The Passive Eye is a revolutionary and historically rich account of Berkeley’s theory of vision. In this formidable work, the author considers the theory of the embodied subject and its passions in light of a highly dynamic conception of infinity. Arsic shows the profound affinities between Berkeley and Spinoza, and offers a highly textual reading of Berkeley on the concept of an “exhausted subjectivity.” The author begins by following the Renaissance universe of vision, particularly the paradoxical elusive nature of mirrors, (...) then shows how this conception of vision was translated into the optical devices and in what way the various ways of deception could be conceived. Reading Berkeley against the backdrop of competing theories, in relation to Leibniz, Spinoza, Newton, Malebranche, Hume, Locke, Molyneux and others, this book gives a meticulous historic reconstruction of Berkeley’s theory. This excellent scholarly work presents Berkeley’s theory in a new and radical light. The book, presented in three parts, begins by presenting the conceptions of vision prior to Berkeley’s intervention. In the second part, the author moves through a careful study of Descartes’ theory of vision to arrive at Berkeley. The third part addresses the author’s version of Berkeley in which the eye and the image become inseparable due to the collapse of the universe of representation. The problem of vision becomes not that of representation, but of presentation. Through an erudite historic reading of Berkeley’s theory and astute comparative assessments, the author uncovers Berkeley’s place as a contemporary theoretician, corresponding with such thinkers as Deleuze, Lacan, Foucault, and Derrida. (shrink)

This paper aims to provide an overview of surveillance theories and concepts that can help to understand and debate surveillance in its many forms. As scholars from an increasingly wide range of disciplines are discussing surveillance, this literature review can offer much-needed common ground for the debate. We structure surveillance theory in three roughly chronological/thematic phases. The first two conceptualise surveillance through comprehensive theoretical frameworks which are elaborated in the third phase. The first phase, featuring Bentham and Foucault, offers architectural (...) theories of surveillance, where surveillance is often physical and spatial, involving centralised mechanisms of watching over subjects. Panoptic structures function as architectures of power, not only directly but also through disciplining of the watched subjects. The second phase offers infrastructural theories of surveillance, where surveillance is networked and relies primarily on digital rather than physical technologies. It involves distributed forms of watching over people, with increasing distance to the watched and often dealing with data doubles rather than physical persons. Deleuze, Haggerty and Ericson, and Zuboff develop different theoretical frameworks than panopticism to conceptualise the power play involved in networked surveillance. The third phase of scholarship refines, combines or extends the main conceptual frameworks developed earlier. Surveillance theory branches out to conceptualise surveillance through concepts such as dataveillance, access control, social sorting, peer-to-peer surveillance and resistance. With the datafication of society, surveillance combines the physical with the digital, government with corporate surveillance and top-down with self-surveillance. (shrink)

Branka Arsić's essay analyzes the complex relations among law, writing, and marriage described by Melville in Pierre, "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids," and Bartleby, the Scrivener. The major argument of the essay is that Melville conceives of both writing and marriage as "celibatory machines," cut in two by the power of the law, which explains the obsessive return to the question of the law in his writing. The celibatory machine functions to divide the same in (...) two such that any future fusion of, or even encounter between, the parts becomes impossible. The law in Melville is also such a severing blade that hollows the subject within itself, making it, as it were, empty and so rendering it inoperative. That accounts for the overwhelming presence of "passive" characters in Melville's work. However, since the law also imposes its power upon itself, it is emptied of its own lawfulness and thus deactivated. Hence everything in Melville happens within the space of the law, yet nothing ever functions lawfully. (shrink)

The paper discusses Deleuze's concept of the feminine through exploration of the questions of eating, cooking, and specifically anorexia, as well as an ‘anorexic relation’ to fashion and dressing. It argues that anorexia should be understood as a micro-political experimentation in fashioning one's own body on its flight to becoming woman. In accordance with Deleuze's ontology of the surface, the anorexic body can be seen as the invention of the BWO that forms an assemblage with clothes and, in so becoming (...) different, invents for itself different desires. (shrink)

This article is a contribution to the fifth part of the Common Knowledge symposium on forms of quietism. Responding to a sense that prior installments of the symposium had overlooked the phenomenology of quietism, of patient suffering, the essay details the daily life of Mary Rowlandson's captivity during King Philip's War in the 17th century and, in particular, her strategies for surviving the breakdown of every basic taxonomy that had until then structured her life in Puritan New England. Refusing either (...) suicide or rebellion and thus reduced to maintaining “bare life,” Rowlandson demonstrated by her resilience that quietist strategies can result in kinds of triumph. (shrink)

