ETHICS IN PROGRESS
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Anthropocentrism and Speciesism in the Context of Environmental Studies. A Synoptic Introduction
Get PDFAnthropocentrism and Speciesism in the Context of Environmental Studies. A Synoptic Introductio
May You Live in Interesting Times. Science vs. Pseudoscience in the Era of the Internet
Get PDFMay you live in interesting times, the famous maxim quotes. Undoubtedly, at least in the historical context, periods of political, social, scientific, or economic riots – or at least commotion, ferment, crisis – have certainly earned such a title. So have the epochs which were subject to radical transformations distorting traditional relationships and institutions, existing patterns and rules. The abovementioned “interestingness” is thus a function of a radical change, challenge and variability, somewhat a derivative of erosion, and of all that we associate it with the notion of revolution or turn, be it political, social, economic, environmental, or scientific. The paper’s core aim is to examine the nowadays constantly revised, questioned, thus, shaking demarcation between science and pseudoscience in the light of new trends such as misinformation, denialism, internetisation and memoisation of scientific discourses.May you live in interesting times, the famous maxim quotes. Undoubtedly, at least in the historical context, periods of political, social, scientific, or economic riots – or at least commotion, ferment, crisis – have certainly earned such a title. So have the epochs which were subject to radical transformations distorting traditional relationships and institutions, existing patterns and rules. The abovementioned “interestingness” is thus a function of a radical change, challenge and variability, somewhat a derivative of erosion, and of all that we associate it with the notion of revolution or turn, be it political, social, economic, environmental, or scientific. The paper’s core aim is to examine the nowadays constantly revised, questioned, thus, shaking demarcation between science and pseudoscience in the light of new trends such as misinformation, denialism, internetisation and memoisation of scientific discourses
Nourishing Life – Chinese Environmental Wisdom and Practices
Get PDFIncreasingly recognized threats from climate change and the progressive sixth mass extinction require not only searching for new technological solutions, but also changing the perception of the world and the beings living in it. There is an urgent need to include individual practices; practices that are an integral part of integrated policies to protect habitats, the climate, and the homo sapiens itself. Eric S. Nelson, in his latest book Daoism and Environmental Philosophy. Nourishing Life introduces the reader to the environmental approach known to Chinese communities for centuries. In a comprehensive and accurate manner, the author presents the Chinese approach to life and development, the understanding and interpretation of which has changed over the centuries, invariably emphasizing man’s belonging to the world of nature. This review introduces the author’s assumptions presented in the book, combining them with relatively new thoughts and paradigms appearing in the 20th and 21st centuries in Western Europe and the United States
Arne Naess: A Tragic Ecosophy
No full textArne Naess was one of the first philosopher who try to find out a way to resolve the ecological crisis through philosophy. By analysing some of the main point of Naess‘ philosophy, the essay shows that his main interest was to legitimize the ecological movement. Philosophy becomes a political instrument and assumes a tragical character, because it takes on an impossible project. For Naess philosophy should provide a new total view to change man‘s attitude to nature. This analysis could help us to find out some critical points of a philosophy that try to be useful in the ecological crisis
State and Freedom by F. W. J. Schelling
No full textThis paper examines the two terms \u27state\u27 and \u27freedom\u27 in the work of F. W. J. Schelling. It will be argued that, although Schelling refuses the general role of state, criticizing it as \u27mechanism\u27, he accepts the fact that the state is the only guarantor - considered as \u27second nature\u27 – to restore the \u27lost unit\u27, to secure the freedom of men and to realize a \u27Höheres Lebens\u27. For this purpose, Schelling uses powerful metaphors of the state as \u27organism\u27 and \u27artwork\u27, postulating his ideal of a political community
Gender, Utopias and the Savage Slot: The Role of Anthropology in the (De)Construction of a Concept
Get PDFThe paper addresses some of the ways in which anthropology, as a discourse and a discipline, has contributed to the forging as much as of the problematisation of the concept of gender, not only within the feminist, queer and LGBTQI camps, but also among Catholic fundamentalists. It argues that, despite some recent genealogical critiques of the concept of gender and its origins in mid-20th century bio-medical governance, insufficient attention has been paid to the role of the so-called ‘savage slot’ - as Rolph Trouillot defined the domain of knowledge carved out for anthropology, in a wider scheme of thought that has its origins at the same time as ‘the West’ became a reality. A more thorough genealogy of the ways in which anthropological thinking and evidence contributed to the construction, and then the deconstruction, of gender, can provide fruitful tools for a deeper challenge of the apparatus of gender itself
