ABSTRACTFor Dōgen, the Buddhist doctrine of “no self” ultimately presents the self as contextualized. The self is for him not an independent entity, but is intricately related to its environment, determined through the many beings around it. In a quite different philosophical setting, Spinoza developed similar ideas. While Dōgen challenged the specifics of a tradition that explicitly argues against the idea of an absolute self, Spinoza faced a more radical challenge: questioning an absolute, unchanging, and free self that the Western (...) tradition has mostly taken for granted. After an analysis of the ideas of the two thinkers, the essay presents some important implications for contemporary times. Our domination of the earth and one another is arguably rooted in the individualism Dōgen and Spinoza seek to overcome. The insight that we are contextualized is a first step toward re-determining ourselves as placed within a larger whole. (shrink)

While our world is characterized by mobility, global interactions, and increasing knowledge, we are facing serious challenges regarding the knowledge of the places around us. We understand and navigate our surroundings by relying on advanced technologies. Yet, a truly knowledgeable relationship to the places where we live and visit is lacking. This book proposes that we are utterly lost and that the loss of a sense of place has contributed to different crises, such as the environmental crisis, the immigration crisis, (...) and poverty. With a rising number of environmental, political, and economic displacements the topic of place becomes more and more relevant and philosophy has to take up this topic in more serious ways than it has done so far. To counteract this problem, the book provides suggestions for how to think differently, both about ourselves, our relationship to other people, and to the places around us. It ends with a suggestion of how to understand ourselves in an eco-political community, one of humans and other living beings as well as inanimate objects. This book will be of great interest to researchers and students of environmental ethics and philosophy as well as those interested in the environmental humanities more generally. (shrink)

For the Jena Romantics the idea of a self is always in a process, never fully completed. It develops itself as an acting I that interacts with the world, an ongoing interchange between what I am and what I am not. In order to grasp how the self develops and is educated, this paper compares this idea of the self to Schlegel’s account of irony. Both irony and the I exist as an ongoing process. In this comparison the self is (...) found to be a work of art, which is never what it is since its identity always still has to become completed. (shrink)

In his lecture course, The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics, Heidegger discusses three different forms of poverty and deprivation. First of all, the poverty in world of the non-human animal, second, the poverty in the being of contemporary Dasein, and, third, the deprivation of world in the fundamental attunement of profound boredom. This essay discusses these three forms of poverty or deprivation, with the goal to offer a preliminary analysis of Heidegger’s distinction between the human and the non-human animal.

Analyzes the different feelings, drives and instincts we have inherited from other species, to suggest a new understanding of ourselves as part of an eco-political community.

When salmon disappear, their loss is felt among many species of animals, trees, and plants. This essay suggests listening to the salmon when it comes to learning how to become better members of the earth community, so that not our presence, but our absence would be a loss to the ecosystems that we dwell in. This argument is made through a discussion of Latour’s Facing Gaia and the Native American philosophy of the Tlingit. Albeit in different terms, both suggest ways (...) to become better participants in a greater unity. (shrink)

In this paper I discuss the development of Kant’s Critical project in the pre-critical writings. I am particularly focusing upon the problems that Kant encounters in developing the idea of a transcendental subject. This helps us to understand the radical nature of Kant’s project in which he does not merely turn around the relationship between subject and object, but also has to redefine the nature of the subject. The development of the subject starts with Kant’s idea of an observer who (...) actively determines qualities in the object (instead of passively taking it in). Ultimately the spectator becomes a subject that is constituted a priori, independent of experience. In order to arrive at this idea of a subject, Kant needs to overcome the tradition that in many ways still determines his thinking. (shrink)

Continental Philosophy Beyond "the" Continent / Brian Treanor -- Prometheus' Gift of Fire and Technics: Contemplating the Meaning of Fire, Affect, and Californian Pyrophytes in the Pyrocene / Marjolein Oele -- The West as Slaughterbench: Thinking without Revolutions in the American West / Christopher Lauer -- The End of the West: The Time of Apocalypse in the Westerns of Cormac McCarthy / Amanda Parris -- The Trees of the West: Our Elders, Our Teachers / Andrew Jussaume -- Thinking Wolves / (...) Thomas Thorpe -- Robert Smith, Entropic Art, and the West / Shannon M. Mussett -- "Westering" and "BreakingThrough": Zen Buddhism on Cannery Row / Gerard Kuperus -- Life in Interregnum: Deleuze, Guattari, and Atleo / Russell Duvernoy -- Monstrous Topologies: Edward Abbey, Reiner Schürmann, and the Fate of the American West / Josh Hayes -- Turtle Island Anarchy / Jason Wirth. (shrink)