The Passive Eye is a revolutionary and historically rich account of Berkeley's theory of vision. In this formidable work, the author considers the theory of the embodied subject and its passions in light of a highly dynamic conception of infinity. Arsic shows the profound affinities between Berkeley and Spinoza, and offers a highly textual reading of Berkeley on the concept of an "exhausted subjectivity." The author begins by following the Renaissance universe of vision, particularly the paradoxical elusive nature of mirrors, (...) then shows how this conception of vision was translated into the optical devices and in what way the various ways of deception could be conceived. Reading Berkeley against the backdrop of competing theories, in relation to Leibniz, Spinoza, Newton, Malebranche, Hume, Locke, Molyneux and others, this book gives a meticulous historic reconstruction of Berkeley's theory. This excellent scholarly work presents Berkeley's theory in a new and radical light. The book, presented in three parts, begins by presenting the conceptions of vision prior to Berkeley's intervention. In the second part, the author moves through a careful study of Descartes' theory of vision to arrive at Berkeley. The third part addresses the author's version of Berkeley in which the eye and the image become inseparable due to the collapse of the universe of representation. The problem of vision becomes not that of representation, but of presentation. Through an erudite historic reading of Berkeley's theory and astute comparative assessments, the author uncovers Berkeley's place as a contemporary theoretician, corresponding with such thinkers as Deleuze, Lacan, Foucault, and Derrida. (shrink)

Arsic unpacks Ralph Waldo Emerson's repeated assertion that our reality and our minds are in constant flux. Her readings of a broad range of Emerson's writings are guided by a central question: what does it really mean to maintain that everything fluctuates, is relational, and so changes its identity?

Background and Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to radical and unexpected changes in everyday life, and it is plausible that people’s psychophysical health has been affected. This study examined the relationship between COVID-19 related knowledge and mental health in a Croatian sample of participants.MethodsAn online survey was conducted from March 18 until March 23, 2020, and a total of 1244 participant responses were collected. Measures included eight questions regarding biological features of the virus, symptoms, and prevention, the Hospital Anxiety (...) and Depression Scale, and Optimism-Pessimism Scale. According to the answers given on the questions on COVID-19 related knowledge, participants were divided in two groups: informed and uninformed on each question. They were then compared in the expressed levels of anxiety, depression, pessimism, and optimism. Full vs. partial mediation models with optimism/pessimism as a mediator in the relationship between anxiety/depression and the accuracy of responses for questions about handwashing and ways of transmission were estimated.ResultsParticipants who responded correctly on the question about handwashing had higher levels of anxiety, depression, and pessimism than those participants whose answer was incorrect, while participants who answered correctly on the question about the percentage of patients who develop serious breathing problems had higher levels of depression than those who answered incorrectly. Lower levels of anxiety and pessimism were observed in the participants who answered correctly about ways of transmission. Higher levels of pessimism were found in participants who scored incorrectly on questions about the efficiency of antibiotics, most common symptoms, and the possibility of being infected by asymptomatic carriers. Higher levels of knowledge about handwashing were predicted by higher levels of anxiety and pessimism. Higher levels of knowledge about ways of transmission were predicted by lower levels of anxiety and lower levels of pessimism. The examined relationships between anxiety/depression and knowledge were mediated by pessimism.ConclusionThe findings of this study suggest that knowledge about COVID-19 may be useful to reduce anxiety and depression, but it must be directed to the promotion of health behaviors and to the recognition of fake news. (shrink)

