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Pensare l'efficacia. Jullien, Bourdieu e Latour a confronto
No full textHow can we properly theorize successful actions of social change? Standard analytical accounts in theory of action and rational choice adopt a (broadly conceived) individualistic approach which reduces collective actions to individuals. In this paper, I investigate and critically assess some alternatives to individualistic approaches that understand rationality as context sensitive and individual action as structurally determined by non-individual factors. In particular, I discuss Jullien's account of efficacy, Bourdieu's theory of heretic ruptures, and Latour's theory of action with a view to assessing their capacity to understand efficacy in social change. I argue that all these theories are unconvincing in their own terms. Jullien's account of efficacy eventually collapses into the idea of efficiency; Bourdieu's theory grapples with the theoretical difficulty of making room for social change enacted by alternative (oppressed) actors; and although Latour's approach focuses on chance, it does so without criteria to discern acceptable from non-acceptable ones. However, I conclude that some elements of these theories (the focus on strategy, the diversity of practical capacities of social actors, and the idea that action occurs through mediators) should be retained in the outline of a rich and plausible theory of efficacy in social change
Cooperation with Animals? What Is and What Is Not
No full textThe idea of cooperation has been recently used with regard to human–animal relations to justify the application of an associative theory of justice to animals. In this paper, I discuss some of these proposals and seek to provide a reformulation of the idea of cooperation suitable to human–animal relations. The standard idea of cooperation, indeed, presupposes mental capacities that probably cannot be found in animals. I try to disentangle the idea of cooperation from other cognate notions and distinguish it from exploitation, use, and relationship. The upshot is a minimal taxonomy of human–animal relations that covers most possibilities, from the worst type of relation (exploitation) to that which is most favourable to animals’ welfare (relationship). In this taxonomy, cooperation is a form of relation where animals are used to produce a valuable good in a way that is compatible with their ethological features and without being harmed
Beyond Moral Efficiency: Effective Altruism and Theorizing about Effectiveness
No full textIn this article I provide a conceptual analysis of an underexplored issue in the debate about effective altruism: its theory of effectiveness. First, I distinguish effectiveness from efficiency and claim that effective altruism understands effectiveness through the lens of efficiency. Then, I discuss the limitations of this approach in particular with respect to the charge that it is incapable of supporting structural change. Finally, I propose an expansion of the notion of effectiveness of effective altruism by referring to the debate in political philosophy about realism and the practical challenge of normative theories. I argue that effective altruism, both as a social movement and as a conceptual paradigm, would benefit from clarifying its ideal, taking into account the role of institutions, and expanding its idea of feasibility
Ideal Discussants, Real Food: Questioning the Applicability of Public Reason Approach in Healthy Eating Policies
No full textAbstractHealthy eating policies have become a hot and thorny domain of public concern because they affect people’s liberties, life prospects, and public expenditures. However, what policies state institutions may legitimately enforce is a controversial matter. Is state paternalism for the sake of public health permissible? Could people be incentivized to eat in a healthier manner? Barnhill and Bonotti’s recent book (Healthy Eating Policy and Political Philosophy) tackle these issues (and others) in a manner that seeks to combine the liberal values of state neutrality and antipaternalism, as well as the effectiveness and legitimacy of food policies. To do so, they rely on the accessibility model of public reason. Although Barnhill and Bonotti’s proposal fills an important gap in the field and the accessibility model of public reason overcomes some strictures of the Rawlsian account, their account of public reason faces some practical challenges. Indeed, the institutionalization of their framework seems to need the figure of a moderator of a deliberative panel. However, this figure would create a tension between the public reason framework and the common requirements of deliberative accounts.</jats:p
Conscientious objection in Italy: The favoured way of handling irreducible conflicting values?
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