ETHICS IN PROGRESS
Not a member yet
351 research outputs found
Sort by
Nihilism and the Problem of Future: Biodiversity Destruction As One of the Great Dangers of Technology?
Get PDFStarting from the example of the Amazon, in Brazil, we intend to analyse how technology (mainly in its biotechnological face) appears as a threat to biodiversity, insofar as it acts through a reduction and standardization: technology needs to reduce diversity to something knowable to be able to control and exploit, in view of human necessities. In this sense, according to Hans Jonas, it is necessary to ask about the horizon of the future giving preference to the negative prognosis (fear rather than hope) to avoid that the harmful consequences of nihilism (marked by the absence of criteria capable of guiding technological action) affect life decisively. In this case, the Enhancement project proposed by transhumanism appears as yet another chapter in the history of risks represented by modern technology
Editors’ Introduction. Futures: Imagining the World of Tomorrow
Get PDFFrom 12 to 17 September 2016 in Cuneo (Italy) took place the 9th edition of the international Summer School organized by the Centro Studi sul Pensiero Contemporaneo (CeSPeC). The event revolved around the topic of the “future”, which was analysed from different interdisciplinary perspectives and gave rise to stimulating conversation. In this introduction we provide an overview of the topic and of the reflections stemming from that event
Confessione e biografia: per un avvenire fondato nella storia. Note a partire da Jacques Derrida e Jean-Luc Marion
Get PDFThis paper aims to draw a connection between Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion in regard to the role of negative theology. This scrutiny shows meaningful contributions of the Authors to a new definition of subjectivity in a post-metaphysical age, and their consideration about which possibilities are still open for a non-predetermined history given outside of the presence domain. The future is neither a totalisation of history by its end, nor a simple continuation of the present. It is an eschatological event, where the relationship with the other plays a crucial role for the self-constitution. Such an interlacement is generated by the confession, where the link between past and future is not causally determined, but instead it is self-witness, as in Augustine’s masterpiece, essential reference for both the Author
Man and Future: a Palaeontological and Chronological Foundation of Cassirer\u27s Definition of Man as Animal Symbolicum
Get PDFIn the present paper, the author aims at laying the foundations of a symbolics of technical gesture, according to the thesis that symbolic faculty is another face of the technological one, and that they are both in truth two sides of the same coin. Accordingly, the author suggests to rename the whole dimension as “meta-environmentality”. The analysis is carried out on the basis of a specific comparison between Cassirer’s definition of “animal symbolicum” and its scientific consistence in the light of modern palaeontology. “Animal symbolicum” is here compared with Leroi-Gourhan’s homo technologicus, and Cassirer’s ideas on human identity tested starting from paleoanthropological data. The result of the inquiry lead us to recognize the urgency of integrating Cassirer’s argument with the primacy of the technological capacity, but a deep analysis of the characterizing attributes of the latter compels us to uphold the symbolic attitude of the technological dimension. The author then sketches a basic description ofthe guidelines of a symbolic theory of technology (especially §§ 6-7), and tries to show how the basic elements of such an approach were familiar both to Cassirer and Leroi-Gourhan. As a consequence of the whole theory, the author elaborates a chronological analysis of human identity, whose basic result is the determination of the future as main temporal dimension of human acting
Limit and Creation. Towards an Ethic of Self-Limitation in the Digital Era
Get PDFAim of this article is to analyse the relationship between creativity, freedom and future in contemporary society. The main focus is on the notion of creativity in our digital era. Common sense understands creativity as a concept implying something new, something original that did not exist before. And yet in our society the constant overflow of news, products and contents doesn’t surprise anymore, is no longer connected to a truly creative act. The complete lack of limits seems to be our society’s own limit, since newness is not experienced anymore as something really new. The solution to this situation is a new ethic of self-limitation that reshapes our idea of creativity and bases it on different criteria. The first part of the article is an analysis of hypermodern society. Hypermodernity is defined through three features: quantity as a qualitative element, override of distance, sublation of perspective. Unlike postmodern society, hypermodernity defines itself positively on the basis of some technological and social results that are experienced as improvements. In the second part of the article the paradox of hypermodern society is discussed: despite its obsession for newness, despite the huge spread of creative jobs and the passion for future, newness seems to be something given an usual, being creative means conforming to given standards, and future is almost completely implemented into present. In the last part of the article I argue that a solution to this situation is an ethic of selflimitation, in which a rediscovery of limit leads to a new concept of creativity no longer based on quantitative increment, but rather on the ideas of qualitative selection, objective distance, personal perspective. According to this view, being creative is no longer a matter of content, but rather of form. I will also argue that the aesthetics of Oulipo, a French literary movement of the Sixties, already expressed this stance in a very similar situation
Legami capaci di futuro: dalle basi intersoggettive dello sviluppo della persona all’esperienza dello “stare” in relazione. Attaccamento, fiducia, desiderio e cura nei rapporti interpersonali