Prisutnost Heideggera u Hrvatskoj pokazuje se u rasprostranjenom čitanju i raspravljanju temeljnih pojmova njegova mišljenja, o čemu svjedoče tri internacionalna simpozija u 80-im godinama. Posrednici Heideggerove misli bili su sveučilišni profesori filozofije već u 60-ima.Najutjecajniji među njima, V. Sutlić, svoju filozofsku koncepciju artikulira i razvija kao »povijesno mišljenje«. Njegova intencija u radovima 60-ih godina jest svojevrsna sinteza Marxova i Heideggerova mišljenja, dok u knjizi Praksa rada kao znanstvena povijest imanentnom analizom pokazuje Marxovu misao u pripadnom joj povijesnom toposu ozbiljenja Hegelove (...) filozofije putem prakticiranja rada nošenog samonadmašivanjem znanosti. U temeljnim odrednicama »povijesnog mišljenja« – povijesni sklop , zgoda, čistina, zagovaranje povijesne otvorenosti – prepoznajemo odlučne pojmove Heideggerova mišljenja. G. Petrović zagovara trajni dijalog između Marxova i Heideggerova mišljenja, legitimirajući ga njihovom povijesnom usmjerenošću, u kojoj prednost daje Marxovu pojmu ‘revolucije’ naspram Heideggerovu ‘prispijeću bitka’.Die Anwesenheit Heideggers in Kroatien zeigt sich in der verbreiteten Erertörung der Grundbegriffe seines Denkens, wie das drei in den 80-er Jahren gehaltenen internationallen Symposien zeugen. Das Heideggersche Denken haben aber schon in den 60-er Jahren die Universitätsprofessoren der Philosophie vermittelt.V. Sutlić, der einflußreichste von ihnen, hat seine philosophische Konzeption als „geschichtliches Denken” artikuliert und entwickelt. In seinen Arbeiten der 60-er Jahren neigt er zu eigenartiger Synthese des Marxschen und Heideggerschen Denkens, während in dem Buch Die Praxis der Arbeit als wissenschaftliche Geschichte das Marxsche Denken in dem ihm zugehörigen geschichtlichen Topos freilegt. Das ist der Topos der Verwirklichung der Philosophie Hege1s durch das Praktizieren der von der sich selbst ständig übertreffenden Wissenschaft getragenen Arbeit. In den Grundbestimmungen des „geschichtlichen Denkens” – des geschichtliche Zusammenhang Sein – Dasein, Seiendes, das Ereignis, die Lichtung, das Befürworten der geschichtlichen Offenheit – erkennt man die entscheidenden Begriffe de Heideggerschen Denkens. G. Petrović befürwortet den dauerenden Dialog zwischen dem Denken Marx und Heideggers. Solchen Dialog berechtigt er mit der geschichtlichen Ausrichtung beider Denker in welcher Petrović den Vorteil der Revolution gegenüber dem Ankunft des Seins sieht. (shrink)

Branka Arsi shows that Thoreau developed a theory of vitalism in response to his brother s death. Through grieving, he came to see life as a generative force into which everything dissolves and reemerges. This reinterpretation, based on sources overlooked by critics, explains many of Thoreau s more idiosyncratic habits and obsessions.".

Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of the most significant figures in nineteenth-century American literature and culture-indeed, this collection argues, in the history of philosophy. The Other Emerson is a thorough reassessment of the philosophical underpinnings, theoretical innovations, and ethical and political implications of the prose writings of one of America's most enduring thinkers. Considering Emerson first and foremost as a daring and original thinker, _The Other Emerson_ focuses on three Emersonian subjects-subjectivity, the political, and the nature of philosophy-and range in (...) topic from Emerson's relationships to slavery and mourning to his place in the development of Romanticism as reread by contemporary systems theory. It is Emerson's appreciation of truth's instability that link him to the European philosophical tradition. Contributors: Eduardo Cadava, Princeton U; Sharon Cameron, Johns Hopkins U; Russell B. Goodman, U of New Mexico; Paul Grimstad, Yale U; Eric Keenaghan, U at Albany, SUNY; Gregg Lambert, Syracuse U; Sandra Laugier, Université de Picardie Jules Verne; Donald Pease, Dartmouth College. (shrink)

Planar cell polarity, the polarization of cells within the plane of the epithelium, orthogonal to the apical‐basal axis, is essential for a growing list of developmental events, and – over the last 15 years – has evolved from a little‐studied curiosity in Drosophila to the subject of a substantial research enterprise. In that time, it has been recognized that two molecular systems are responsible for polarization of most tissues: Both the “core” Frizzled system and the “global” Fat/Dachsous/Four‐jointed system produce molecular (...) asymmetry within cells, and contribute to morphological polarization. In this review, we discuss recent findings on the molecular mechanism that links “global” directional signals with local coordinated polarity. (shrink)