This volume contains essays that offer both historical and contemporary views of nature, as seen through a hermeneutic, deconstructive, and phenomenological lens. It reaches back to Ancient Greek conceptions of physis in Homer and Empedocles, encompasses 13th century Zen master Dōgen, and extends to include 21st Century Continental Thought. By providing ontologies of nature from the perspective of the history of philosophy and of contemporary philosophy alike, the book shows that such perspectives need to be seen in dialogue with each (...) other in order to offer a deeper and more comprehensive philosophy of nature. The value of the historical accounts discussed lies in discerning the conceptual problems that contribute to the dominant thinking underpinning our ecological predicament, as well as in providing helpful resources for thinking innovatively through current problems, thus recasting the past to allow for a future yet to be imagined. The book also discusses contemporary continental thinkers who are more critically aware of the dominant anthropocentric and instrumental view of nature, and who provide substantial guidance for a sensible, innovative “ontology of nature” suited for an ecology of the future. Overall, the ontologies of nature discerned in this volume are not merely of theoretical interest, but strategically serve to suspend anthropocentrism and spark ethical and political reorientation in the context of our current ecological predicament. (shrink)

This paper develops insights from Foucault and Lyotard to examine the Darfur crisis and the transformative potential of spaces of alterity. We show that Foucault’s quest for an aesthetics of existence is an attempt to found an alternative form of ethics based on wakefulness, sensibility, and suspicion on the part of the subject. In the final part of the paper we link this idea to Lyotard’s sensibility of the sublime. We show how aesthetic sensibility can be transformed in a political (...) sensibility which bears witness to political injustices that result from the incommensurability of different genres of discourse. We illustrate this point using aesthetic representations of Darfur. (shrink)

Le mérite le plus patent de Zur Kritik der Gewalt de Benjamin consiste à défaire toute représentation innocente de la violence et de ses usages, toute compréhension de la violence qui n’y verrait que l’innocuité d’un moyen neutre légitimé, ou pas, par les fins qu’il vise, les intérêts qu’il sert ou les classes qui le mobilisent. « Dans cette perspective, la violence est un produit naturel, en quelque sorte un matériau brut dont l’utilisation ne pose aucun problème ». S’interroger sur (...) la viole... (shrink)

This work challenges the textbook assessment of Schopenhauer as militant atheist and absolute pessimist. In examining Schopenhauer's grappling with religion, theology and Kant's moral philosophy, Mannion suggests we can actually discern a 'religious' humility in method in Schopenhauer's work, seen most clearly in his ethics of compassion and his doctrine of salvation. Given current debates between theologians and philosophers in relation to 'postmodernity' and 'postmodern thought', this book illustrates that Schopenhauer should be a key figure in such debates.

This paper elaborates on conceptual, empirical and practical arguments why corporations need to focus on their social dimensions, in order to further enhance organizational performance. The paper starts with an introduction on the general trend towards inclusiveness and connectedness. It then elaborates on the phase-wise development of cultures and organizational structures. Managing corporate improvement by building cultures of trust is the central focus of this contribution. By showing the cultural dimensions of Great Places to Work and their workplace practices, worthwhile (...) experiences leading to organizational improvement and superior financial performance are demonstrated. (shrink)

This paper identifies the key assumptions underpinning current arrangements in vocational education and training (VET) in the UK. These assumptions, and the idea of vocational capability they denote, are rejected in favour of a more coherent conception—a conception centred not on the traditional dichotomy of ‘knowing how-knowing that’ but on what I refer to as the ‘constitutive understandings’ from which both practical and theoretical capabilities can be seen to derive. It is argued that an account of vocational capability in these (...) terms suggests a far richer conception of vocational preparation than current arrangements are able to admit. (shrink)

Danielle Cohen-Levinas (DCL) : Qu’est-ce qui se trouve pour Rosenzweig définitivement achevé après la guerre? C’est par cette question à bien des égards brutale, que j’aimerais entrer avec vous dans l’œuvre de Franz Rosenzweig, une œuvre complexe, qui déplace les interprétations hégéliennes de l’histoire, mais qui toutefois reste encore confidentielle, confinée à quelques cercles de savants, érudits, ou intellectuels qui ont trouvé chez ce philosophe un « agir » de la philosophie. Que ma pre...