Virtual Identity, Plastic Identity. The „eighth Basque Province“ and the Genetically Imaginative Community
No full textIn this paper I propose to demonstrate how the anthropological view can highlight the effects of the relationship between ethnic nationalism and global processes. Showing the results of an ethnographical research conducted in 2015, I focus on the representation of social identity in the contemporary Basque Country. I emphasize the central role played by the new technologies for the identification of the Basque communities’ boundaries. The creation of „the eighth province“ (or province of the diaspora) shows how, in this context, Internet could transform the “imagined community” into a virtual reality. The ethnographical view proves to be useful to understand how local practices and discourses can interact with global phenomena: particularly significant is the spreading of archaeogenetic investigations in Euskal Herria, in order to verify the hypothesis of a reproductive isolation of Basque people. Moreover, a big part of local population is using genetic tests proposed online by DNA consulting agencies. It is important to identify how these genetic narratives are absorbed and reused by local populations and if they can reshape the past of a mnemonic community, influencing the representation of its future
If Machines Want to Dream... Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg on Ethical Consequences of There Being No Substantial Distinction between Humans and Robots
Get PDFAdam Wiśniewski-Snerg (1937-1995) was a Polish science fiction writer. In his novel Robot (1973), he made an attempt at a literary visualization of a machine acquiring human identity. In this article I would like to follow the ethical consequences of such situations in created literary worlds. It is worth remembering, however, that these artistic worlds often serve to test non-literary reality. In his novel, Wiśniewski-Snerg also dealt with the problem of human feelings (e.g. moral dilemmas) in a thinking machine, which is formed in the image and likeness of a human being. Such literary reflection is valuable, partly because it enters into an interesting dialogue with the work of Bruno Schulz (1892- 1942), one of the most important Polish writers of the 20th century. It is also one of the first attempts in Polish literature to address the issue of sentient machines, and is a kind of preview of contemporary dilemmas connected with the work on the creation of artificial intelligence. An example of such a dilemma is the issue of the sentient machine’s perception of the tasks imposed on it by the human-constructor. Perhaps it will start to experience them as a kind of unethical oppression. In Wiśniewski-Snerg’s writing this problem of is, of course, expressed in a metaphorical way
The Sequence of Loyalty and Filial Piety and Its Ideological Origins in the Traditional Ethical Culture of China and Japan
Get PDFThe traditional ethical culture of Japan is under the influence of Chinese Confucian culture. However, due to differences in historical tradition and social structure, in traditional Japanese culture, “loyalty”, as the highest value, is in preference to “filial piety” and it lays a foundation for universal moral principles of the society; while in the Chinese Confucian culture, “filial piety” is regarded as the first and “loyalty” is the natural expansion of “filial piety”. The main reason is the influence of the indigenous Shinto in traditional Japanese culture. After the internalization of the indigenous Shinto and the Tennoism as well as the indoctrination of over 600-year ruling of the samurai regime, “loyalty”, as the national cultural and psychological heritage, has the religious and irrational mysterious color, which is different from the secularization and the practical rationality of the pre-Qin Confucian ethics of China. Loyalty to the emperor and devotion to public interests advocated by Bushido is an important characteristic of traditional Japanese ethical culture, and the religious and absolute understanding of “loyalty” is hidden with the risk of nationalism and irrationality
Filing for Moral Bankruptcy: An Examination of How Affect and Empathy Predict Moral Competence
Get PDFWhat does being moral mean? On one hand people may justify mercy killing as sparing omeone’s suffering, but on the other hand they are still, in-fact, taking another’s life. According to Lind’s theory of moral competence (2008), it is based on consistent utilization of moral principles. Although common sense tells us that people’s affective states and levels of empathy may explain the differences, there is little direct evidence. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap by examining the relative contribution of empathy and affective state to moral competence. Results of the study revealed that although perspective taking and negative affective state were both significant predictors of moral competence, perspective taking was a stronger contributor. This suggests that the next time you deliberate over a moral dilemma (e.g., euthanasia), you should try understanding another person’s perspective rather than feeling empathy to make the best moral judgment