"La célébration du tricentenaire de la naissance de Jean-Jacques Rousseau a donné lieu, en 2012, à un foisonnement d'initiatives, particulièrement à Genève, sa ville natale. L'une d'elles fut le colloque "Rousseau, la République, la paix", répondant à l'appel à projets de la Ville de Genève sous l'enseigne "2012, Rousseau pour tous". Cet ouvrage se propose à la fois d'examiner ce que pouvait signifier l'opposition de Rousseau à une certaine forme de cosmopolitisme et d'interroger le sens d'un républicanisme basé sur le (...) patriotisme défensif. Il s'efforce également de mettre en lumière l'actualité de ce positionnement républicain original à l'heure du dépassement annoncé des nations et de la recherche d'une citoyenneté européenne. Réunissant les contributions d'universitaires d'horizons disciplinaires et géographiques variés, ainsi que de trois acteurs politiques, suisses et français, témoignant de la force inspiratrice de Rousseau pour leur action publique, ce livre collectif confirme la nécessité de poser en termes moins convenus les interrogations relatives à la République et à la paix aujourd'hui, et l'importance que peut avoir l'oeuvre de Rousseau dans ce questionnement."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Following allusions that Melville scatters throughout “Bartleby the Scrivener,” the article develops the writer’s subtle criticism of Jonathan Edwards. The attorney’s way of thinking is taken as an example of reasoning on the basis of “necessary” assumptions, which Melville finds in Edwards’ “The Freedom of the Will.” From the perspective of that philosophy, Barleby’s existence appears inexplicable, or understandable only as a “loose existence,” which, according to Edwards, would have to represent an error in the universe. By anayzing Edwards’ way (...) of thinking, the author advances arguments concerning the identity of persons as well as the complex relationship the story constructs between certain types of activity and passivity. (shrink)

Plants are silent, still, or move slowly; we do not have the sense that they accompany us, or even perceive us. But is there something that plants are telling us? Is there something about how they live and connect, how they relate to the world and other plants that can teach us about ecological thinking, about ethics and politics? Grounded in Thoreau's ecology and in contemporary plant studies, Thoreau and Vegetal Thought offers answers to those questions by pondering such concepts (...) as co-dependence, the continuity of life forms, relationality, cohabitation, porousness, fragility, the openness of beings to incessant modification by other beings and phenomena, patience, waiting, slowness and receptivity. (shrink)

This study investigates the classroom climate in two settings of the 6th?grade class (a setting of children with special needs and a setting without children with special needs), focusing on aspects of satisfaction and cohesiveness on one side and friction, competitiveness and difficulties on the other. The study results indicate the existence of both positive and negative consequences of the integration of hearing?impaired pupils. Heterogeneity achieved by the presence of children with special needs included positive benefits for all pupils in (...) the mainstream classroom and helped to prevent friction and a competitive atmosphere, and provided opportunities for accepting exceptionalities, and developing social skills, ethical values and empathic abilities among school peers. On the other hand was concern related to difficulties of cognition, the only dimension on which comparative settings statistically and significantly differed concerning the classroom climate with integrated pupils. (shrink)

Plasma membranes are subject to continuous deformations. Strikingly, some of these transient membrane undulations yield membrane‐associated signaling hubs that differ in composition and function, depending on membrane geometry and the availability of co‐factors. Here, recent advancements on this ubiquitous type of receptor‐independent signaling are reviewed, with a special focus on emerging concepts and technical challenges associated with studying these elusive signaling sites.

One of the most famous problems in the decision-making literature is the “bat and a ball” problem from the cognitive reflection test (CRT; Frederick, 2005). The problem goes as follows: „A bat and...

Transitionaljustice mechanisms and the International Criminal Tribunal for the FormerYugoslavia (ICTY) have had only a limited success in overcoming ethnic divisionsin Bosnia-Herzegovina. Rather than elaborating upon the role of local politicalelites in perpetuating ethnic divisions, we examine ordinary peoples’ popularperceptions of war and its aftermath. In our view, the idea that elites havecomplete control over the broader narratives about the past is misplaced. Weargue that transitional justice and peace mechanisms supported by externalactors are always interpreted on the ground in context-specific (...) ways, creatingdifferent citizens’ experiences, “memories” of the war, and their respectivehopes and disappointments in regards to the relationship between peace andjustice in Bosnia. We suggest that analyses of the post-conflict developments inBosnia-Herzegovina must take into account what gives the narratives ofexclusion their power, and what are the objective political, social andeconomic constraints that continue to provide a fertile ground for theirwidespread support. (shrink)

