-killing first-person narrator Patrick Bateman. However, one could argue that in its very first pages, American Psycho presents the reader with a secularized version of antinomianism. Michael Steig has fleetingly noted that the egocentric doctrines of antinomianism psychologically resemble the “I’m alright tenets” of yuppie pseudo-psychology.5 Timothy Price, one of Bateman’s colleagues on Wall Street, expresses this in the following words: “In essence what I’m saying is that society cannot afford to lose me. I’m an asset.”6 Translated into antinomian terms, one could say that he is one of the elect, one of the privileged enjoying a capitalist heaven on earth; and by saying that society cannot afford to lose him, he, like Robert Wringhim, is showing that he believes he cannot fall from grace—or at least he tries to believe it.“I was well aware that the devilish powers of his mother would finally prevail; and either the dread of this, or the inward consciousness of having wronged him, certainly unnerved my arm.”7 If, in this reference to a quarrel with a fellow pupil at school, Robert gives away the fact that he doubts his own words, through the rhetorical device of correctio, so does Timothy Price by his choice of words. In fact, it is exactly because he is an asset that society can afford to lose him. As he is literally transformed into a commodity, society can discard him and in the novel indeed does so. It is one of the many ironies of the narrative that Price disappears soon after the above... (shrink)

Ernest Becker described society as a symbolic action system designed to serve as a vehicle for earthly heroism. He advocates for a 'creative solution', which suggests that heroism can manifest itself objectively, through artworks. By further developing this idea, I argue that some things can become heroic when being archived or put on display. Like heroic individuals, heroic objects are privileged things that distinguish themselves among stuff that goes unnoticed, while also being the central points of earthly heroic systems. Instead, (...) heroic objects constrain the individuals to relate to them in a specific contemplative way, gaining cult value through exhibition. This used to be the case for relics and hero remains, but also the standard metre bar, which Marcel Duchamp cleverly ridiculed, underlining the contingent nature of cultural archived truths. Therefore, after broadly discussing heroic objects, I will narrow it down to the case of the standard metre and the readymades, further developing the idea of things becoming heroic objects. (shrink)