Get PDFMany conceptual analyses of the structure and mode of operation of the contemporary society outline a worrying and discouraging framework. They describe the decadence of values and they depict a world populated with individuals who are narcissistically self-oriented, looking for the satisfaction of their own desires, unable to desire, build and keep stable, continual and deep relations and affects. Nevertheless, recent psychological research, supported by the evidence of neuroscientific research, has evidenced that the origins of the psychic development of the individual are connected to the domain of the relational experience. New-borns become persons in and thanks to the context of relations where they live and grown up. Thus, relations are an essential feature and a fundamental and peculiar experience for the human being. This is evident if we try to analyse aspects and dimensions, such as attachment, trust, desire and care. Attachment allows not only the survival but also the internalization of relational patterns which are necessary for life. The trust experience in the primal relations allows the vital energy to be addressed towards the world and to build ties thanks to the experience of faith in the other. Experimenting satisfaction and frustration, possibility and limits in the interpersonal relations fosters the development of desire and of the capability of wait, renounce, choice, care, as well as the necessity/opportunity of recognizing/knowing the other. Feeling himself or herself understood by a caring other prepares the ground for the experience of personal safety and thanks to some special pedagogical reinforcements, it opens to the possibility of taking care of someone else, in a structure of mutual exchanges and material, affective and spiritual support which is necessary for any human being. Significant socio-cultural changes occurred in the last decades have influenced those fundamental experiences and contributed to produce new relational styles and models which are characterised by precariousness and discontinuity. It is thus of primary importance to promote and sustain a reflection and education on these themes with the aim of fostering our needs and relations, whose expression is essential for the wellness and selfrealization of individuals and communities. And this is not only in order to achieve a harmonic development of growing-up subjects but even for adults who want to fully accomplish their life and the related needs of sharing, intimacy and generativity. These results have to be achieved by taking into consideration the peculiarity of modern life and by searching for creative solutions thanks to which, at least partially, we can try to combine the new claims with the essential experience of “being” in a relation
Moral Competence and Aggression Prevention. Updating MCT Pilot Studies Inspired by Georg Lind’s Book How to Teach Morality. Promoting Deliberation and Discussion, Reducing Violence and Deceit (2016)
Get PDFAggression in juveniles may increase even in modern societies and manifest itself in countless forms of violence, including harming, persecution, abuse, pressure, hostility, etc. A large number of studies on the evolutionary, psychological and sociological origins of aggression are available. However, we lack cognitive remedies to counter developing tendencies towards aggressive behavior. Georg Lind\u27s book How to teach morality. Promoting deliberation and discussion, reducing violence and deceit (2016) offers such a remedy based on his long–term (1976–2017) experiences with dilemma discussion training. This paper draws on Lind\u27s conception of strengthening socio-moral competence as the most efficient remedy against aggression. It also revisits the ongoing theories of empathy. Finally, it revises the pilot research study that we conducted 2010 among Polish and Swiss juveniles7. That study focused on the following hypotheses: Lind\u27s method of dilemma discussion (KMDD) can train and retrain moral competence in uveniles that show a slight inclination towards aggressive behavior. Strong moral competence may prevent further maldevelopment, in particular interpersonal and collective violence
The Struggle of Educating. And of Being “A Grown-up”
Get PDFIn the face of contemporary educational transformations, this contribution aims to analyze the educational role that can still be played by the adult educator. Without restoring old categories of the past, today\u27s adults continue to have a responsibility in the growth of younger generations. Accepting this task means first of all critically and reflectively recognizing one\u27s role and, secondly, accepting the challenges posed by the complexity of today\u27s landscape in terms of credibility and consistency
Digital Platforms: A New Grammar for Territories?
Get PDFDigital platforms are reshaping the geometry of the world. Their wide adoption by the population worldwide for an increasing number of activities, confer them a dominant position, which challenges established powers. Their control over the global flow of data and their algorithmic treatment leads to new asymmetries of power. New systems emerge, that unlike the Westphalian States do not correspond to territories on a map, but to complex networks controlling sectors of activities at a global scale. It is a real challenge and a necessity to reinvent a grammar of territories, to be able to grasp the new objects and their dependencies, and address the related issues of social justice and sustainable interaction with our planet
The Right Book to Help Our Ailing Society to Recover
Get PDFThis paper is a review of Georg Lind’s latest book: How to Teach Morality. Promoting Deliberation and Discussion, Reducing Violence and Deceit (2016), and focuses on the main theme of the book – morality can be taught, the idea that is most encouraging for educators. Many researchers agree that our societies face many problems, such as violence, deceit, corruption, disrespect to the human nature, which on an individual level seem to stem from the lack of moral competence. Therefore, G. Lind’s book is timely, providing answers to those who are concerned about our future. It will be of interest and great value not only for the participants of CeSPeC Summer School of 2016, who were trying to attain the inspiration for an immediate present-day action to reshape our future for the better, but to all of us who are committed to the enhancement of human existence and especially educators, who are engaged in the development of moral competence of their learners. This review is an attempt to prove to the readers that. Lind’s book How to Teach Morality. Promoting Deliberation and Discussion, Reducing Violence and Deceit, is the right book to help our ailing societies to recover