Cette contribution fait le point sur ce qui, de Schelling, a pu s’infiltrer dans la Recherche du temps perdu, via Gabriel Séailles, et en particulier son Essai sur le génie dans l’art que Proust avait lu attentivement. Elle éclaire les deux versants de cette possible médiation, d’une part quant au rapport entre l’Essai et la philosophie schellingienne ; d‘autre part, quant au rapport entre l’Essai et ce qui s’en diffuse dans Proust, en particulier dans Le Temps retrouvé. L’enquête montre que (...) si Séailles a lu le Schelling de son temps, le philosophe transcendantal de l’Identité et de l’art ; et que si Proust a lu Séailles, il ne s’en suit nullement que Proust fût « schellingien ». Entre Schelling, celui de la philosophie médiane et tardive, et Proust – une rencontre a lieu qui n’est pas de l’ordre d’une influence attestable, mais d’une affinité profonde autour de thèmes aussi décisifs que la sensation, l’involontaire, le réel et le temps. (shrink)

« Qui veut s’entremettre entre deux penseurs résolus est marqué de médiocrité : il n’a pas l’œil pour discerner ce qui ne se produit qu’une fois : le fait de ne voir que ressemblances et de tout égaliser est caractéristique d’une faible vue », écrivait Nietzsche dans le Gai savoir, à l’aphorisme 228. C’est cette gageure qu’il nous faut tenter d’affronter. Faire le point sur l’improbable relation de Proust à Schelling oblige d’abord à ne jamais perdre de vue « ce (...) qui ne se produit qu’une fois... (shrink)

Nos rencontres, les publiques et les autres, obéissaient à une pudique proximité où s’abritait le différend – que l’amitié, sans mot dire, tenait en bride. Entre nous, le discord s’emportait sur fond d’entente préalable et tacite. Pour dire autrement la même chose : un accord foncier, nourri de références et de lectures communes, partagées par lui et par moi, mais tout autant par une ou deux cohortes générationnelles – cet accord ne parvenait à se dire qu’à revenir sur des différences, (...) selon... (shrink)

U ratu se, prema Rozencvajgu, citava filozofija, tj.?idealizam?, pokazuje u svojoj lazi, odnosno, u svojoj neosnovanosti koja je istovremeno epistemoloska i egzistencijalna. Ta dvostruka pouka navodi ga da skicira konture jednog?novog misljenja? koje proizilazi iz loma univerzalne totalizacije svih partikularnosti. Taj lom se odvija kroz ponovno revitalizovani glas otpora singularnosti. Dakle, mora se preispitivati sta se kod Rozencvajga u Novom misljenju imenuje kao?sistem? Zvezde. Citajuci ovo remek-delo, a posebno njegov drugi deo, primecujemo dvostruku funkcionalnost Otkrovenja. Sa jedne strane, ono obasjava (...) celu knjigu, te citav?sistem? u izvesnom smislu, dakle, Ii IIdeo o Stvaranju, odnosno, o Izbavljenju. Sa druge strane, Otkrovenje rezultira suzenim, uskim smislom: ono obelodanjuje Stvaranje, takodje i obelodanjuje Izbavljenje, a ona sama se pokazuje kao?voljena dusa? u svom tragicnom ropstvu. U snaznijem ili sirem smislu, jedino Otkrovenje postoji, koje se tice stvaralacke proslosti i izbavljajuce buducnosti. Prema tome, u Zvezdi se ocrtava jedna opsta ekonomija flukseva, odnosno multipliciteta koji su otvoreni jedni spram drugih.?Sistem? je sistem vremena. Sistem jeste Otkrovenje.?Filozofiranje u formi sveta?, dakle, ono sto Rozencvajg promovise, razjasnjava se ovom konstatacijom koja zauzvrat stoji na celu poduhvata da se ponovo misli odnos filozofije prema religiji. (shrink)