Every successful health care system should be based on some general humanistic ideals. However, the nationally organized health care systems of most European countries usually suffer from a deficiency in common ethical values based on universal human principles. When transitional societies, such as that of Bosnia-Herzegovina are concerned, health care organizational models are even more dysfunctional. The sources of a dysfunction in medical care system of Bosnia-Herzegovina are manifold and mutually controversial, including a lack of shared principles, an inappropriate involvement (...) of politicians in medical care and practice, administrative difficulties arising from superficial communication systems, as well as economic limits concerned with the financing of health care. The deficiency of a moral culture of medicine, which is correlated to a general collapse of morality is also responsible for many problems affecting various aspects of life including medical care. Hence, medical ethics from a virtue perspective is becoming an important ingredient of any improvement deigned to provide better-quality medical care.The aim of this paper is to underline the influence of humanism on the organization of health care systems and the ethics of medical interrelations in the society of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is not intended to diagnose or resolve the problems, but to analyze them. It is also a critique of specific socio-political-economic influences on this health care system, inquiring if well-educated individuals in the virtues, which are involved in medical practice and education, would counteract them.In conclusion, humanism creates a universal ethical structure, which is based on human values such as fidelity, trust, benevolence, intellectual honesty, courage, compassion and truthfulness. These values should represent the standard around which medical care is organized. Since the health care system in Bosnia-Herzegovina is not entirely founded upon humanistic ideals, addressing the socio-political-economic conditions that constantly undermine those values is a prerequisite for any much-needed improvements of the medical care. (shrink)

Every successful health care system should be based on some general humanistic ideals. However, the nationally organized health care systems of most European countries usually suffer from a deficiency in common ethical values based on universal human principles. When transitional societies, such as that of Bosnia-Herzegovina are concerned, health care organizational models are even more dysfunctional. The sources of a dysfunction in medical care system of Bosnia-Herzegovina are manifold and mutually controversial, including a lack of shared principles, an inappropriate involvement (...) of politicians in medical care and practice, administrative difficulties arising from superficial communication systems, as well as economic limits concerned with the financing of health care. The deficiency of a moral culture of medicine, which is correlated to a general collapse of morality is also responsible for many problems affecting various aspects of life including medical care. Hence, medical ethics from a virtue perspective is becoming an important ingredient of any improvement deigned to provide better-quality medical care. The aim of this paper is to underline the influence of humanism on the organization of health care systems and the ethics of medical interrelations in the society of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is not intended to diagnose or resolve the problems, but to analyze them. It is also a critique of specific socio-political-economic influences on this health care system, inquiring if well-educated individuals in the virtues, which are involved in medical practice and education, would counteract them. In conclusion, humanism creates a universal ethical structure, which is based on human values such as fidelity, trust, benevolence, intellectual honesty, courage, compassion and truthfulness. These values should represent the standard around which medical care is organized. Since the health care system in Bosnia-Herzegovina is not entirely founded upon humanistic ideals, addressing the socio-political-economic conditions that constantly undermine those values is a prerequisite for any much-needed improvements of the medical care. (shrink)

Warren Montag’s book is a fine analysis of the ways in which Spinoza’s materialism, as it was formulated in The Ethics, affects his political theory. Even though Montag’s analysis is historical, and sensitive to the theoretical and political context of Spinoza’s thinking, it also takes decisively into account contemporary political theories and so works to frame the context within which Montag himself thinks. Constantly referring to Louis Althusser’s remarks about the connection between Spinoza’s philosophy and the former’s theory of ideology, (...) as well as to Antonio Negri’s, Etienne Balibar’s, and Pierre Macherey’s readings of Spinoza, Montag formulates the core problem of his analysis by means of the following theses: “There can be no liberation of the mind without a liberation of the body”; and “There can be no liberation of the individual without collective liberation”. (shrink)

Natural forms, often characterized by irregularity and roughness, have a unique complexity that exhibit self-similarity across different spatial scales or levels of magnification. Our visual system is remarkably efficient in the processing of natural scenes and tuned to the multi-scale, fractal-like properties they possess. The fractal-like scaling characteristics are ubiquitous in many physical and biological domains, with recent research also highlighting their importance in aesthetic perception, particularly in the visual and, to some extent, auditory modalities. Given the multitude of fractal-like (...) scaling manifestations, we explore potential commonalities in the way they might affect aesthetic preference within and across different physical and sensory domains. We use a range of visual and tactile stimuli to explore the equivalence of fractal-scaling effects on aesthetic preferences within and across visual and tactile modalities. Our results suggest that, despite some superficial differences, the underlying dimensional structure mediating the preference across the two domains is remarkably similar. The qualitative nature of this dimensional structure as well as suggestions for future research are discussed. (shrink)

In the place of an introduction to part 5 of the Common Knowledge symposium on forms of quietism, the journal's editor and one of its longtime columnists discuss, in dialogue format, the case of Thomas More. Could he have evaded martyrdom at the hands of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell? One discussant argues that More could not have done so without contemptibly abandoning his principles and surrendering fully to despotism. The other discussant disagrees, suggesting that More had to abandon some (...) of his principles one way or the other—in resisting despotism, however quietly, More did serious harm to his wife and daughter, to the European humanist movement, and to the cause of English Catholics. (shrink)