La philosophie politique, dans sa tradition dominante, prend essentiellement en vue la possibilité d’une continuité plus ou moins harmonieuse entre personne et société, entre individu et communauté – que ce soit dans la figure du contrat, de l’association, du transfert de forces ou dans celle de l’universalité concrète de l’État. La pensée du politique autorisée par l’éthique de Levinas frappe de discontinuité les formes et les instances d’homogénéisation ou de dialectisation qui découlent de ce modèle. Elle propose une pensée de (...) l’altérité comme interruption radicale mais fragile des totalisations et des autonomisations de la politique. Dans le contraste entre visage et personne, entre proximité duelle et multiplicité des tiers, dans l’équivoque même de la personne, dans l’inspiration de la société et de la politique par ce qui vient avant elles, une pensée de la Justice s’esquisse, originale et profonde. (shrink)

The enlargement of the European Union to include eventually Turkey and the former communist countries is a major challenge for our understanding of the meaning of Europe as a geopolitical, social and cultural space. It is also a question of the identity of Europe as one shaped by social or systemic integration. With the diminishing significance of national borders within the EU, the outer territorial frontier is also losing its significance and Europe will become more and more postwestern. It thus (...) appears that the eastern frontier is more flexible than was previously thought. The EU is now at the decisive point of moving beyond postnationality to a transnational encounter with multiple civilizational forms. Enlargement is not just about getting bigger but is crucially a matter of cultural transformation and therefore it differs from all previous dynamics of Europeanization. Rather than tell the story of Europeanization exclusively as one of national histories and of closure, a civilizational analytic offers the possibility of multiple modernities and thus of a more appropriate theorization of the current situation. (shrink)

This book will appeal to second- and third-year undergraduates, and graduates and academics in sociology and social theory, politics, cultural studies and other ...

The Progress of the Left in Latin America: Governments, Social Movements, the Struggles of the Amerindian Populations Gérard Duménil and Michaël Löwy here interview Michel Lemoine about the nature of the governments currently in office in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and Venezuela. What contribution can these governments make to the task of establishing an anti-imperialist front? What are the specific features of the Latin American resistance to neo-liberalism, in view of the articulation between this resistance and the struggles of the (...) Amerindian populations? How is one to assess the manner in which Chavez defines and attempts to implement his project of a “socialism for the twenty-first century”. These are the principal questions addressed here. (shrink)

Patrice Bergeron,Fabrice Blée,Marc Dumas,Raymond Lemieux,Jean Richard,Gérard Siegwalt.

The Catholic tradition can help to guide patients and practitioners through the complex issues that arise due to the medicalization of death because of contemporary medical technology. The purpose is to illustrate how this religious denomination makes moral decisions in practice. The Catholic tradition moors its moral teachings in the constructive interplay between faith and reason, each of which opens itself to the other for insight and enlightenment. The analysis begins with the theoretical realm to discuss the theological foundations and (...) the meaning of Natural Law that guide the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. This stance is then applied to several practical concerns that ethically engage issues surrounding the medicalization of death, including maternal-fetal conflicts, patients approaching the end of life, and after death dilemmas. The flexibility and range of Catholic morality can offer astute guidance not only to those who follow this tradition but also to those with different faith perspectives when they encounter the heart-wrenching dilemmas that medical technology presents around death and dying. (shrink)

The actions of “world‐based” multinational corporations (MNCs) have effectively decoupled the revenue generation and the production sides of the business equation. This decoupling has led to an end of “virtuous capitalism,” which has widespread ramifications for the societies within highly developed countries as well as those in developing and underdeveloped nations. This article presents an overview of the defining aspects of virtuous corporations and the linkages to virtuous capitalism. It then describes the actions of Apple Computer as emblematic of an (...) MNC that is nonvirtuous in its practices. The article then discusses how the encouragement of globalized trade has prompted the shift away from virtuous capitalism and closes with a summary of possible actions that could reverse the decline in corporate virtue. (shrink)